My Triumphant Return to Baking

Hey there, Gentle Reader, long time no post, non? Yeah, I know--I'm a total slacker and derelict in my duties as a faudie to share my culinary misadventures with you. Worse still, I've allowed the husband to have two posts in a row. Le sigh...

I ask that you give me this chance to rectify the situation. I have a culinary misadventure to share with you at long last. For you see, Gentle Reader, I have returned to baking. No, that Halloween cake I made doesn't count. And it wasn't the cooler weather that got me back to baking, nor was it a strongly compelling recipe (although the recipe did seem awfully tasty when I saw it). Instead, I was inspired by our recent shopping trips to Sprouts Farmers Market in Round Rock.

Yeah, yeah, Gentle Reader, I know I bitched about Sprouts after my first visit, but while it has a lot of audacity calling itself a farmers' market, it does have some damn good prices on fresh fruits and veggies and on bulk foods. Sure, Sprouts doesn't have the bulk foods playlands that Whole Paycheck and Central Markup have, but the sale prices on items I really want (Need? Eh, not so much!) make up for the relatively limited selection.

Among the bulk food items on sale this month at Sprouts are the dried cranberries and--what a glorious find!--dried cranberries with added orange flavor. Oh! how the FSM blessed us all when it gave us these little morsels of deliciousness! Pair a palm-size portion of those little edible rubies with a bite of dark chocolate-coated honeycomb (also on sale this month, praises be!), and you've got yourself a damn fine orgasm of taste, Gentle Reader.

So how does this orgasm of taste have anything to do with me returning to baking? This is how: For as luscious as those orangey cranberries are by themselves and paired with dark chocolate-coated honeycomb, they also struck me as the perfect candidate for inclusion in some kind of baked good. Sure, sure, I've got a bread machine recipe or two I could use them in, but do I really need another brick of fruit bread taking up space in my 'fridge? Not really.

MyRecipes.com came to my aid. In one of its "Daily Indulgence" emails appeared a recipe for cranberry-oatmeal bars originally published in Cooking Light. Miracle of miracles, I had all the ingredients, and on the night that I had to whip up a sizable portion of bulgogi and japchae for the boy to take to school the next day for his class' Feast of Sharing, I got the crazy idea to make up a batch of the bars as well.

Cranberry-oatmeal Bars4.5 oz. all-purpose flour (about 1 C)
1 C quick-cooking oats
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1/4 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t ground cinnamon
6 T butter, melted
3 T orange juice
1 1/3 C dried cranberries (about 6 oz.)
3/4 C sour cream
1/2 C granulated sugar
2 T all-purpose flour
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t orange zest
1 large egg white, lightly beaten

1. Preheat the oven to 325°.
   
2. Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk.
   
3. Drizzle the butter and juice over the flour mixture, stirring until moistened (mixture will be crumbly).
   
4. Reserve 1/2 cup of the oat mixture, then press the remaining oat mixture into the bottom of an 11" x 7"h baking dish coated with cooking spray.
   
5. Combine the cranberries, sour cream, granulated sugar, four, vanilla, orange zest and egg white in a second medium bowl, stirring well.
   
6. Spread the cranberry mixture over the crust.
   
7. Sprinkle the reserved oat mixture evenly over the filling.
   
8. Bake for 40 min. or until the edges are golden.
   
9. Cool the bars completely in the pan on a wire rack.

Yield: 24 squares

Nutritional Info
Calories: 133
Fat: 4.6 g
Sat fat: 2.6 g
Protein: 1.5 g
Carbs: 21.9 g
Fiber: 0.9 g
Cholesterol: 13 mg
Sodium: 67 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
Prepare for a shock, Gentle Reader: Despite my rambling and raving on and on so far in this post about those delicious orangey dried cranberries, I did not use them in this recipe.

I'll give you a minute to scrape yourself off the floor.

Back now? Great! Let's continue.

I opted not to use those precious gems this time because I didn't want to risk them going to waste in a recipe that was absolute crap. Remember that bland-ass bars I made from a recipe from Whole Paycheck? Well, I was fearful this recipe would have the same result.

But before I get to that result, let me review my futzings:

• Instead of all-purpose flour, which I do have, I whipped out my long-neglected bag of white whole wheat flour. The nutty flavor of that stuff pairs excellently with oats.
  
• I used Promise fat-free butter, even thought I have both Blue Bonnet Light and a light, hormone-free butter we use for bread.
  
• I used fat-free sour cream. I'd considered using fat-free plain yogurt but opted for the fat-free sour cream instead to remain truer to the original recipe.
  
• Morton's Lite Salt is just as good as regular salt, thank you very much.
  
• While I once again have a few whole eggs in my refrigerator, I used three tablespoons of liquid egg whites, which I whipped a little with a fork before adding to the bowl of filling.
  
• I zested a small Valencia orange, so I know for sure I put in more than half a teaspoon of the stuff. How much total went into the bowl I can't say for sure.

Zesty!

Prepare for another shock, Gentle Reader: I used regular brown sugar (light, not dark) and regular white sugar. I can't explain why I opted for the regular brown sugar; perhaps I did it because I have a brand-new bag of the stuff in my pantry. As for using white sugar, I had to do that because I didn't have enough Clabber Girl sugar replacer. Sad to say that more than a year after buying several bags when it was put on clearance, I'm almost finished with my last remaining bag. Fare thee well, Clabber Girl.

Despite not using the orangey dried cranberries, the finished bars had a wonderfully distinct orange flavor. I chalk that up to the probably doubled, if not tripled amount of orange zest. That's not to say, though, that the cranberry flavor is lost. It's fully present, as is the nutty-oaty flavor of the crust.

The bars were just too delicious not to desire immediately to make a second batch with the orangey dried cranberries. However, I really didn't need two batches of the things in my kitchen, so I struck upon a brilliant idea: The boy can take the first batch with him to school for the Feast of Sharing. Brilliant, non?

And it would have been a great way to be rid of the first batch in a nonwasteful way--if the boy had remembered to take the container with the bars out of his school bag when he got to school. How the hell he took out his homework folder that was in the same compartment as well as the pair of tongs and bag of styrofoam bowls I sent along for the bulgogi and japchae and his cup and little bags of snacks but forgot the container of bars is just beyond me. Maybe he decided he didn't want to share them, but then he never asked for one once they'd returned to their place of birth.

Le sigh. That second batch will have to wait a few more days.