Whipped Cream Cranberry Salad

I got this recipe from the "Mike Douglas" afternoon TV Show in the mid '80s. I think it was Shirley Jones (the actress/singer) who shared it that day . It's particularly pretty at Christmas, because it's white, red and green and will even serve as a dessert.

1 lb. cranberries
2 cups sugar
2 cups green seedless grapes, sliced in half
3/4 cup chopped nuts (pecans)
1 carton whipping c ream

Grind cranberries. Mix with sugar and let stand, covered, over night in a large strainer over a non-metallic bowl to drain off juice.

The next morning whip the cream until stiff. then fold in berries, grapes and nuts. Chill and serve.

Cooking Tips
The juice from the drained cranberries is great to drink. Just add a little 7up or sparkling water.
This will serve 4-6, but can be doubled easily.
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One thing many ask about around this time of the year is how to make perfect cut out (sugar) cookies. I just sent these recipes to a friend of mine that E-mailed me for a good tried 'n' true recipe, so thought I would share them here also, with all my personal notes for great results. Enjoy!

I have two main cut out cookie recipes I have used for years with perfect results, and call them both No-Fail recipes. The good news is, neither have to be chilled, and yet the dough handles beautifully. I use a Tupperware (plastic) pastry sheet, but I don't believe they make them anymore, so I look for them at yard sales, and my son got me one on eBay awhile back, as they don't last forever. Honestly though, am sure you would have no trouble using a pastry board, but just make sure it's floured well, and also is easier to cut the shapes perfectly and execute the dough from them, if dip the cutter into flour.

Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup margarine (I use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter)
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten well
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt (I cut in half)
4 tsp. baking powder
4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. milk

Beat the eggs up in the bowl for an electric mixer, and add the butter, margarine and sugar and mix thoroughly. Add vanilla and milk and beat in. Mix in half the flour (low speed) and add remaining flour with baking powder and salt and mix just till a soft dough forms. DO NOT CHILL. Roll out about a quarter of the dough at a time, to about 1/8 inch thick (I generally like them a little thicker) and cut with cutters. The scraps of dough re-roll out nicely without making the cookies "tough".

Bake on ungreased sheets at 400º about 8 minutes, till brown around the edges. I only bake about a dozen cookies at one time on each sheet, as they spread out. If you frost these with a butter frosting and put the "sprinkles" on the top, they will store better, but I still put wax paper, or plastic wrap between the layers, so don't stick together. When I make the butter frosting, I don't measure, but use about 4 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup butter and enough evaporated milk to make right
consistency, and I add little almond AND vanilla flavorings to it, but suit your own taste. Depending on the size of the cutter, I get around 30-34 cookies per batch. This dough recipe doubles well too.

NOTE: Be sure and use butter AND margarine both, and not all butter, or the texture will be different if you don't.
Judy (in Alaska)
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This is another tried 'n' true recipe from a Taste Of Home magazine 17
years ago.

Deluxe Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond
2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar

Beat together in electric mixer bowl, the butter, sugar, egg and extracts. Add half the flour and mix in on low. Add remaining flour, soda and cream of tartar and beat on low just till blended into a smooth dough. Roll out a quarter of the dough at a time on a floured surface (they say to use powdered sugar instead of flour, but I never have).

Roll to 1/8 inch thickness and cut into desired shapes with cutters. (re-roll the scraps of dough, till all is used up). Place on ungreased sheets. Bake at 350º until edges begin to brown, about 8 minutes, or so. Can sprinkle with colored sugar before baking, but I like also to frost them with a vanilla butter icing, tinted with different colors and put the colored "sprinkles" on the frosting before it dries. These store
well. Makes about 3-1/2 dozen.
Judy (in Alaska)
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Hi Nancy,
RReading all the lime Jell-O recipes has brought back a memory from my childhood (going back quite a few years). My Mother used to make a Jell-O salad that I remember grating cabbage and carrots for. It also had crushed pineapple in it. Does anyone have a recipe for this? I would love to make it for our family New Years brunch. I just love receiving the newsletter and all the great recipes that are submitted.
Pat/p>

LLeah – your suggestion about searching for a recipe or an ingredient is brilliant. Thank you a million times over! All these years I never knew such help was so easily available! I keep all my recipes in word documents, separated of course by folders. For example, I’ll have a folder called “Bread” and within that folder will be sub folders such as “Quick breads”. Even within that sub-folder I’ll have other folders named Nut breads, Cranberry, Lemon, etc. If I’m looking for a quick bread to use up my leftover cranberries it’s super easy to find one. With Leah’s suggestion for searching I’ll be able to look for any recipe using cranberries, not just a quick breads.

For peace of mind about not losing anything on my computer I subscribe to a service that does this for me. It’s very inexpensive (less than 16 cents per day) and when I bought a new computer it was super, super easy to have them put everything from my old hard drive on my new computer. I never worry about hard drive crashes, flash drive failure, etc., ever using this service. br> Donna in Buffalo, MN

NNancy
MaryAnne in upstate NY had a fruit cake in the letter on Sunday Dec.1, 2012 and I would like to know what size of pan she was using.
Colleen, Canada

Terry in Hilton, NY on 12/2 asked for what sounds like the following recipe, just with a different name. I found many variations doing a search but this one looked like the best of all. You can always frost the outside with the mousse and add the almonds. Sounds yummy but my angel food cakes never turn out so I won’t be trying this one.
Donna in Buffalo, MN
 
Chocolate Mousse Filled Angel Food Cake

Cake:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup granulated sugar, whizzed in food processor about a minute to create extra fine sugar
12 egg whites, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 325º. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position.
Remove half of sugar from food processor. Add flour to sugar in the processor and process about a minute.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar with mixer on medium low till frothy. Increase speed to medium high and slowly add in reserved sugar. Beat till soft peaks form, about 6 minutes. Add vanilla and mix to combine.

Sift the flour and sugar mixture, and gently fold into egg white mixture in 3 additions. Put batter into ungreased angel food cake pan with removable bottom, then smoothing top.

Bake 40-45 minutes, till toothpick inserted into a crack comes out clean. Invert cake and cool for about 3 hours. To remove, use knife to cut between pan and cake.

Mousse:
1 3/4 cups whipping cream
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 ounces strong coffee
1 tablespoon Kahlua
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon plain gelatin (I use Knox brand)
Whipped Cream Icing:

1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 envelope Whip It, whipped cream stabilizer, optional
1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt, chips, coffee, Kahlua and butter together in the microwave, stirring and stopping every 30 seconds till smooth. Cool till just slightly warm. Sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup of the cream in small bowl and let sit for 5 minutes. Add gelatin to chocolate when chocolate has cooled.

Whip the remaining 1 1/2 cups cream till soft peaks form. Fold 1/4 cup into chocolate, then fold half the remaining cream, followed by the last half of the whipped cream. Refrigerate about an hour.

To assemble cake, slice off top about an inch down. Set aside top. Cut out a trench in bottom of cake, making sure not to get too close to bottom or edges. Save removed cake pieces for snacking. Fill trench with mousse and top with reserved round of cake.

To make icing, whip cream with sugar, Whip It and vanilla. Frost cake. Chill before serving.
DoDonna in Buffalo, MN
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