Baked Apricot Cranberry Sauce

 

 In my never-ending search for new variations of Thanksgiving recipes, I was recently spiraling down the Tik Tok rabbit hole, when I found this little jewel of a recipe. It’s from a blogger who calls herself the Feel Good Foodie. It wasn’t the list of ingredients that I found so intriguing, but rather the cooking method. Now, I’ve made homemade cranberry sauce for years and years, but never BAKED them. What a concept, right?  So, clearly, I needed to give it a try, just to see how it would go. Well, guess what.. it was fabulous!! There was a sort of "roasted" quality that was really nice, and rather unexpected, if I'm being totally honest. Who knew? It was SUPER easy to make and the flavors were out of this world. Perfect for your holiday meal.
 Oh, btw, I should mention that the original video I saw didn’t include any kind of jam, but when I looked it up on her website, she included orange marmalade. I had some homemade apricot jam, so I went with it. Marmalade or without, you should give this a try. It’s always good to switch things up every so often, dontcha think?? Enjoy!


12 oz bag cranberries
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup apricot jam 

 

 

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Combine the cranberries, sugar, water, and cinnamon in a small baking dish. 

Bake for one hour, stirring halfway through.
Remove the dish from the oven, stir in pecans and preserves. Allow to come to room temperature, then refrigerate.

 

Tips:

Clearly this is a great time saver because you can make this WAY in advance. No need to take up oven space on Turkey Day!
Feel free to double or triple this recipe if you have a crowd to feed. Boom. 

Not a fan of cinnamon with your cranberries? Just leave it out!
 If you’d like to try these flavors, but don’t want to bake them in the oven, you can certainly do this on the stove top. I bet you could even do it in the crock pot as well, but I haven’t tested that idea yet. I’ll let you know when I figure that out!

Albin's Apricot Chicken with Wild Rice and Pistachios

 During this time a very short year ago, I was just about to open in a production of La Cage aux Folles. (For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is the show on which the movie The Birdcage is based.) I had the incredible privilege and honor of playing the role of Albin also known as Zaza (which is the Nathan Lane role). Throughout my many years of performing in theater, out of all the roles I've ever played, I think Albin may be my very favorite. It was definitely the most challenging, and it took me MONTHS to learn, but it was definitely the most rewarding!
 Anyway, in my very first scene, this was one of my lines: "I deboned a chicken, stuffed her with wild rice and pistachios, anointed her with apricot glaze, and topped her off in truffles.."
 Well, of course, ever since then, you KNOW I've been wanted to make this dish!
 So here we go.. Since there was no actual recipe, this is basically how it went down:
Instead of de-boning an entire chicken, I just used boneless breasts. For the wild rice and pistachio stuffing, I just looked for different wild rice recipes and then did some tweaking until it was right. (Side note, if I'm being quite honest, wild rice is usually not my go-to. But OMG wait until you try it in this stuffing!) And then I just did an easy apricot glaze. Simple! Oh, and since truffles are insanely expensive, I decided to just do a tiny drizzle of truffle oil over the top (but that's just optional!)
 The result was absolutely delicious! And it was pretty easy too!
 So, thank you, Zaza, for coming into my life. I will cherish you forever. And to my fabulous extended La Cage family, this one's for you. I hope you'll continue to live life "on an angle!"

4 boneless breasts of chicken
salt and pepper
Wild rice and pistachio stuffing
1 cup apricot preserves
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tbs honey
truffle oil, (optional)



Heat oven to 350ºF.
With a very sharp knife, place your whole hand on top of a chicken breast, and then slice horizontally, giving you two pieces that are twice as thin. Do this with remaining chicken. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Prepare the wild rice stuffing as directed.
 For each piece of chicken, place a heaping mound of stuffing in the center of each breast. Pull the ends up to meet. Secure with a tooth pick. Place each piece of stuffed chicken in a baking dish.
 IN a small bowl, combine preserves, soy sauce, mustard, and honey. Brush glaze generously over the chicken. Cover with foil. Bake for about 30 minutes or until cooked through. Don't over bake!
 After it is finished baking, remove cover and give it another generous glaze. Drizzle with a tiny bit of truffle oil, if desired.


Tips:
Not a fan of apricots? Just use another kind of preserves! How about peach or pineapple? You just want something sweet and sticky for your glaze.
Not a fan of wild rice? Just use whatever kind you like!

White Chocolate Apricot Squares

 Every summer, my fabulous friends, Ginna and Charlie, throw an amazing party. It's always a bunch of great friends, great food, and LOTS of laughs. It's a highlight of my summer!! And of course, I always like to bring a delicious home baked something to the party. Since Ginna loves all things apricot, I decided to give these apricot squares a try. They're easy to make with simple ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry. Perfect!
 The recipe is my own adaptation from one that I found on a website called Living D.I.N.K. (which means double income, no kids.) It's pretty much the same basic idea as the original, but I changed a few amounts and added a couple things. I'm thrilled with how they turned out!
 Everyone at the party loved them! (Too bad they were gone even before Ginna had a chance to taste one!!!! Guess I'll have to make more!) Thanx again, guys, for another fabulous party!
I'm sure you'll love them too. Try 'em!


1 stick plus 6 tbs butter, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
18 oz apricot jam
1 cup white chocolate chips


Heat oven to 350F.
 Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit with enough to hang over the sides of the pan. Place the parchment in the pan, smoothing it out so that it sticks to the sides of the sprayed pan. Set aside.
 In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, and sugar. Add eggs, salt, and vanilla extract. Mix well. Stir in flour. 
 Using your impeccably clean floured hands, press just slightly more than half of the dough into the bottom of your prepared pan. It helps to break off pieces of the dough, and then using your whole hand, flatten them into one even layer. Spread jam over the dough in an even layer. Sprinkle with chips making sure they're evenly spaced over the jam. Crumble the remaining dough over the chips. Bake 40-45 minutes or until slightly golden. Cool completely or chill until set.

 When it's time to cut them into squares, run a knife around the edge to make sure nothing is stuck to the sides, and then use the parchment paper as a sling to lift the whole batch out of the pan at once. Now you can place it on a cutting board and use a big knife to make perfectly even cuts without damaging your pan.

Tips:
You can use almond extract instead of vanilla, but a little goes a long way. Too much almond might compete with the flavor of the apricot jam. Just sayin".
 To make it easier to crumble the dough, place the rest of the dough in the fridge while you're pressing the bottom layer, and spreading the jam and chips. It'll firm up just enough to crumble a little more easily. I like to break off TINY little pieces of dough and place them across the surface of the jam. It covers more evenly, and you still get a little jam peeking through.
 Not a fan of apricots? Use whatever kind of jam you like! Seedless raspberry goes famously with the white chocolate chips. Or how about orange marmalade for a creamsicle sort of vibe? You could also do a black forest vibe with cherry preserves and semisweet chocolate chips. It will all work!

Baked Brie

My fierce friend, Amber, is quite the party hostess. Her parties always bring lots of friends, lots of laughs, and of course, lots of incredible food. (Have you tried her Amberlicious Sausage Wontons?) So I'm always thrilled when she sends me a delicious party food idea. Here's a fabulous and sophisticated yet simple recipe, in her own words.
Thanx again, Gorgeous!

Hey Honey! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and happy new year! I think you should put this recipe on your website. I made baked brie over the holidays, and it was a big hit! It is really simple, it's just:

1 sheet puff pastry
1 wheel of brie
apricot preserves
sliced almonds

Let the puff pastry come to room temperature. Cut the wheel of brie in half horizontally and put a layer of preserves and almonds on one half then close the wheel back together. Wrap in puff pastry sheet. You can substitute raspberry or other preserves for the apricot and use different nuts or omit nuts altogether, if desired. For best results, it's better to freeze until baking so the puff pastry holds up while the brie melts. Brush pastry with egg wash and bake at 350F for about 30 minutes, or until puff pastry looks golden brown all over. Serve with crackers and green apples or whatever dip-ables you like.
XOXO
Amber

Apricot Carrot Bread

Whenever I see a recipe with apricots, I always think of one of my favorite people on the planet, my friend Ginna. She LOVES anything apricot! So, this one is for you Gin Gin! It's SO simple! You just throw everything together, pour it into the pan and bake it. EASY! Ginna, even YOU could make it! No, that's not a cabinet at the far end of your kitchen. It's called an OVEN! Love ya!

1 3/4 c. flour
1 ts baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. applesauce
1/2 c. carrots, shredded
2 tbs. vegetable oil
1/3 c. dried apricots, cut into small bits

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray an 8x4" loaf pan with cooking spray. In large mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium size bowl combine beaten egg, sugar, apple sauce, carrots, and vegetable oil. Add all at once to dry ingredients; stir just until moistened (batter will be thick). Fold in apricots. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Optional:
In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar and 2 tsp apple juice to make drizzling consistency. Pour over cooled bread.

Jezebel

Here's a great party dip that's definitely not the norm. It's an amazing blend of flavors that you'd never think to put together. It's sweet but it has a spicy bite. I first heard of it from one of my favorite people on the entire planet, my friend Suz. She served it at a get together at her home about a million years ago and I immediately asked her for the recipe. I'm not sure where she got it, but since she's the one who brought it to me, she's the one who gets the credit. Thanx Suz! And no, I don't have any idea where it gets its name. Maybe it's because it has that spicy bite!

8oz cream cheese
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup pineapple preserves
1 heaping tbs horseradish
multi grain crackers

Cut the bar of cream cheese in half horizontally, and place the halves next to each other on a serving plate. Sprinkle with coarsely ground black pepper. In a small bowl, stir together the preserves and horseradish. Pour fruit mixture over the cream cheese. Serve as a spread on crackers.

Tip:
There are many other versions of this recipe. Some have apple jelly, some have orange marmalade, some have dry mustard. The one constant is horseradish paired with a combination of fruit preserves. Feel free to experiment with different flavors.
Instead of serving this as a party dip, try using the fruit mixture as a glaze for a baked ham or pork roast.

Isabel's Italian Apricot Chicken

One of my dearest friends in the whole wide world is my friend, Janet. She was in my very first show at the Ritz Theatre so many years ago. I think we were considered "the kids" back then, weren't we, Jan? Aaaanyway, since then we've shared many a scene together and 10,000 more laughs. I love her dearly and I'm thrilled that she shared her mother's super easy recipe with me.
Thanx Ja-nette!

boneless chicken breasts
1 regular size bottle Italian dressing
1 small jar apricot jam

Preheat oven to 350.
Place chicken in a 9x13x2 baking dish. Stir together the jam and the dressing, and pour it over the chicken. Bake it, uncovered, 30 minutes or until done. Adjust the cooking time depending on the thickness of the chicken breast. Serve over rice.

Tip:
I like to cut chicken breasts in half horizontally, or "flatways" so that each piece of chicken becomes 2 pieces that are half as thick. It'll take less time to cook and it doubles the amount of portions.