Holiday Recipe Blog Blitz

It’s the week before Christmas and all over the place, you can find holiday cookies to stuff in your face!

Today I’m participating in Sew Cal Gal’s awesome Holiday Recipe Blog Blitz. This is a group of nine quilting blogs who are all sharing an awesome recipe today as well as a fun quilting tip. Make sure to check out all the blogs at the end of the post so you can get loads of cool recipes to try this week!

I’ve decided to share my family recipe for Cranberry Bars. These are delicious and, thanks to the cranberry, have a subtle feeling of being good for you, so I always feel less guilty when I eat an entire plate of them in one go.

The best thing about these cookies is they are bars, which means you can always double your yield by cutting them into smaller rectangles or squares, and they store amazingly well. You can also change up the flavors by using jam or preserves instead of cranberry to try different flavors. I’ve tried this with apricot jam and it was wonderful!

1 1/2 c. unbleached, all purpose flour
1 1/2 c. quick oats
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. shredded lemon peel
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. butter, melted
1 16oz can of cranberry sauce
1/4c. pecans, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl stir together flour, oats, sugar, lemon peel, and baking soda. Stir in butter and mix thoroughly. Pat mixture into an ungreased 12 x 7.5″ baking pan, reserving 1 cup for topping.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Carefully spread cranberry sauce on top of crust. Stir nuts into reserved topping. Sprinkle evenly over the cranberry sauce.

Bake 25 – 30 minutes until top is golden. Cool in the pan and cut into 1 inch bars.

Sew Cal Gal was super sweet to format this into a cute card which will be easy to print and enjoy!

Now for a quilting tip…hmmm…I’m on vacation right now and about as far from quilting anything as I can possibly be. But when we get home, I’m going to hit the machines to work on two projects exclusively through the end of the year.

During the last two weeks of the year I like to dig through my sewing room and pull out my major UFOs – Unfinished Fabric Objects – and figure out what they need and how much time they will take to finish.

I think it’s good to take a yearly inventory and ask yourself honestly if you really WANT to finish that project. The switch to a new year is a great time to drop what doesn’t serve you. If you have a project that is just mired in muck – LET. IT. GO.

Don’t wrap yourself in shame or regret or guilt about a project that just isn’t your thing anymore. Let it go, pass it on to someone else who can finish it, or donate it to a quilt charity that will finish it and pass it on to comfort someone else.

It’s not much of a quilting tip, but it might help you start the year with a lighter load and a happier heart.

Now for a list of the other blogs where you can find more fun holiday recipes today!

Bea Lee (Beaquilter) – www.beaquilter.com

SewCalGal – www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Stitch This (Martingale) – http://blog.shopmartingale.com/

Wendy Sheppard  (Ivory Spring) – http://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/

Marjorie Busby (Blue Feather Quilt Studio) – http://b-quilts.com/blog/

Jeannette Jones (Inchworm Fabrics) – http://inchwormfabrics.blogspot.com/

Barb Gaddy (Bejeweled Quilts) – http://www.bejeweledquilts.blogspot.com/

Behind The Mouse – The Electric Quilt Blog – http://doyoueq.com/blog/

Enjoy all these great recipes and have a wonderful time celebrating this joyful season!

Let’s go quilt!

Leah Day