TWD-Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake

I love Fall baking! I love cranberries, pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. The smell of something-warm- and-tasty-in-the-oven filling the house is heavenly. It seems that the cool Fall weather finally hit us in Utah this week. On Saturday, it was a beautiful 70 degrees and we were working in the yard in t-shirts. This morning, we woke up to SNOW! So the chilly weather was just perfect to pop this lovely little dessert in to the oven.

We had grand plans to do a double baking day at April's house today, but Lizzie's kiddos were sick so April and I got together to bake today, and we are all gathering on Friday to bake for next week. We missed you Liz!

This was a simple recipe to prepare. I made the "jam" while April made the dough. The "jam" was wonderful, a little too tart for our tastes so we added a bit more sugar when it was done cooking. I might just use it as a cranberry sauce recipe for Thanksgiving, it was that good. The dough came together quickly and it was easy to see what Dorie meant when she said the dough was a delicate one. After chilling the dough we assembled the cake in the springform pan. It was a tricky dough to work with. For the bottom layer we rolled it out a little and then pressed it into the bottom of the pan with our hands. After putting the filling in, the challenge came in putting the top layer on. It rolled out alright, but was hard to put on without having it crack. So, we ended with a bit of a rustic top layer. 

When it came out of the oven it smelled wonderful! I sent a piece with April and then kept the rest here. My hubby loved it and he isn't normally a huge cranberry fan. He said that he liked the contrast between the sweet shortbread and the tangy cranberry filling. I thought it was a wonderfully simple dessert and will definitely make it again. It will be fun to play around with the fillings too. If you are interested in the full recipe, head on over to Jessica's blog. She also did the apple version and has some beautiful pictures as well.

Next week we it is finally our week to host TWD! We are super excited and are getting together on Friday to bake up a storm. Leading up to our hosting day, we are going to post some of our favorite recipes. So, until next week, Happy Baking!