Pumpkin Chocolate Granola Bars

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Pumpkin Chocolate Granola Bars

Pumpkin Chocolate Granola Bars

This morning I did something completely out of the ordinary. I took a break. After working nearly eighty hour work weeks for the last month (or three? They all seem to blur together), I haven't had much free time. I truly enjoy what I do at each job but, at the end of the day, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Or really, just too much. Though the end of this madness is in sight (hurry up January!), there is still another month of workaholic tendencies to attend to.

Today, however, I found myself with an entire morning with blissfully nothing to do. Four hours. Four hours doing absolutely nothing.

It was a beautiful, beautiful morning.

Pumpkin Chocolate Granola Bars

Truth be told, I'm not used to having free time so it took me a moment to fully settle into my lazy groove. I caught up on Gossip Girl, my favorite guilty pleasure, while eating up the last of the leftover Honey Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas from Thanksgiving (these are so addictive!). When I had my fill of television, I took out the arts and crafts. Last Christmas I received a card making kit and for some reason I never got around to putting them together. So I put on a little Ella Fitzgerald, brought out the scissors and glue, and got to work.

This was on track to be one of the best mornings in a long time, except for one minor detail. Can you guess what was missing?

Pumpkin Chocolate Granola Bars Pumpkin Chocolate Granola Bars Pumpkin Chocolate Granola Bars

Chips and soda, people. Chips and soda.

I almost never eat chips or drink soda. Since my life tends to often be consumed by sweets (if this blog and the fact that I work in a bakery weren't enough of a hint already), I often try to eat as healthy as I can at home. While this means I occasionally snack on chips or soda instead of apple slices or water, I never eat or drink both at the same time.

This morning, however, was a special occasion. There were chips and soda, cards and crafts, and enough of these Pumpkin Chocolate Granola Bars to round out a meal called lunch.

Is this what heaven feels like?

What guilty pleasures do you like to indulge in when you have free time?

Pumpkin Chocolate Granola Bars

These Pumpkin Chocolate Granola Bars are a spin-off of the Pumpkin Granola I made earlier this autumn. These bars feature pumpkin, chocolate chips, almonds, dried cranberries, and flaked coconut, though you could certainly play around with ingredients to adapt the bars to your personal taste. Most of the sweetness in the bars comes from the chocolate chips and, without any butter or oil, they are even good for you. These granola bars make for a healthy snack or a quick breakfast on the go.

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Cranberry White Chocolate Tarts

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Cranberry White Chocolate Tarts

Chocolate White Chocolate Tart

It was a weekday and I awoke just like every other morning, groggy and wiping the sleep from my eyes. I followed my typical routine—getting dressed and eating breakfast—before walking out the door. But my morning's familiarity ended here. The first snow had fallen to the ground while I slept and, for once, the snowflakes gathered, leaving the homes and streets white and sparkling.

Yawning, I drove away, making the first tracks in the pristine snow.

Chocolate White Chocolate Tart Chocolate White Chocolate Tart

Working a baker's hours means I get to greet the morning long before it first hits light. As I walked the rest of the way to work under the falling snow, my feet left the first imprints on the day. The world was silent, still in bed, with the covers pulled up to its chin and dreams still filling its head. It felt surreal, surrounded by all this beauty, with no one to share in it but me.

I opened the shop and assembled the ingredients for the morning's pastries, the drifting snowflakes just visible through the storefront window. The music from the radio and the hum of the refrigerator harmonized, while the rotating blades of the stand mixer clashed, creating a familiar dissonance that has started to define my mornings. Once I get the first pastries in the oven, the smell of baking scones begins to fill the air. The scent slips out under the door and slowly drifts down the city streets.

The first customers of the day often tell me that the scents from the bakery lure them in, making the cold streets just a little bit warmer as they begin their day.

Chocolate White Chocolate Tart Chocolate White Chocolate Tart Chocolate White Chocolate Tart

Though I dread waking so early in the morning (and oh do I dread it), once I find myself in the comfort and warmth of the bakery the world seems to make just a little more sense. My hair may be disheveled and my apron covered with flour, with dried dough hidden on my forearms and cemented to my fingernails, but this is the reason it's worth it to wake up so early in the morning. This feeling.

And though I can't explain it, it just feels right.

Chocolate White Chocolate Tart

These Cranberry White Chocolate Tarts are fresh and colorful, with no shortage of flavor. Almond shortbread tart crusts are filled with a thin layer of white chocolate and topped with another layer of cranberries, combining three flavors I've grown to love together over the last month. I topped the tart with the simple homemade cranberry sauce I shared with you recently and it was a perfect match. If you are looking for last minute dessert ideas for the upcoming holidays, this is an easy and delicious choice. These are even perfect to make after the holiday, if you find yourself with some leftover cranberry sauce.

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Cranberry Sauce

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Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry Sauce

I often find that cranberry sauce is a necessary, but neglected part of the holiday season. Rarely have I found a Thanksgiving table without some kind of cranberry sauce or spread, but often there are only a few spoonfuls missing (and the bowl is never licked clean). While I can understand this phenomenon of the forgotten cranberry (after all, there is turkey, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, breads, and desserts to distract), I'm afraid this doesn't excuse the crime. I am just as guilty as I may have ignored the poor cranberry sauce in favor of my grandmother's famous stuffing on plenty of occasions.

I feel troubled for the cranberry sauce. The vegetable tray already knows there will be plenty of leftovers to go around (in a battle of sweet potato casserole versus a celery stalk, there is a clear winner), but the cranberry sauce still holds hope within it's small berries. It has big dreams of finding a home arranged across a slice of turkey breast and those hopes so often fall flat.

Cranberry Sauce Cranberry Sauce

Homemade cranberry sauce differs greatly from canned cranberry sauce. For one, homemade cranberry sauce doesn't make that awful slurping sound as it falls out of the can (once heard, it can never be unheard. Beware). Secondly, it doesn't hold its shape. When the ribbing from the can is evident in the final product, I'm not sure this is something you'll want to serve to your guests. Now I know not all store-bought sauces feature the rim-lined, gelatin appearance, but I will still argue that they won't be as delicious as a simple homemade spread.

And certainly never as delicious as this particular one.

Cranberry Sauce Cranberry Sauce

If you are hosting a holiday this year, but scoff at my claims that homemade cranberry sauce is really worth the time and effort, let me make my case.

Cranberry sauce is surprisingly easy to make, requiring a handful of ingredients and roughly 10 minutes time (with only a few moments you actually need to pay attention). Subtle changes and adaptations will customize the sauce to precisely fit your tastes, neither too sweet or too tart. And, the kicker—you can make this cranberry sauce today and it will keep fresh until the special day.

Today.

Now you don't have any excuses.

What are your feelings on cranberry sauce? Do you also feel it is a necessary, but overlooked component of holiday meals?

Cranberry Sauce Cranberry Sauce

This Cranberry Sauce is fresh, light, and perfectly suited to your holiday meal. Instead of cooking my cranberries down in water (which so many recipes call for), I cooked them in orange juice, which adds fantastic orange tones to the final product. I also spiced the sauce faintly with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice which brings the sauce a well rounded, full-bodied flavor without tasting like a dessert. This recipe is adaptable, so feel free to adjust the amount of sugar for a sweeter or tarter cranberry sauce to suit your taste buds (you can start with less sugar and add more upon taste testing). If you have any leftovers, they are perfect as a dressing for leftover turkey sandwiches or a topping for your next bowl of ice cream.

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