Cranberry Jelly Roll

Hi all!  Well as I am sure you've noticed, my idea of posting all my holiday baked goodies didn't work out as planned.  Life took over and I had no time to do anything with the blog.  BUT, now there seems to be a bit of a lull in my day where I can escape and get some of these recipes posted, yay! 

What better to start off with then the Cranberry Jelly Roll!  This one came from a magazine I got at the local supermarket which again happened to be Martha Stewart.  I never go looking for her books or magazines, but I always seem to end up buying them.  Anyway, this recipe is nice because it's relatively easy but will make you look like a pro!  Here's what you'll need :

Ingredients:

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sifted cake flour (non rising)

3 tbsp finely ground almonds (may be toasted)

1/8 tsp salt

3 large eggs and 2 yolks

1 cup sugar

4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup confectioners sugar

8 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries

1 pound cream cheese, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

cooking spray

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly coat a 12x17inch, rimmed pan, with cooking spray.  Next place parchment paper to line the pan and spray on top of it.

 Dust the parchment paper with flour and tap out any excess.  In a bowl mix together the flour, ground almonds and salt.  In a heat-proof bowl combine the eggs, yolks and 1/2 cup of sugar.  Put the bowl into or above simmering water and stir until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is warm.  Remove it from heat and using an electric mixer set to medium, whisk for 2 minutes.  Raise the speed to high and continue whisking for another 4 minutes.

Now add your flour mixture into your egg mixture making sure you don't make clumps.  When the two are almost incorporated, add the butter down the side of the bowl and fold in.  Your batter is done and is ready to bake.  Gently spread the batter into the prepared pan flattening it out with a spatula.  Tap the pan on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles.

Bake 7-8 minutes or until golden brown and springy to the touch.   Let cool for 5 minutes.  Run a sharp knife around the sides of the cake to free it from the parchment paper.  Take another pan or a kitchen towel dusted with confectioners sugar and invert the cake onto it.  Starting with the shorter (or thinner) side, roll the cake into a log (incorperating the towel) and let cool further, with the seam facing down.

In the meantime, you can start making the jam.  Cook your cranberries and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves.

Continue to cook until the cranberries have broken down and the liquid has begun to evaporate, somewhere between 5-7 minutes.  Let this cool and then puree in a food processer until it's smooth.  Let cool completely.

With an electric mixer on medium, beat the cream cheese and confectioners sugar until it is light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and continue beating for another 30 seconds.

Unroll the log, spead with jam making sure to leave 1/2inch border on all sides.  Spread the cream cheese mixture over the jam.

You can reroll the cake now (excluding the towel of course ;) and cover with a towel.  Chill for 30 minutes or up to 3 hours.  Once cool you can trim the ends off.  Before serving, you may dust with confectioners sugar.

 

There you are!  I hope this one turns out good for you!  It may seem a little complicated at first but once you do it once, it's quite simple.  My one critique with this is that the cream cheese seemed a little to strong for my tastes.  I wonder if theres some way of mixing cream cheese with perhaps whipped cream or some other type of cream all together.  For some reason Martha Stewart seems to love her cream cheese a little too much.  haha

More recipes to come in the next couple days!