Cookbook Sundays-Cranberry Oatmeal Walnut Cake



There's been so much going on getting ready for Thanksgiving, and this year it's going to be with two other families and their children. Glad it won't take place in my "shoe box" size beach condo. I actually did get a head start on Cookbook Sundays, thanks to my friend Brenda, from
 Brenda's Canadian Kitchen...who started it. I will link this back to her blog.

This cake is so perfect for Thanksgiving morning with coffee or tea, and it really is from a coffee cookbook, called Coffee Cakes, by Lou Seibert Pappas. it's a 2006 edition, and it's a fairly new book for me that I found about a month ago, at Goodwill for $.79. Originally listed for $18.95. Now, that's what I call a bargain. I may want to start a "giveaway"...because, really, I'm starting to feel guilty for getting all these nice books for "peanuts"...and the rule is at Goodwill, any paper back regardless of the size, is 79 cents, so therefore, I have quite a lot collected, and I've been donating them back, along with a lot of my own that I don't need. I think it would be nice to pass them along to other bloggers that can use them. I will mention about this soon.



Cranberry Oatmeal Walnut Cake
adapted from Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas

1 1/2 cup quick cooking or old fashioned
rolled oats
2 large eggs
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, or low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 cup dark molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup whole -wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup (2 ounces chopped walnuts
pecans, or toasted and skinned hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan
(I used a bundt pan)
Spread the oats in a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until
lightly toasted. Let cool.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, brown sugar, and oil together until blended and
stir in the buttermilk or yogurt, molasses, and vanilla.
In a medium bowl, combine flours, toasted oats, baking soda, baking powder,
salt, and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon. Stir to blend. Add the dry ingredients to
the buttermilk mixture and beat for about 1 minute, or until smooth. Stir in the
cranberries. Spread evenly in the prepared pan. Toss the nuts, and remaining 1
teaspoon cinnamon together, and sprinkle evenly on the top.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester
inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack.
Cut into squares, or strips.
Serves 12.
Note: I used a bundt pan, and used the 2 teaspoon cinnamon, along with the chopped
walnuts in the batter. Also I used 2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour. (did not have
whole-wheat flour on hand. Also, I used a simple sugar glaze, mad with one cup of powdered sugar, and about 1 teaspoon water, mixed to a medium thick glaze, and drizzled the cooled cake with a large spoon.