Good morning and welcome to another edition of The Secret Recipe Club. For a little “behind the scenes” information, The Secret Recipe Club (SRC) is divided into four group. Each group posts on a different Monday of the month. I am in Group D and always post on the 4th Monday of the month. This means that those special months with five Mondays there’s a week without any fun reveal day! That is all about to change, beginning with today. On the 5th Monday of the month there will now be a themed reveal and it’s a “free for all,” which means that there aren’t any group restrictions. I’m looking forward to getting to know some of the other bloggers in the club.

With Thanksgiving behind us it’s time to set our eyes on the holidays and that’s why our themed reveal this month is Holiday Treats. My assignment this month comes from Group A, Anna over at BCMom’s Kitchen. Anna views recipes as “suggestions,” something I’d always had a problem doing. As I’ve been blogging and cooking I’ve become more accustomed to this line of thought and can comfortably change recipes to suit the ingredients in my pantry (and budget).

Given the theme for the month I immediately went to Anna’s “sweets” index and searched with the holiday frame of mind. I found myself being pulled to anything and everything cranberry! Apple Cranberry Crisp, Cranberry Tart, and although not a dessert, Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip.

We had this “tart” for our Thanksgiving dessert. My Thanksgiving menu this year was a little unconventional because we had a small group (just us and my in-laws). Instead of turkey we had pork roasts, cornbread dressing, sweet potato casserole, and green bean casserole. We had my Award Winning Chili on Saturday so we did get some turkey during the holiday weekend.

I chose the cranberry tart, but found it difficult to call this dessert a tart. I struggled with how to categorize it though. It’s not quite a tart because there isn’t a crust topped with a filling. It’s almost a pie with a crust going on top of the filling, but it’s not a crust, it’s a batter. It’s probably most like an upside down cake, but I didn’t photograph it upside down – I had to take the pictures Wednesday, before we ate it, while there was light. There was no way I’d risk turning the “tart” upside down in case it didn’t work that way. I’ve decided to call it a “pie cake.” Whatever you call it, it’s delicious – a perfect blend of sweet and tart with some texture.

I found this dessert best served warm alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Cranberry Tart

Ingredients:

• 2 C fresh (or frozen) cranberries
• 1/2 C chopped pecans
• 1 1/2 C sugar, divided use
• 1 C flour
• 1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp almond extract

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9″ pie pan.
2. Place cranberries, pecans, and 1/2 C sugar in the pie pan.
3. In a bowl mix the flour, remaining sugar, melted butter, eggs, and extract. Pour over the cranberries.
4. Bake 40-45 minutes until the tart has risen slightly, is set, and lightly golden.

*This recipe is adapted from Anna at http://recipes.alwaysbcmom.com/2011/06/cranberry-tart.html*

To see the other bloggers who participated in the themed Secret Recipe Club this month click here: