Hello! And thanks for stopping by! If you’re new here, Welcome! Quickly catching you up, as this is my third, quite spectacular, (if you don’t mind me giving myself a rare and humble, tiny pat-pat-pat on the back!) entry for Cape Cod Select Premium Cranberries “Holiday Blogger Challenge and Recipe Contest”! Just in case you missed the first two, I made a dreamy Frosty Chocolate Cranberry Frappe for the Beverage Category, and a show-stopping Cranberry Balsamic Onion Jam & Filet Mignon in Puff Pastry for the Entrée Category! *You might want to take a peek! Super fun and easy for the holidays! So, for my last entry, the Dessert Category, I honored part of my Swedish heritage and created a new version of the classic “Swedish Star” pastry! Though this may look like…“Omg, it’s gorgeous, but I can’t possibly make this”….don’t worry. It’s actually very easy, and makes for wonderful holiday gifts, too! So, I hope that you enjoy my “Cranberry Apple Cinnamon Swedish Star“, and it becomes a new favorite holiday tradition in your home, too!

~About the Sponsor~
Cape Cod Select is a company located in the heart of cranberry country, southeastern Massachusetts, that provides a premium quality product choosing only the ripest, freshest berries to package, and was founded in 2009. They also take great care in protecting the environment by using the latest technologies, from flower to berry, to do their share to keep our planet healthy and thriving. They have four different frozen packaged products to choose from including Cranberries Plus Blueberry, Cranberries Plus Tropical Blend with Pineapple, Mango & Banana, Cranberries Plus Power Blend with Blueberries, Blackberries & Raspberries,
and of course, all Cranberry!
They also have fresh berries, as well as really cool gift box crates! (Want!!)

*A quick little, required, FYI disclaimer. Just so you know, I have been sent cranberries by this company to use, but any and all opinions I have, of course as always, will solely be my own. I am very happy to participate in this challenge, and I hope that I have created easy to moderate skill level recipes for you to enjoy! 

As I said above, you may think that you can’t do this. Erase that thought! Yea. You can. Just  set aside a morning or afternoon and you’ll reap the rewards….I promise you. The sweet yeast dough is basic and easy, but you do need to use bread flour for this one. They sell it at every grocery store there is. (*And it works great for pizza doughs, too!) So, just get some! It’s fun and convenient to have several flours on hand to play with! The butter mixture, too, could not be easier! Simple-simon ingredients! The only tip is to press the minced cranberries and grated apple between sheets of paper towel on top of a dish towel, to make sure you get that excess liquid out. And you’re golden!

My apologies for not taking “during”, step-by-step, photos this time! I made this on Christmas day to enjoy as a special holiday treat! And I was not going to spend Christmas day taking, downloading, and editing photos, as I’m sure you can understand. I made this while enjoying lots of wonderful holiday movies, and spending time with my hubby, as well as my kitchen buddy, “Gilbert”! (Our rescue Snowshoe Siamese, who knows where to be when good things are happening in the kitchen! 😉 ) So, please forgive me!

This post concludes my entries for the Cape Cod Select Premium Cranberry Holiday Blogger Challenge and Recipe Contest! I hope that you’ve found a few new recipes to try, and have enjoyed what I’ve made this year! I had so much, (much needed), fun! And their cranberries truly are pre-picked through, top quality, crimson red cranberries! No need to have to weed out “the bad ones”, as that has already been done for you and every single berry is gorgeous! I’ve very much enjoyed being a part of this event, and wanted to say thank you to all the employees that work so very hard to provide such a wonderful product! It’s way past time that we all started supporting the smaller companies that truly care! Thank you so much for having me!

I so hope that you all have enjoyed! Celebrate the holidays! But, most importantly, enjoy each other’s company! Turn the phones and computers off. Just talk to each other! 🙂

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone!!  

*Please be sure to follow Cape Cod Select Premium Cranberries via Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and YouTube to keep in touch and see all of the recipes from the contest, plus many more! (Need help finding them? *Click here to find a store in your area that carries them!)

Yield: 8 servings

Cranberry Apple Cinnamon Swedish Star

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Ingredients

• 3 3/4 cups bread flour, do not sub all purpose flour (450 grams)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup milk, warmed to about 100º - 110ºF
• 1 Tbl. dry active yeast
• 2 jumbo egg yolks, reserve whites aside
• 3 Tbl. Minerva Dairy Amish Butter, melted
• (the reserved egg whites beaten until frothy to baste before baking)

For Cranberry Apple Cinnamon Filling:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 packed Tbl. dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, room temp
• 3 Tbl. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 cup frozen Cape Cod Select Premium Cranberries, finely chopped in food processor (*measure before chopping)
• 1 sweet or Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated
• powdered sugar to garnish, optional but pretty

Instructions

Place yeast into a small bowl. Warm the milk in a glass measuring pitcher in the microwave for about 30 seconds. *Make sure the milk is not burning hot! Stir in the dry yeast and let sit for 15 minutes to activate.

In large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, and salt. Give it a few spins on medium to mix. Add the melted butter and egg yolks. Mix all ingredients together until mixture is slightly crumbly.

Pour the yeast mixture into the other ingredients and mix until combined. Shape into a ball and knead the dough for about 8-10 minutes by hand, until dough is silky and smooth. Shape into a nice ball, place into a lightly oiled bowl, turn ball of dough over and around to lightly coat, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place for about 1½ - 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

While dough is rising, make the filling by mixing the sugars with the cinnamon and salt. Add the softened butter and mix until well and evenly combined mashing together and stirring/folding with a fork. Mix and stir in grated apple and finely chopped cranberries that have been pressed between paper towels to absorb all excess liquid.

Punch down dough, remove from bowl, knead a few times, and shape into a nice ball. Then place onto a very lightly floured surface and roll and shape dough into a short log and slice into 4 equal parts. Shape each piece into a ball.

Take the first one and roll into a large circle on lightly floured surface, lifting and running dough to make sure it doesn't stick, and place onto a piece of parchment paper. Repeat with the other balls of dough leaving on lightly floured counter. The dough should be fairly thin and just a little bigger than a 10" circle. Place the first one (on the parchment paper), onto a large baking sheet or pizza pan with the parchment underneath.

Take a large dinner plate, or use the top of your mixing bowl or a 9" pie plate, and slighly press it into the first layer to mark a 10" circle. Remove plate, and spread with 1/3 of the butter mixture staying within the marked area spreading filling thinly and evenly with an offset knife and your fingers o evenly coat. Place the second layer of dough on top of the first one, mark again, then again spread with 1/3 more of filling the same way. Repeat with the third layer. Cover with the last circle of dough. Place plate back on top right over the center, marked area with filling, and cut and remove the excess dough with a sharp knife making a nice, pretty circle. *Keep the butter/cranberry layers spread thin. You may not need quite all of the filling.

Place a small shot or juice glass in the very center of the circle. Slice the circle into quarters from the outside of the glass through the layers of dough out through the edge leaving the center intact. Then slice each quarter in half, then each in half again. You will end up with 16 equal parts.

Take 2 cut arms of the circle, lift them up and twist them twice outward from each other around in the opposite direction, and lay them back down. Repeat with all pairs to form an eight-armed star.

Pinch 2 ends of each arm together to create an eight-point star. (*Each 2 should be a pair that are twisted away from each other). Cover with a lint-free towel or plastic wrap, and let rise again for 15 - 20 minutes.

Brush dough with beaten egg white, then pop into fully preheated 350ºF oven on center rack.

Bake at 350ºF, for about 15-20 minutes until golden but not too dark. Don't over bake. Let cool a little bit, dust with powdered sugar to garnish if you'd like, tear off a piece, and enjoy!