Cranberry Gems
My grandmother loved to bake and always used “real butter”. Knowing that I loved the taste of “real butter” and it was something we only had on holidays at our house, at her house she would sneak me a small pat near the fridge and we giggled as we let it melt in our mouth. One of the things she was famous for was her Gems, in this recipe I put my twist on it using a cranberry filling and a streusel topping. If you find yourself with leftover cranberry relish around the holidays, you can use it up here. I hope you give them a try!
Ingredients and Method
Crust
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups flour
Place all crust ingredients into a bowl and combine using a pastry blender, or a fork. Press the ingredients together until combined and you can form a ball. Place the dough in the refrigerator until chilled.
Filling
12 oz. bag of fresh cranberries
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. orange zest
1 cinnamon stick
Combine all ingredients into a sauté pan and cook until thickened. Use the back of a spoon to smash the cranberries. Cook for about 25-30 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick and set aside until ready.
Streusel Topping
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup quick rolled oats
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
Combine all ingredients and press together using a pastry blender or fork. Do not over mix, it should be crumbly.
Vanilla Glaze
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 Tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Mix the glaze ingredients in a large mug or bowl until smooth, you can adjust the thickness by adding more milk to thin it or more sugar to thicken it to your liking.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place them in the cups of a mini muffin tin. Press the dough out in the tin to create a pie crust in each tin. Fill the crusts with the filling and top with the streusel. Bake for 10 minutes or until the crust is golden. Cool and then drizzle with the glaze. Yield – 48 gems.