One of my New Year’s resolutions (more like aspirations) is to be more consistent with my “Whimsical Kitchen Therapy” blog. This is where I share my passion for baking and cooking; linking lessons learned to life’s ups and downs. A common theme that comes up with clients in my day job is the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy concept of Radical Acceptance. By accepting that sometimes things just are what they are, regardless of our desire for them to be so. And then sometimes …
Change is possible. The hard part? Figuring out what to change and how. Such was my dilemna when preparing cranberry cream cheese bars yesterday. I found a good recipe on Valya’s Taste Of Home but I wanted to make it healthier (as healthy-ish eating is another New Year’s intention). I used coconut milk instead of heavy whipping cream for the filling and swapped out half the butter for coconut oil chunks in the dough portion. The consistency of the dough was silky instead of dry but I was okay with this. But then I hit a snag.
The recipe suggests using a pan that’s 12 x 9. Most of my bakeware lacks clearly indicated measurements and I assumed that I’d be fine using my rectangular, Pyrex lasagna thingy (I don’t know if it’s called a tray or a pan or what). Wrong! My container was too long, the dough too thin and I did exactly what it said not to do—essentially, not to color outside of the lines. My cranberry topping initiated a mind meld with the creamy, white filling. I was going to let it be but I didn’t want my shortbread base to be too thin. There’s no thiness in baking!
I’m Amelia Bedilia in everything but especially when it comes to baking. I scooped and flung the topping into a bowl, scraped the blemished middle into a bowl and wadded up and tossed the too smooth dough into another one. Radical Acceptance time? Nah! I made a second batch and somehow the dough came out more crumbly. Magical bonus! I combined the doughs and pressed them into the glass bakeware, then layered the unintentionally dyed filling on top and topped it with the cranberry compote. Somehow, I totally missed the last step which is adding the pre-separated disc of dough that gets shredded onto the top ala streusel.
The important thing here is that I made something yummy out of a potentially binnable dessert. I was happy with the results. The messy, purple bars were healthy-ish and delicious. Had I allowed my disappointment in the initial results overshaddow the opportunity to try something new, I would’ve felt defeated. Change is possible when we pause and allow ourselves to change.
