Why the Hell Not?

Key Lime Cookies

A while back I made Key Lime Curd.  I figured it was about time that I used some, so I went searching for key lime cookie recipes.  I came upon this one.  It sounded good, but I did not have any more key lime juice.  So, I modified. 

It annoys my dad that I modify every recipe, even on the first try, but I do it anyway.  It usually starts out of necessity - I want to make a certain recipe but I am missing an ingredient.  Or, out of dislike - I want to make a certain recipe but I don't like a particular ingredient.  Sometimes though I'm just feeling froggy and want to change the recipe and do it my own way.  They usually work out.  Of course, this serves to only fuel my need to change things from their "original" form more...  So, off I go continuing to modify. 

In the case of the Key Lime Cookies, modification yielded a downright awesome result.  I do need to make one revision of the recipe - using a greased cookie sheet (or just greasing the foil).  Parchment might work, but I think they'd stick to that too.  They're quite soft and chewy and sticky...hence the picture of them on the baking pan -

A close up of one of those bad boys -

The end product is about a three inch cookie.  They spread considerably and still reached out and touched one another when I put them several inches apart on the cookie sheet.  So, you'll need to give them some serious room to bake.

I also took a shot of the last bits of dough cooking in the oven.  The picture reminds me of the old Mervyn's commercial with the lady standing outside of the store saying, "Open! Open! Open!"  Here I was saying, "Bake! Bake! Bake!"  I'd already tasted the dough (it was fabulous), the curd (yum), and the finished product (divine) and was ready to them all to be done!  I couldn't help but modify the photo a bit to give it a bit of vintage flair.

 

Here's the recipe (my modified version) -

Ingredients

For the Cookie -

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup Key Lime Curd
• 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Filling -

• 2 cups Key Lime Curd
• 1/3 cup sugar (use only if your curd is too sour for your taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Paste or Vanilla Extract (I used paste)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar well. Add the eggs 1 at a time and the 1/2 cup of Key Lime Curd.  Mix well.  Add salt and baking powder.  Mix well.  Gradually add the flour to the mixture until incorporated. You may need to add additional flour to your mixture.  My Key Lime Curd made it moist enough that I added an extra 1/4 cup of flour.  Dough should be stiff but not dry. 

Place 2 cups of Key Lime Curd into a mixing bowl.  If the curd is too sour for your taste, add sugar to sweeten it to your taste.  I used 1/3 cup of sugar on mine and it made it perfect.  Add vanilla and stir well.

Lightly grease your cookie sheets or used pre-greased parchment or aluminum foil to line your cookie sheets.  Shape dough into 1-inch balls, press thumb into center of balls to make an indentation, being careful not to press through to the bottom. I like to also smoosh the cookies flatter on the pan so I can make a bigger filling hole.  Place your cookies no closer than 3 inches apart as they will spread considerably.  Fill indentations with about 1 tablespoon Key lime curd filling mixture.

Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Enjoy!

Makes 4-5 dozen, depending on how much dough you eat.

Yummy - Key Lime Curd

Today I started out on an adventure.  An adventure to make curd.  See, I usually avoid any recipe that requires me to stir constantly.  The one and only time I made fudge I burned the tar out of it.  I didn't stir enough. 

I don't like to stir.  I like to ignore.  So, custard recipes are out.  And curd is a custard.  But, I was in Fiesta and the bags of key limes were only $1.50 for a 2 pound bag.  That's about as cheap as they get.  They tend to hit this price in the dead of Winter and in the hottest part of Summer, so key limes must have two seasons around here.  I bought two bags yesterday and pledged to make curd.  I knew that if I put it off, I'd never make it, so I made a point to make it today. 

Have I mentioned that I LOVE key limes?  They're fabulous in just about anything - Cokes, tea, water, Caipirinhas, beer...you name it.  But I've never used them in baking.  Weird, I know.  Especially since I'm a baker. 

For the curd, I used this recipe.  Since I had eight million limes and was determined to use them all, I made a batch that was 5x the recipe. Thankfully I didn't try 6x as it wouldn't have fit into my pan! 

I also varied the recipe slightly.  I eyeballed (and went for the high side) the zest.  I used the zest of 9 key limes and it was too much.  The resulting curd is a bit too bitter.  But, and that's a big but, if you put it onto something sweet (i.e. a cookie or ice cream) it works quite well.  I'll still actually follow the recipe next time and *gasp* measure the zest.  I guess I found the one case where more is not a good thing!

I also used salted butter, in case you care.

Wanna see my curd?

Ain't she purty?  I did strain the curd before jarring. I figured that was important since I forgot to strain the seeds out of the juice before cooking.  Oops.

I also used both pint and half-pint jars.  Figured I could give away the half-pint ones and keep the big boys for myself. 

Also, after doing quite a bit of research, I determined that I should NOT can the curd.  It needs to be refrigerated or frozen.  Basically, the combination of eggs and not enough acidity make it a bad idea to can.  Plus, you only get up to 3 months of shelf life with canning this product, which is not much.  With freezing, however, you get up to a year of shelf life.  If you decide to refrigerate it, you get 3 weeks of shelf life. 

The original recipe makes about a pint.  Since I quintupled the recipe, it made about 5 pints - enough for a couple of pies or whatever else I can think of.  I did once make almond tartlets (I used almond butter cookie dough as the crust) and filled them with lemon curd after baking the crusts.  They were to die for, and I'd imagine the key lime curd would go nicely with almonds as well. 

Did I mention that this recipe is cheap to make?  When Mark and I were in Central Market this weekend, I looked longingly at a jar of Key Lime Curd.  He told me to buy it if I wanted it so much.  My response?  "But it's $7 for this tiny little jar of goodness."  He shrugged and walked off. 

How much did my version cost?  About $8...for 5 pints.  That "little jar" was either an 8 or 12 ounce jar.  So, I made more than 5 times the amount for the same price.  Here's the breakdown:

15 eggs - $0.99 (Fiesta had a sale on for 18 for 99 cents. I still have 3 eggs left but rounded up on cost.)

2 - 2 lb. sacks of key limes - $3.98 ($1.49 each)

2 1/2 cups sugar - $1.10 (I used about half of a 4 lb package and the full package was $2.19.)

Just under a pound of butter - $2.00 (love store brand butter prices!)

Reused jars - "free"

Total: $8.07.  

Total of on jar of pre-made stuff with tax: $7.57.  Total cost for 80 oz of the pre-made stuff (assuming it comes in 12 oz jars) - $50.47.  (Assuming it comes in 8 oz jars) - $75.70.  That's quite a difference!

So, for a whopping 50 cents more  than the cost of one jar I have at least 5 times as much curd.  Now, granted, I didn't use all of the same ingredients as they do in their curd.  After all, I didn't use preservatives.  

If you want to figure jar prices in there too, add $5 to the total.  The jars run about $1 each new.  And, since you're not truly canning them, you can reuse the lids.  I do plan to cover the lids with Press n' Seal as well before freezing since the liquid was not hot enough to create a true vacuum. 

Off to enjoy my curd!

Seville (aka bitter) Orange Marmalade ala Karen

We (meaning I got to do most of the work) decided to make bitter orange marmalade.  Seville oranges usually hit the stores here around February, so we were able to easily find the proper oranges at Central Market.  A couple of weeks ago, I sat down and began making the marmalade according to this recipe.  I forgot how many oranges to buy, so I ended up buying one too many.  I used them all anyway.  During the process, I determined that it was so incredibly bitter it was inedible.  So, I began adding in sugar.  I ended up adding in four extra cups of sugar, bringing the total sugar to twelve cups.  I also added in a couple of tablespoons of Grand Marnier and a tablespoon of our homemade vanilla (which is about double the strength of regular vanilla).  After all of these additions, the marmalade is still bitter, but is much smoother in flavor.  It's also edible! 

Here's the recipe:

7 Seville Oranges

1 Navel Orange (or other large regular eating orange)

10 cups of water

12 cups of sugar

pinch of salt

2 Tablespoons Grand Marnier

1 Tablespoon double strength vanilla (or two Tablespoons regular strength vanilla)

The procedure:

 

 

Cut all of the oranges in half. 

 

Or get a big strong man to do it for you...

 

Holy moley, that's a lot of seeds! 

 

Get that same big hot man to squeeze the juice out of the oranges.  Note that he put a non-reactive metal strainer over the bowl.  The strainer will catch the seeds so we can use them later for their pectin.

 

Chop the oranges up into little pieces.  We shot for something a bit larger than a dice.  Which, by the way, was small enough that most of the rind pieces dissolved by the end of the cooking process.  You literally use every piece of the orange in this cooking process, so do not get rid of the pulp that's left after squeezing.

 

Oooohhhh...pretty rinds.

Put the seeds into a cheesecloth bag.  We used one that we found at the beer making store.  Tie the bag tightly so the seeds won't escape.  Put the bag of seeds, rinds, and juice into a large pot.  We used Mark's beer making pot and it was too large.  You really could use a pasta pot for this. 

 

Add in 10 cups of water.  Bring it to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer.  Cook it about 30 minutes (you'll see that the peels will get a bit translucent) and then let it sit overnight.  Allowing it to sit longer gives the seeds more time to release their pectin, which is important as pectin is key in making jam. 

By the way, the smell of this on the stove is heavenly.  It smells like the best orange juice you've ever had.  And, if you're wondering how to store this overnight, I just covered it and left it on the stove.  I figured that since I'd be boiling the tar out of it the next day, it would be fine. 

 

The next day, add in your sugar. 

 

Stir your mountain of sugar into the orange mixture.  As you can see, I followed my candy making habit of using a wooden spoon.  I think it'd be fine to use a metal one too (so long as it's a non-reactive metal), it's just that I always reach for the wooden ones.

Note that my sugar amount is higher than the recipe I used.  The reason for this is that I tasted the mixture (during the last boil) and it was painfully bitter.  So, I added sugar until I finally got it past the super bitter flavor. 

 

Bring it to a boil and then drop it down to a hard simmer/light boil.  By the way, this the reason for the big pot - sugar items grow.  So, you always want to use a pot that's at least 2-3 times larger than your mixture when you're dealing with mountains of sugar. 

Also, since you're working with sugar, there is always the possibility of it burning.  so, stir it fairly often (every 5 minutes or so).  When you stir, stir gently.  You don't want to splash the mixture up onto the walls of the pan as it will create sugar crystals.  Those crystals will not mix back into your product well and will cause other crystals to form. 

I used a candy thermometer to measure the temperature of the mixture.  Since I used way too big of a pot, I couldn't do what I usually do - attach the thermometer to the pot.  So, I recommend using a shorter pot so you don't have to hang your hand over into the pot, risking steam burns, to get the temperature.

Simmer that sucker for about 45 minutes, or until the temperature is consistently 210 Fahrenheit.  Ultimate jelling temperature is 220 Fahrenheit.  Your mixture will plateau at 210 for quite a while.  So, you'll be gently boiling the mixture for quite some time before it will change properties enough to actually increase that last ten degrees.

 

Now that you've boiled the mixture for about 45 minutes and it's reached 210 Fahrenheit, remove the seed packet.  Make sure to use your tongs to squeeze any remaining juice out.  

Continue the gentle boil until the mixture reaches 220 Fahrenheit.  You can also do a test to see if it'll jell.  Put a plate into the freezer for a few minutes then drop a bit of the mixture onto it.  Put the plate back into the freezer for a few minutes.  Pull it out and run your finger through the mixture.  If it wrinkles up and resists you, then it's jelling. 

It'll look like this.  You can tell you're getting close as the mixture starts foaming up. 

Turn off the heat, and it'll look like this:

Skim the foam off and toss it.  Add in the vanilla and Grand Marnier.  Stir well.  Then, can like usual. 

How to (or how not to) Make Lower Sugar Strawberry Jam/Preserves

Technically, these are strawberry preserves as I used whole fruit.  However, I also completely goofed up the recipe.  Despite this, they still set just fine thanks to a great product.  Sure Jell, you stand up to your name even when I mess up your recipes!

Remember our strawberry patch?  Well we saved some of the berries that we picked throughout the Summer.  We hulled them and froze them.  And here they are.  All ready to be cooked up into delicious jam.  

We froze them in batches.  The top ones apparently juiced themselves prior to freezing.

Now, in canning, you're supposed to measure everything exactly.  The reason for this is that you need pretty precise proportion of sugar to acid to pectin to make it all set. 

But, I'm lazy.  So, did I measure the fruit?  Nope.  Not even close.  I just guesstimated what was in there.  That looks like 6 cups of crushed strawberries, right?  I think so.  And apparently I did a good guesstimation job as I ended up with slightly less finished product than I should have (which means more pectin for the product = a better chance of truly setting). 

At this point, I was supposed to mix the pectin with 1/4 cup of sugar, which I did:

I used Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin for Less or No Sugar Needed Recipes.  Whew!  That's a mouthful!  Since I used a lower sugar pectin, the recipe actually requires me to mix the pectin with some sugar, rather than just adding it directly into the fruit, like normal.  Then, I was supposed to add the pectin into the fruit and bring it to a boil.  However, I did this:

Oops!  I added in the rest of the sugar (3 3/4 cups) my berries.  And the pat of butter (to reduce foaming).  Once I realized that I'd totally messed up, most of the sugar had "melted" into the defrosting berries -

 

Zoinks! What to do?  What to do?  So, I pulled out the only other pectin I had in the pantry - regular ol' Sure Jell - and guess what?  Apparently you always put the pectin in first.  Not canning for a while clearly messed my brain up.  That and not reading directions...

So, I figured I'd try to make it work.  After all, if it didn't set, then it would just be refrigerator jam!  So, I threw the pectin mixed with sugar in too and turned on the heat. 

Nice action shot, eh?

Waiting for a rolling boil...

 

Not there yet.

Not quite there...

There!  See the bubbles and how the strawberry stuff looks totally pissed off?  That's what you're going for.  A boil that does not slow down even with constant stirring.

Now, had I followed the recipe like a good girl, this the point where I'd add in the extra sugar (the sugar that I didn't mix with the pectin), and then bring it back to a rolling boil and boil for one minute.  However, since I royally messed this up, I just boiled it at the rolling boil for a couple of minutes.  And, I knew I was onto something when I could feel the pectin working.  It's not as weird as it sounds.  I could feel the liquid thickening as I stirred it, which is part of the early stages of setting.  If you're following the recipe in the package (as you should), then you'd turn off the heat after a minute.  If you're not, well then, hope yours sets! 

Oh, and here's a little tip.  If you want to make your fruit be more crushed, you can smash it up against the side of the pan while the liquid is boiling like this -

The boiling actually cooks the fruit, which makes it softer and easier to smash.  This also apparently works better with fruits like peaches than it does with strawberries...

Here's another tip.  Of the safety variety.  Notice that I used a really tall pot.  There's a reason for that.  Since I was working with a lot of sugar, I wanted plenty of space for the sugar to grow during the cooking process.  If you don't leave enough space, the mixture will boil over and onto your stove.  And, if you get it on your skin, it'll burn you badly.  Since it's sugar, it'll stick as it burns, which means it's much harder to get off to stop the burning process.  So, morale of the story is use a tall pot!  

This picture shows just how much the sugar grew during the cooking process.  I took it shortly after turning off the heat.  Note the "high tide" line a couple of inches above the liquid.  The line shows just how much the sugar grew during the short cooking time.  

Now for "canning."  I used the tiny, yiddle, adorable, precious, and oh-so-cute Ball mini jars.  I love these jars!  They're little half pints, I think. They'll be super cute for neighbor gifts at Christmas.  I actually had enough left from my last canning adventure to use only that size.  They also have the normal wide-mouth top, which is essential for easy canning.  And, this funnel (the blue thing) fits perfectly in them. 

 

As you can see, I took this picture after I filled most of the jars.  I used a ladle to get the filling from the pot to the funnel.  I would have shown you an action shot if I was a mutant and had three arms and hands.  However, since I only have two, I had to put the ladle down to take the picture.  My ladle holds about a half cup and I filled each jar with about a ladle and a half of liquid.  Since I used whole fruit, I tried to make sure each jar had a good amount of fruit in it.  

Then, I wiped the top and rim of each jar with a wet towel.  You wipe the top so the seal on the lid will have full contact with the glass and will seal properly.  You wipe the rim as your metal rim that will hold on the lid will contact the rim of the glass.  If there's sugar and gunk on the rim of the glass, then the metal rim will stick and be a pain to open later. 

 

Awwww....my yiddle jar got a yiddle friend...

Aren't they cute on their play date?

Take the lids from their boiling water bath (using the magnet on a stick) -

And put them onto the jars.

Add on the rim bands, tighten well, and use your rubber tong thingies (also found in the canning aisle) to put them into your boiling water bath for processing. 

Process for 10 minutes and remove from the water bath.  Then, let the lid popping begin!  Mine are still popping (almost an hour later) and will continue to pop for a while yet.  Popping is good though as the sound is from the lid popping downwards indicating that a vacuum formed between the jam and the lid.

To make your own at home you need:

(1) To Follow the Sure Jell recipe exactly;

(2) 6 cups of crushed strawberries, hulled (frozen works well)

(3) 4 cups of sugar

(5) One package of Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin for Less or No Sugar Needed Recipes (pink box)

(6) All of the usual canning supplies.

Good Luck!

Boston's North End - a Foodie Find

Everyone who has been to Boston (and paid attention) knows that there is a rule in the North End - "Eat, preferably until you're so sick you cannot eat anything more.  Then, burp so you can eat some more."

The North End is the Italian section of Boston. It's known for its food and pastries.  There's a restaurant I've been to on each prior trip to Boston.  I didn't take a picture of it as when I took Mark there on his first trip this last month, it sucked.  I conferred with friends in town and they said the same thing.  The restaurant lost it's spark.  Which is really sad as it was truly fantastic.  So, morale of the story is that finding a restaurant in the North End doesn't mean you've found a good one.

However, we did find this place on our last day in Boston and it was divine.  As in so good it's worth the plane tickets to just go back and eat there.  It's that good.

Mark wouldn't let me take pictures of our food.  He said I was a weirdo. I felt like a dork taking this picture (thanks to his censure) so I didn't go to the Gelateria next door (which the restaurant owners also own).  They claim to make their own gelato (most places in the North End import theirs from Italy which is a bit of a sin in my book as gelato is best very fresh), so I likely missed out.

But back to the food - it was a chilly and icky October day so I ordered something that is a very rare find in Texas - osso buco.  It's basically a large piece of bone-in veal flank that has been slowly cooked in a tomato-based sauce.  Kinda like a whole meat Italian stew.  They served it over a bed of saffron risotto, which was a bit undercooked.  I wasn't a fan of the risotto by itself, but with the veal and sauce, it was incredible.  The blend of the flavors was fantastic.  And, the veal, as it should be is osso buco, was fall off of the bone tender.  The portion was also insanely large, so I could only finish about half of it.  Had I not thought the TSA would give me hell for bringing it on the plane, I would have taken the rest home.

Mark got a daily special of squid ink pasta (also called black pasta) with a tomato and garlic sauce and fruiti di mare (assorted fish).  The pasta was homemade.  he pasta had kind of an earthy, yet under the sea, taste.  The sauce was light yet creamy and full bodied.  The fruiti di mare included mussels, clams, shrimp, and some additional fish.  I'm not a big fish person, but I really and truly had to fight stealing his plate from him.  It was that good.  My mouth is watering just thinking of it.  I liked it even more than the squid ink pasta (that had a squid ink sauce) that I had in Venice in 1997.  Heck, I liked it a lot more than that; that was a bit much. 

The one downside to this restaurant (besides that it's not in Dallas) was that they do not serve tap water.  Is that authentic Italian?  Annoyingly, yes.  However, even in Italy you can get tap water at most places if you ask in Italian. Here, not so much.  However, the bottled water wasn't unreasonably priced for a restaurant, the food was fantastic, the bread basket they brought (a mixture of a peasant style loaf and focaccia) was divine, and the food, oh God the food, was absolutely incredible.  And, the waiter suggested a wine that was not on his glass list that went perfectly with my osso buco.  And, he did it by the glass.  Great food and service makes it a total foodie find.

Paula Deen's Restaurant

Since I mentioned this in yesterday's post, I figured y'all might actually want to know what we ate.  Here's a picture of the menu:

I thought it was nice and simple.  Classy.  In that "we do so much volume that we laminate our one page menu" kind of way.  Thought the prices were a bit high though.

Here's the bread they brought around to everyone:

 

On top is a lightly flavored and super fluffy cheddar biscuit.  On bottom is a pan fried (and I do mean fried) pancake.  I think this is her hoe cake.  It was really quite good, but really quite greasy.  

We started with Fried Green Tomatoes (a South staple):

These were not spicy at all.  Now, if you're a Yankee, you might think they have a little kick, but really they don't.  The white stuff in the middle is pickled onions.  I thought that was weird until I tried it.  I'm not much for raw onions but these were really good.  Slightly sweet with a bit of zip.  They also added something nice to the fried green tomatoes, which were fried well but a bit bland.

My sister had the Crab Stuffed Shrimp:

You can't see it, but these suckers are wrapped in bacon.  Good smokey bacon.  I am not a fan of anything with crab, but they were quite tasty.  The bacon balanced the sweetness of the crab out well.  The shrimp kind of held it all together and gave more texture to the bite.  I didn't try the rice or asparagus, but my sister really seemed to like it.

And, I had the Shrimp and Grits:

 

It was creamy goodness with a touch of spice at the end, but also a bit bland.  It really needed some depth of flavor to round it out.  However, I did add some of Paula's hot sauce (provided at the table) and that truly helped.  I'm not normally one for Tobasco-type sauces, but it really made a difference in the fullness of this dish.  However, the shrimp were still badly overcooked. 

The grits were also quite bland, which is disappointing.  They were true grits, which is good as sometimes you get the cheap nasty grits at restaurants (aka crap they try to play off as grits but is really instant stuff), but they were just not really seasoned.  I truly expected some exploding butter flavor from Paula Deen's restaurant and that was absent.  As was salt.   

So, my review of the restaurant is that it was good, but not stellar.  Little touches were there though.  Did you notice the doilies below the plates?  I thought that was a nice touch and one you never get in restaurants.  The ice tea also came with lemon and even a mint sprig.  That's not a common touch in Texas.  Of course, neither is having to remember to order unsweetened tea!

The waitstaff was very friendly and attentive as well.  It's a bit hard to get in (likely because it's such a tourist attraction), but it wasn't that hard.  We just walked up and made reservations for an hour or so later.  Oh, and when you go, don't forget to read the WWI letter they found during the renovations.  It's something!  It's on the wall across from the ladies restroom (and on your way to the store).  

And let's not forget the most important thing - it's Paula Deen's restaurant!  Woo hoo!  That alone makes it worth going and I clearly am not alone in that thought.  People were flashing cameras both inside and outside the restaurant the entire time we ate, and I know it's not because they think I'm someone famous!

Bramleys - Part Deux

Have you wondered how to process Bramley apples for freezing?  I know you have.  And you're dying to know.  Really.  I bet it keeps you up at night too.  Wondering how you'll get it done.  What steps to take.  Do you need to add Vitamin C to keep them from turning brown?  Should you use a knife?  Just how do you get those seeds out?  Well, have no fear, I'm here to show you how!

First, start with apples.  Wash them.  You don't need to dry them, just put them under the faucet and rub them with your hands.  Then, set them on the counter on a towel (to absorb any water coming off) for the next step. 

And as a side note - if you're thinking of getting new counter tops, don't get tile.  No matter how great you think it looks.  It only looks fantastic for three seconds after it's been installed.  Because no matter how many times you clean it or what you use to clean it, it'll still look dirty until you whip out a toothbrush and some bleach and scrub every last bit of the grout down.  And then it'll stay nice looking for about five minutes until your husband spills something onto it.  So, just don't do it!  now back to the regularly scheduled programming...

See that spotty one in the middle of the bottom row?  That's really not a good apple.  They should not be mushy or have dark spots.  However, these were quite expensive, so I was determined to use as much as I could.  Thus, I ended up trying to use the spotted ones and was able to use some of them, so long as they weren't also mealy.  If they are mealy, then you need to toss them as they won't taste good.

Pull out your apple peeling contraption and secure it to the counter.  This one has a suction cup on the bottom to help secure it to the counter.  Then you push that little bar thing on the bottom down to the counter to make sure it's really on there.

Pick up an apple and spear that sucker with your "machine."

Now, crank that apple through the machine and let it peel, slice, and core that bad boy for you. 

I just love it when machines do all of the work for me!  You can peel, core, and slice your apples with a knife, but why bother?

Remove your peeled, cored, and sliced apple from the machine and slice the apple in half.  I like to slice mine as they fit into the bags better and are easier to spread into a pie later too.

Put apple slices into a bowl and add Fruit Fresh.  Now, I tried two methods of adding Fruit Fresh to them.  Fruit Fresh is asorbic acid - aka Vitamin C.  It prevents the fruit from browning.  It does also add a slight bit of tartness to the fruit.

Method 1:

Sprinkle Fruit Fresh into the bowl.  Add water and stir until the Fruit Fresh is dissolved.  It's very finely ground so it dissolves quickly.

Here's a picture of the apples in the Fruit Fresh solution.  If you use this method, you'll need to drain the apples prior to freezing.

Method 2:

After putting the apples into the bowl, generously sprinkle them with Fruit Fresh.  I also flipped the apples around in the bowl and sprinkled their undersides to help get better coverage.

 

Then, once you have enough apples peeled, sliced, cored, and sufficiently Fruit Freshed, put them into freezer bags for freezing.  Then freeze them until you're ready to use them.  That's it!  Easy peasy. 

Here's a comparison of apples Fruit Freshed with Method 1 (on the left) and Method 2.  As you can see, soaking the fruit in Fruit Fresh is more effective at preventing browning than sprinkling with Fruit Fresh.

And here's what happens if you don't use Fruit Fresh -

It took less than five minutes for them to reach this point.  Moral of the story - use Fruit Fresh or crushed Vitamin C!

Bramley Apples...

As the days start to get cooler (in places other than Texas), it's beginning to be apple season.  Last year, I ordered two boxes of Bramley apples. Here's a picture of one of the boxes -

Mark and I spent part of our honeymoon in London where we also had the most amazing apple pie I've ever tasted.   And of course, it was made with Bramleys.  If you have never had a Bramley apple, and if you're in America, you likely have not as they're very hard to find here, they're like Granny Smith's on crack.  They are super tart and yet have a deep sweetness at the same time.  However, they are a cooking apple so they are not meant to be eaten raw.  Cooking mellows out their bitterness while kicking up their sweetness so you end up with a nice zingy sweet taste.  They're so popular in the U.K. that they have their own website.

It took me a while to locate a Bramley "dealer"  in the United States.  While Bramleys are very popular in the U.K. and considered by many to be "the" cooking apple of Britain, they have not yet gained huge popularity here.  So, it took me a while to find someone that would ship these apples, and I literally found ONE place in the U.S.  I tried google and hit upon Posh Spice and David Beckham's blog.  Not kidding.  Apparently Posh found some Bramleys at a local farmers market in San Francisco and posted about it.  Philo Apple Farm sold them at that market.  So, I called them and they don't ship, or at least not as far as Texas.  However, they did point me to the one place that had them and does ship.  And, low and behold, I had Bramleys in my house just a few weeks later! I seem to have lost my bookmark of the website for the magical shipping place and will amend this post if I can find it as it's currently elusive despite my searching skills.

Apparently, getting them shipped is still a problem.  However, if you go here and scroll down, you can find a short list of farms that grow Bramleys.  If you're lucky enough to live near one of these farms, check them out!

Stay tuned and I'll show you how I processed these apples later in the week.

Peach Preserves, Peach Cobbler, Peach Pie, Peach Ice Cream...

Peach Simple Syrup, Peach Crumble...so many things you can do with peaches!

My first quest for the peaches was peach preserves.  I got rave reviews on my preserves last year, so I decided to try them again.  I again tried to recreate my grandmother's preserves, which were absolutely incredible, but unfortunately I never wrote down her recipe (nor did she).  So, hopefully Grandma, I did you proud anyway!  

I've learned to can/preserve in a very set way.  It moves much more quickly if I get everything ready in a certain order and make sure to have my supplies out and ready before I start.  Now, normally, I don't care about this, but once you start the fruit cooking you are limited on how long you can wait before jarring it and processing the jars, so I found that it's easier to just have everything ready when you start. 

I break my canning into two stages: (1) preparing the fruit, and (2) making the canned product and processing the jars.  If you buy frozen fruit, you can just skip to step 2.  However, the flavor is better if you use ripe, fresh fruit.  You want your fruit to be ripe but not so ripe that the juices will run down your chin when you bite into it.  If it's that ripe, then your preserves will be too sweet. 

Although most modern pectins have been perfected so they set a lot easier than they used to, you still need the proper amount of sugar and acidity to make them set.  So, you shouldn't reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe unless you're using a pectin designed to be used with lower sugar. 

Here's what I suggest having out:

A tall pot of boiling water (fill pot only about 2/3 full)

Another tall pot

A bowl of ice water (if you're canning the kind of fruit that you have to remove the skin)

Fruit

Lots of sugar

Pectin

Lemon juice (the amount and need depends on what you're canning)

1 tsp butter (preferably unsalted)

Water

Prepared jars (meaning clean and hot) - I like to dishwasher my jars shortly before starting so they're clean and hot when I pull them out of the dishwasher and fill them with my preserves.

Lids (clean and warm)

Tops/Lid bands

Tongs (preferably ones designed for canning)

Large slotted spoon

Metal spoon (without slots)

Ladle

Stick with magnet on the end (they make one for canning and you can find it in the canning aisle of your supermarket)

Oven mitt

Extra bowls

Knife

I also often put my tea kettle on the stove (full of water) and have it boiling in case I need to add any water to my canning pot. That's the red thing at the bottom right of the below picture.

I always start by setting up my pots on the stove.  I start with this as it takes the most time and I can do the other steps while I wait on the water to come to a roaring boil.

Ignore the fact that our stove is dirty.  It's really a futile gesture to clean the stove before canning as it's likely to get way worse.

Next, I wash the fruit.  Then, I place it into a colander to drain:

 

Note: I had enough peaches to fill this colander 5-6 times, but I only did one colander full at a time as that's all I can handle.  Meaning, I ran these peaches through the full peeling steps before washing more peaches and running those through those steps, and so on, and so forth. 

Next, I used a sharp knife to cut an "X" onto the peach butts.  The "X" allows you to pull the skin off of the peaches after you've briefly blanched them.  Blanching is just boiling an item for a very short time.  I shoot for 30-60 seconds when I'm trying to remove peach skins. 

 

Hello wet fuzzy butt.

I put "Xs" in enough peaches to fill the bottom of the boiling water pot.  Mine will hold about nine of these peaches.  While these are blanching, I cut the next nine to go into the pot and so forth.  That way, I'm working constantly and keeping things moving as quickly as possible.

Once the first set of peaches are cut, you plop them into the boiling water for 30-60 seconds.  The water will likely stop boiling, but that's okay.  Just keep to the time, otherwise you'll cook the peaches and they'll turn into mush and be hard to work with.

Now, you use your slotted spoon to pull the peaches out of the boiling water and put them into the ice water bath. 

When you pull the peaches out of the boiling water, they'll look something like this:

See how the cut has swollen and the skin seems to be lifting off?  That's what you want.

Now, I didn't have enough space in the ice water bath to hold more than one boiling batch of peaches. However, I lucked out and the colander also only held about two baths worth.  So, while the second batch was in the boiling water, I removed the first batch from the ice water and put it into the colander.  Then, I took the second batch out of the boiling water, and added it to the ice water bath while I removed the skin from the first batch of peaches.

To remove the skins, turn your faucet on low.  Starting at the "X" use your fingers to peel the loosened skins off.  Basically what happened with the baths is that the hot water cooked the outer edge of the fruit and caused the cells holding the skin on to break down.  The cold water bath caused the fruit to shrink slightly so the skin was released from the fruit itself.  So, this process made it much easier to remove the skins. 

Note: I've found that if you leave the fruit in the cold water bath too long then it's actually harder to remove the skins.  So, you can leave them in there for a few minutes, but I wouldn't wait longer than that. 

Here's a picture of the skin removing process:

In today's episode of I need a manicure...

And here's a picture of lots of skinless peaches:

I also usually cut out any bruises (which tend to taste bitter) and any ugly parts from the peaches while I remove the skins.  If I miss any, then I cut them out when I cut the peaches into pieces.

Note: I ran all of the peaches through the skin removing process before I moved onto the next step.  It took me about an hour to get all of the peaches through the skin removal process. 

Next, I cut the peaches into pieces.  This is where buying Freestone peaches really comes in handy.  Freestone simply means that the peach pit easily separates from the fruit. Meaning that when you slice the peaches into halves, you can easily pull them into two halves.  If you've ever tried to cut a non-freestone peach, then you know exactly what I mean.  They don't cut easily. 

Enter peach pieces:

I used that pot later for cooking the preserves, since you need a wide bottomed pot for it.  You also need a tall pot as preserves, like candy, grows when you cook it.  So, it's best to have a pot that's at least three times the size of the ingredients you're putting into it. 

After I cut all of the peaches into pieces, I pulled some out for the batches of preserves and for freezing.  For those that I froze, I put them into a bowl, sprinkled them generously with Fruit Fresh, and then placed them into gallon sized plastic bags for freezing.  Fruit Fresh is essentially powdered Vitamin C.  It does add a slightly sharper flavor to the peaches, but it also helps to keep the color correct and to slow down the enzymes that break the fruit down.  

Then, I measured out the amount of peaches that I needed to make one recipe.  I use the recipe that comes in the Sure-Jell package.  I figure the recipe is tried and true and quite good and I haven't been wrong yet!  I use the recipe for jam.  Jam is essentially the same as preserves, minus one step.  Preserves have chunks of fruit and jam is fruit puree.  So, I skip the puree step and make preserves.

The recipe I followed called for:

4-6 cups of fruit

7 cups of sugar

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tsp unsalted butter

1 packet of Sure-Jell

I put everything but the Sure-Jell into my candy pot:

Prior to heating this, I cleaned out the pot that I used for blanching the peaches and filled it with fresh water.  Then, I added the jars and brought it all up to a boil.  I normally dishwasher the jars shortly prior to this step so they'll be both clean and hot, but I broke my canning into two days so I didn't have the jars hot anymore.  You want the jars hot before you add in the inside liquid as otherwise they might break. 

I also ladle a bit of the boiling water into a bowl with the lids in it.  The heat warms up the seals on the lid, helping them to seal.  You don't want to boil the lids as that could cause the seals to crack.

And start cooking it on high heat:

Stir it periodically  until it comes to a rolling boil.  You're looking for a boil that doesn't stop boiling even while you stir it constantly.  Once you have that, add in the pectin:

Stir constantly and heat it for the amount of time the package says.  I used liquid pectin for this, so I only had to cook it for one minute. 

If you're wondering why I added the butter, the reason is simple.  Butter reduces the amount of foaming.  Since this is a sugar product, it grows quite a bit while cooking.  And hot boiling sugar is bad news for your stove and skin.  However, the butter slows down the growth quite a bit.  

Once you've heated it for the specified amount of time, turn off the heat.  Use the metal spoon to remove any remaining foam from the top of the liquid.  When I use butter, I have very little foam to remove.  However, I've found that the foam is still worth removing as it has a bitter flavor.  

Now, you're ready to jar the preserves.  Use the tongs to remove your hot jars from the boiling water and set them aside.  While wearing an oven mitt, pick up one jar and ladle the hot liquid into the jar.  You want to fill it almost completely full.  I left about a 1/4 to an 1/8 of an inch of space left at the top of the jar.  

 

Make sure you put some fruit into each jar. 

I fill all of the jars at once and then if there's any remaining liquid, I add it to the jars to top them off.  

Once you've filled all of the jars, you'll need to wipe any liquid that has dripped down the sides of the top off.  So, take a wet paper towel (or wet towel) and wipe any drips off of the top of the jar and the grooving on the outside of the top of the jar.  It really doesn't matter if you have drips any lower than the grooving as it'll just dissolve off when you process the jars.  However, if you have drips on the top of the jar, the tops will likely not seal.  And, if you have drips in the grooves on the outside of the jar, then the bands may stick when it's time to open the jars and you'll have problems opening them.

Here's a sample of a jar that needs cleaning:

And one that I'm wiping clean:

Next, use the stick with a magnet on the end to pick up a lid and put it onto the jars:

While wearing the oven mitt (as the jars are still very hot) screw the bands on top of the jars.  Tighten them fairly tight.  You don't have to make them super tight, but you do want them tight enough to hold the lid in place while you process the jars. 

 

And now for the final step - processing.  Processing is simply boiling the jars for a set period of time.  The allows the jars to form an air tight seal, thus allowing you to leave the jars at room temperature for up to a year.  Processing is super easy.  In fact, I find the hardest part to be getting the jars back out of the boiling water.  If you buy the special canning tongs (you can find them in your grocery store canning aisle or online) then it's much easier to get them out of the water.  I have also used flat tongs (meaning the part that grips the food is totally flat) and an oven mitt successfully.  I hook the sides of the flat part of the tongs under the rings of the jar lids and use the oven mitt to guide the hot jar to the counter (in case the jar slips from the tongs). 

To process the jars, simply put the jars into a pot of boiling water.  You want the water to be about an inch above the top of the jars.  If your water is too low when you start putting the into it, don't worry as the remainder of the jars will displace enough water to make the level higher.  

Put your jars into the pot of boiling water for processing:

 

This is actually a pasta pot.  I use it for just about every big project. 

Boil the jars for the length of time your pectin recommends.  The usual time for jam is 10 minutes.  I always assume that jams and preserves take the same amount of time and my jars always set, so I boiled mine for 10 minutes. 

Once the time is up, remove the jars from the boiling water and set them on the counter (if you don't have tile counters like we do, then put a towel down first) to cool.  You'll hear a popping sound periodically which is the lids popping down as the seals are sealing.  Let the jars cool completely and then test the seals by pressing your finger into the center of the jar lid.  If the jar lid moves, then your jar is not sealed.  You have two choices: (1) reseal, or (2) put the jar into the refrigerator and eat the preserves over the next few weeks.  For resealing, you'll need to remove the lid, clean the jar and lid again, put the lid and band back on and process again.  If it doesn't set a second time, then try the whole process over with a new lid.

You'll need to wait 24 hours before eating the preserves so they can fully set. 

I hope you enjoyed my preserving tutorial.  Preserves really are easy and are a great way to "preserve" fresh fruit for later use.  Plus, they make great gifts!  I plan to decorate my jars and give them to friends and neighbors for Christmas.  

The entire preserving process took me only about three hours.  If you use frozen fruit, then you can make preserves in about an hour.  Which, really, is pretty darn fast for something homemade and easy that ridiculously impresses people. 

Enjoy!

Peaches Galore!

I realize that some of you may disagree (you're idiots you simply have incorrect different opinions), but Texas peaches are the best in the world.  And that's REAL Texas peaches.  Not that crap you usually find in the stores, but the kind that you have to find a farmer to get.  Or go to a real Farmer's Market.  Or do my favorite, find a roadside stand. 

Now, this year we had several unfortunate events that severely limited our supply of these luscious fruits - a series of late freezes and a huge hail storm.  Peaches are fragile beings and do not care for anything other than their kind of weather.  So, alas, we had to branch out to find peaches this year. 

Enter our friends at Cooper Farms.  Okay, we don't really know them, but Texans are just friendly that way.  The people at Cooper Farms are clearly brilliant marketers.  They have billboards and other signs all over I-45 telling people that they not only have Texas peaches for sale but also that you can get them at both exits in Fairfield, Texas.  And then, to make it even easier, they have they have box trucks with their farm logos and big pictures of peaches staked out at the exits.  I'm sure they do heavy business during the Summertime.  Heck, I know I was thrilled to not have to convince Mark to drive 20 miles off of the interstate to get to a farm just so I could get some of my beloved peaches. They had other farm fresh produce there too, but I ignored that.  All I wanted was this:

 

You know that song from the Animaniacs about the "Wonderful World of Cheeses?"  Well, I'm singing that but changing "cheeses" to "peaches."  You're welcome.

This is what a 20 pound box of peaches looks like.  The box was $35, which seems to be a normal price for a 20 pound box.  Now, these aren't exactly what I think of when I think of Texas peaches.  Why, you ask?  Because they're too big.  Texas peaches are typically not much bigger than a golf ball.  These are more like a big baseball or tennis ball.  I forgot what variety they are as well.  However, they are freestone (which is important) and tasted fantastic.  My only complaint is that the skins were bitter and kind of nasty.  I'm not really sure why that is and am guessing that it has something to do with the variety and whatever they sprayed onto them. The box was also only about 2/3 full, which is not a true 20 pound box in my book. 

I picked a box that was not as ripe as I wanted to make preserves out of them.  These still were ripe enough to make the car smell like peaches for the entire trip home.  And to infuse a wonderful scent into our house until I had them all processed.  I managed to make two full batches of preserves from this box, as well as three gallon bags of pieces for ice cream, cake, cobbler, etc... later, and even save eight to eat. 

Tune in tomorrow to see the preserving process.