Elderberry Cream Hearts

Now that my daughter is 2.5 we’ve been having such fun with holidays. She has a much greater understanding of the activities and rituals behind holidays and looks forward to them with anticipation. From her books and talks with her friends, she now understands Valentine’s is about cards, candy, hearts and “I love you’s”. Since this is her first year of really experiencing these holidays, I’m feeling compelled to really make the most of it and help make her first introduction to them really special.

After watching the Tedx Manhattan video about the effects of eating processed, food colour rich foods, I’m hesitant to let my daughter enjoy much of the candies that may come her way and so this treat was my attempt at using natural ingredients to create something nutritious and fun.  Debating between rhubarb and elderberry syrup as a base, I opted for the antioxidant rich elderberry syrup, mostly for its dramatic colour. When I canned this syrup, I intended to pour it over pancakes or add it to club soda, but I’ve done neither and my syrup is wasting away in the pantry. I like recipes that give preserves a new life!

Elderberry Cream Hearts

2 cups elderberry syrup

1 cup water

3 packets of powdered Knox gelatin

1/2 cup whipping cream (unwhipped)

1. Dissolve the packages of gelatin in a cup of cold water. Lightly grease a 9×13 pan and set aside.

2. Pour syrup into a small pot and bring to a soft boil. Remove from heat and add gelatin.

3. Pour in whipping cream and stir. Pour into prepared pan and refrigerate until set. Cut into squares or shapes.

** While I’m not 100% convinced elderberry syrup was the right choice, there’s something here and with some tinkering, we could  create something really fantastic. Perhaps my rhubarb syrup with orange zest or a mango juice with orange concentrate might taste good? Or, switching agar flakes instead of gelatin? Since this is my first attempt at making homemade gelatin, I welcome your suggestions and feedback!

In my sleep deprived sleep, I honestly typed marmalazed without realizing how it’s the perfect fit for this recipe. It’s marmalade used as a glaze for chicken legs; marmalazed.

I tend to use up preserves for other sweet things, like thumbprint cookies, as a cake filler or thinned for a glaze for quick breads. I almost always forget how preserves can be used for savoury purposes, especially as a glaze for meat. I really liked this glaze and when baked, it became caramelized and delicious spooned over some brown rice.

Marmalade Glazed Chicken

Yields enough glaze for a dozen chicken legs

1 cup orange marmalade

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp Sriracha sauce

Dash of hot pepper flakes

Touch of water to thin it out

In a small pot, combine ingredients and over low heat, stir until everything has come together. Taste and adjust to your taste. If you want to reserve the glaze as a sauce, bake in a smaller dish and pour over chicken and bake at 350 until chicken is cooked. If using this as a glaze, spread chicken out on a greased, tin foil lined baking sheet and coat legs with glaze. Bake at 375.  Enjoy!

Armed with grapefruits, lemons and limes, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to try out some new recipes and a new style of preserve I’ve never conquered.

Behold…

Vanilla Cupcake with Grapefruit Curd

Last winter, I kept seeing recipes for really beautiful curds and I vowed that the following winter, when we weren’t participating in the 100 Mile Challenge, I’d give them a try. I used this recipe, from Confections of a Foodie Bride and what I especially liked about her recipe for Grapefruit Curd was that it was a smaller batch of curd and that it used whole eggs. Right now, I don’t have time to use up 6 egg whites in another recipe, like angel food cake or meringue and I feared they’d get wasted. I also wasn’t sure how I’d feel about a curd and how quickly I’d use it up. According to the National Office of Home Food Preservation, curds can be canned, they be frozen up to a couple of months (just insure lots of headspace because they’ll expand) and they’ll also hang out in your refrigerator up to a week, so there are plenty of options. I opted for the easiest method since my time is very limited by chosing a smaller recipe.

The recipe results in a creamy, delicious and decadent curd. The one thing I noticed was the recipe didn’t state to use unsalted butter. My curd, while delicious, is a touch too salty and so the obvious butter tastes is more prominent than I’d like. Still, it’s a great recipe for beginners like me!

My next citrus project is this:

The Beginnings of Cointreau

I use a lot of Grand Marnier because I love the orange flavour and depth it adds to preserves. However, it’s pricey and if I can make it cheaper, I will. Again, since this is the first time with this liqueur, I quartered the original recipe found at Foodista. I took a very cheap, 375 mL bottle of brandy, a lime and two oranges. I’ve microplaned the citrus and will let it sit for a month, as per the instructions. Hopefully, I’ve made something delicious!

It All Starts Here

No Scurvy Here!

Last spring, I had about 30 lbs of rhubarb donated to me and not wanting to waste anything, I froze a quarter, made rhubarb syrup with a quarter and made rhubarb preserves with the remainder. Some of it was preserved in a simple syrup and some with vanilla bean.

Well, it’s been over 6 months since I made it and let me tell you, it’s delicious. Add in some apples and the fruit I froze over the summer and you’ve got yourself a delicious fruit salad that is deliciously local (OK, minus those oranges, but it *is* citrus season and I can’t resist).

Added bonus is the syrup. While it’s a tasty base for the fruit salad, it also makes a killer drink.

Rhubarb Vanilla Syrup

While I’m sure it’s noon somewhere and it’d be a delicious martini, I decided to opt for a morning mimosa-style by adding club soda to the syrup and grabbing a fancy flute and pretending I was somewhere warm and sunny. Besides, nothing starts off a Saturday morning quite like sipping something sweet with the extravagence of real vanilla bean floating in your flute.

Have a happy Saturday!

The Makings of Something Great

I can’t think of a better way to cap off 2011 then with a preserve, especially this one. It represents the best of my year, a little spontaneous, a little spicy, definitely sweet and totally ready for celebration. I’m not sure what I’m most excited about, the fact that I managed to make this after a two month preserve-making hiatus, that I made this preserve quickly and while wearing a baby, or that it tastes delicious.

The uncanny clan are visiting with family near Toronto and a trip here always means one of our famous “ethno-grazes”, where we visit several spots in Toronto and load up on ethnic delights and refill our spice cabinet. This past trip meant a stop to Chinatown and returning with a big bag of kaffir lime leaves. While I normally reserve these leaves for my curries, one sniff and I knew I had a preserve in the making. Luckily, there were some lone oranges kicking around my father’s fridge that needed some love and some lovely dried chill peppers meant an interesting preserve could me mine.

It’s a very small batch, totally spur of the moment, but preserves can be that fabulous. While canning means more preparation with cleaning and sterilizing, but mini-batches means you can experiment and have a lot of fun discovering flavours you might like (or not!). I particularly liked this preserve and am looking forward to featuring this preserve over a chèvre and crackers for our New Year’s Eve celebration.

I opted for the largest orange in the fridge and sliced it using my favourite citrus slicing method a la Hitchhiking to Heaven. I tossed in about 1/4 cup of water and then added more orange juice as it softly boiled to prevent scorching, about 1/2 cup of liquid all total. Two small pieces of hot pepper were added and that was enough for a nice kick, but you can start judiciously and add more near the end if it’s not spicy enough. 4 kaffir lime leaves seemed the right amount, so adjust accordingly if you’re making a larger batch.

Let the mixture softly boil until the orange slices turn to mush when you squish them between your fingers, or eat a slice and when its softened to your liking, add your sugar (I added to taste).

Voila!

To try this yourself:

Spicy Marmalade with Kaffir Lime Leaf

Yields: 1 cup

1 large orange, cleaned and scrubbed, quartered with the middle pith removed and thinly sliced

4 kaffir lime leaves

1 inch piece of dried hot pepper

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup water/orange juice (approx.)

1. Combine orange slices, hot pepper and kaffir lime leaves and water/juice and bring to a low simmer, cover and stir occasionally, about 40 minutes.

2. Put a dish in the freezer to test for gel point.

3. When you’re happy with the softness of your citrus, add sugar and increase heat to medium-high and continue cooking until the set point is reached. Remove hot pepper and lime leaves. Enjoy!

It’s been such an exciting year for us at uncanny preserves! Another happy and successful summer at the Sackville Farmer’s Market and the sheer joy of  participating in a community pillar. The Farmer’s Market really is the heart of Sackville on a Saturday morning and you must budget at least an extra 30 minutes to catch up with all the friends you’ll meet there. I appreciate the kindness and generosity of the friends, customers and vendors at the Market.

I also give thanks for the wonderful online community that has shared their passion for preserving with me. The creativity continues to inspire and challenge me to keep trying new things. I can’t wait to see what 2012 brings!

It was also a banner year for our family as we welcomed our son last month. While life has yet to find a groove and rhythm, I wouldn’t change it for the world and am relieved that when life feels chaotic, our pantry is stocked with delicious, homemade and lovingly crafted preserves to keep our meals interesting.

From our family to yours, we wish you the best of the season and many blessings in the coming year.

For my American buddies, you may have plenty of leftover cranberry sauce and this is just one way to use it up besides pairing it with turkey. For my gluten-free/grain-free/dairy-free buddies, this cake is for you! The cake is beyond delicious and really easy to prepare. Enjoy!

Cranberry Preserves

German Chocolate Cranberry Cake

Recipe courtesy of a friend.

100 grams unsalted butter (or dairy-free margarine, if needed)

100 grams sugar

3 eggs, separated

4 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp baking powder

150 grams almond flour

1  348 mL can whole cranberry sauce or equivalent home made

250 mL whipping cream, whipped (or whipped topping, if going dairy-free)

Dark chocolate shavings for topping.

1. Mix butter, sugar and egg yolks until they are frothy.

2. Add cocoa powder and baking powder, then almond flour.

3. Whip egg whites until stiff then fold into above mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes in a greased spring-form pan and when you take it out, spread the cranberry sauce immediately over the top.   Cool.   Spread with whipped cream and sprinkle with chocolate shavings. Serve.

** Since I’m going dairy-free, I cut an individual slice and topped it with whipped topping and dairy-free dark chocolate, but feel free to slather the top of the cake with whipped cream and chocolate shavings before serving. **

As a side note, here are a few things I’ve learned about cooking with a toddler and newborn:

1. Wear your baby.

2. Now is the time to have “mise en place”! As much as you’d love to tackle a recipe from start to finish, chances are mayhem may ensue and you’ll get called away from your recipe. If you’ve got all your ingredients in place, it’ll make finishing that recipe even easier when you have a minute.

Mise En Place is Critical

3. Toddlers need to be watched like a hawk. No matter how many times I mentioned how we’d have cake when it was finished, I turn my back for a second and my 2 year old has eaten a big chunk of cake dough. Let’s hope those farm-fresh eggs won’t do any harm.

Guyanese Fruit Cake

I’m very excited to follow-up on this post from mid-September about a family tradition of a rich and dense Guyanese fruitcake. I decided to up the baking time by a couple weeks in case baby makes a timely appearance and I was just so excited to see how this cake would work out. While the cake recipe comes from Canadian Living I was able to nab the original recipe, which was really helpful as it turns out there is not one but two different kinds of icing!

According to the recipe, various dried fruits are pulsed in the food processor and soaked in rum for almost 2 months, stirred daily and continuously topped with rum. Life got in the way and the mixture was lucky to be stirred once a week, but I always ensured it was covered in rum.

Here is the entire recipe, mostly from Canadian Living with some family adaptations to the icing.

1 3/4 cup raisins

1 3/4 cup currants

1 1/2 cup prunes

1/2 cup candied mixed peel

2 1/2 cups rum

1 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup butter

3 eggs

1/2 cup almond extract (I used my homemade cherry pit liqueur a la What Julia Ate)

2 cups all purpose flour (I made mine Gluten Free using this flour blend mixture from Land O’ Lakes)

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp each ground cinnamon, ground cloves and nutmeg

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup chopped red glace cherries

Roll/Tube of Marzipan

3 cups icing sugar

1/4 cup water

1/8 tsp almond extract

1. In a food processor, pulse dried fruit together until it forms a thick paste. Move to a deep bowl and stir in 2 cups of rum. Cover and let sit for up to 2 months. Stir occasionally and add more rum to keep the fruit mixture covered. This step was covered in this blog post.

2. In a heavy saucepan, combine 1/2 cup of brown sugar and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Do not add water. Stir frequently and let it come to a boil for 1 minute. While it’s considered the “burnt sugar” step, I stirred frequently and moved quickly so it wouldn’t have an acrid, burnt flavour. Once it’s boiled, move fast and pour it into your dried fruit/booze mixture. It’ll harden quite quickly, which is alright. Stir to break up chunks.

Getting there...

Next, boil for 1 minute and move quickly to pour into dried fruit mixture.

3. Mix flour, baking powder, spices and chopped almonds together. Set aside.

4. In a deep mixing bowl, combine the butter and remaining brown sugar until creamy. Add eggs in one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add in extract.

Eggy, Buttery, Sugary Mixture

4. Carefully stir in half of your dried mixture, stirring until well incorporated before adding more flour mixture.

Nearly There.

5. Stir in dried fruit/burnt sugar mixture and chopped glace cherries.

6. In a double parchment paper lined, 9″ springform pan, pour your fruitcake and smooth top. My pan was non-stick, so I only lined the bottom of the pan, but if need be, line the entire cake pan with parchment paper. Nothing would be worse than waiting this long and working this hard to have your cake stuck to your pan! Bake at 300 degrees for 3 hours, covering with tin foil in the last hour if your cake is getting brown too quickly.

Ready for the Oven.

7. The cake is ready when it begins to pull away from the sides and a toothpick comes out clean. Leave it to rest about 10 minutes before poking holes in the cake with a skewer and brushing more rum on the cake. Leave the cake to rest in the springform pan for a full 24 hours.

8. After the cake is rested and removed from pan, top the cake with a layer of marzipan. I cheated and bought some premade marzipan that was rolled on the top.

Marzipan Layer.

9. Fill the sink with hot water, spoon 3 cups of icing sugar into a pot and gently rest in the hot water. The heat will help cook off the flavour of the cornstarch (or so says my family recipe!). Stir in 1/4 cup warm water and a splash of almond extract. Stir until smooth and while it’s still warm, spoon over the top of the cake, not worrying whether some glaze falls on the side of the cake.

10. Cover the top with parchment paper and then tin foil. The cake can be stored at room temperature for 3 months in an air-tight container, or freezes really well.

Ice Ice Baby

So there you have it! It’s a fair amount of work, but the results are impressive and the taste is incredible. Plus, the bulk of my Christmas baking is now complete.

Sunday afternoon, in went the litre of goat milk into a medium sized pot set over low heat (my range goes from minimum to 5 and I kept it around a 1.5). If you have a candy thermometer it comes in handy as mine had the attachment to rest on the side of the pot, unlike my meat thermometer. Stir frequently. Your goal is 175 degrees, which takes about 30-40 minutes to reach.

How It Begins

Once it has reached the proper temperature, we dropped it down to the minimum heat setting and kept it there for 10 minutes before removing from the heat and stirring in 1/2 ounce of white vinegar, covered the pot and let it sit for five minutes. Realizing it wasn’t enough to separate the whey from the curds, we added an extra 1/4 ounce for a total of 3/4 ounce of white vinegar. We covered the pot for another five minutes and was rewarded with this:

Separating the Curds from the Whey

We poured it into a fine mesh cheese cloth, hung it from a cupboard knob and let it drip overnight. Easy peasy.

Strain

Mr. Uncanny went ahead and mixed in the salt the following morning (with unknown quantities, I was a little groggy and pre-coffee and didn’t think to ask). Shaped it and threw it in the fridge and I enjoyed a little hunk of it tonight with some cranberry preserves. It was a delicious, mild cheese that adapted itself well to sweet and savoury. It did lack the distinct tang you expect from a goat cheese and reminded me of a paneer. Still, as from maggie’s farm points out, you’re a cheesemaker and that’s a pretty fantastic accomplishment!

Behold: Goat Cheese!

I wonder what’s next…

While the majority of my 2 lbs went to the soon to be Port jam, I saved the other half pound to try my hand at a homemade conserve. It’s ideally suited if you need something quick and don’t want to bother with storing the conserve long term, or just double or triple the recipe for a larger batch and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

The Makings of Something Great

Prune Plum Conserve

Yields: Approx. 1 cup

1/2 lb prune plums, pitted and diced

4 dried apricots, diced

1 tsp lemon juice

Scant 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1/4 cup sugar

1 cinnamon stick

2 tsp water

1 tbsp Grand Marnier

1. Combine plums, sugar, cinnamon, water and lemon juice in a small sauce pan and bring to a gentle boil, stir occasionally until plums and dried apricots have softened. Continue to cook gently until the gel point has been reached (thereabouts, I like a soft set).

2. Add in walnuts and continue to cook for another 3-5 minutes. At the end, add in your Grand Marnier and remove from heat.

This Conserve Really Sparkles with Flavour

I’m storing this in the fridge, with the cinnamon stick for added flavour. I intend to make this again when I’ve replenished my stock of prune plums, but I see no reason why this recipe couldn’t be tripled or quadrupled. There are a variety of textures, from the soft plums, to the harder walnut pieces. The splash of Grand Marnier adds a great citrus flavour and I can’t think of a better holiday jam to tuck into a last minute gift basket. I tried mine stirred into plain yogurt and it was heaven.

Feel free to play around with the flavours – maybe a dash of nutmeg? Cardmamom? A little spice bag with all spice, cloves, citrus strips and cinnamon sticks? Lots of room to expand here. Enjoy!