blueberry grapefruit jam

confession time

i have 3 freezers

four

if you count the one attached to the fridge

which is really just for ice

and bags of half empty frozen okra

and maybe

a 

mystery soup or two

i tell you this

not so you call hoarders

on my behalf

but to explain

how i can be happily making fruit jam

in the middle of winter

i have a freezer full of summer fruits

gathered in their peak

and frozen to preserve freshness

it is my own secret garden

this jam

combines

the summer goodness blueberries hold

with beautiful winter grapefruit

i love it spooned onto toast

but i also have been using it

as

topping for cheesecake

filling for my homemade pop tarts

and

as a delicious swirl in my morning yogurt 

a collection of jam.  

you can find the recipe for the margarita marmalade here... strawberry rhubarb is coming soon.

blueberry grapefruit jam

(printable recipe)

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

2 grapefruits--flesh only

12 cups blueberries--fresh or frozen

1 tsp cardamom

generous pinch salt

3 cups sugar

1 pouch pectin

slightly mash the blueberries and place in a heavy pot. add the sugar, salt, ginger, grapefruit segments and an juice you can capture, and cardamom.  bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer about 5 minutes.  increase heat and bring to a boil. stir in the pectin and boil for a full 60 seconds.  turn off heat and place in sterilized jars.  process for long term storage as necessary. 

i am linking this recipe to

tickled pink at 504 main

chocolate glazed gingerbread

until yesterday

it had been years

since i made

gingerbread cookies 

but

come holiday time

i bake for others

others with specific requests

so

i dusted off my cookie cutter

and scoured my recipe archives

i found a fun idea in

nancy baggett's all american cookie book

for 

a chocolate glazed version

one of my favorite combinations

gingerbread and chocolate is

here's what i have to say

i will give you her recipe

slightly altered 

(it is what i do, i can't help myself)

it produces a firm and crisp cookie

(which i like)

but it lacks a "roundness", another flavor note, i think

i added honey and it is an improvement

and then there is the glaze

it just was NOT chocolatey enough

looking like chocolate

and tasting like chocolate

are two entirely different things

i bumped it up--considerably

i give you the recipe

with the tweaks already in

if you want the original

buy the book

it is worth it

she has some great recipes

chocolate glazed gingerbread
(printable recipe)

(adapted from all american cookie book)

6 1/2 cups flour (plus more if needed)

2 Tbs ground cinnamon

2 Tbs ground ginger *

1 tsp ground cloves

1 1/4 tsp kosher salt *

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar *

1 cup unsalted butter--slightly softened

2 Tbs corn oil (or other flavorless oil)

1 1/4 cup molasses*

1/4 cup honey*

whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and baking powder in a large bowl and set aside.  in an electric mixer, beat together the brown sugar, butter, and oil until light and fluffy. beat in molasses, honey and 2 1/2 Tbs water until well blended. beat in half the flour mixture until well blended. stir in the remaining flour. knead the dough until it becomes smooth and shiny. if dough is too stiff, you may add a bit more water, if too sticky, add flour.  divide dough into three pieces. roll each piece in between pieces of wax or parchment paper to 1/4" thick.  place in the refrigerator to firm up (about 3 hours).  when ready to use, peel back the parchment from both sides and using a cookie cutter, stamp out design.  bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet for approximately 6-12 minutes at 350F.  keep a close eye.  let cool, then dip in chocolate glaze

chocolate luster glaze

11/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate--coarsely chopped and melted*

3 1/4 cups powdered sugar

pinch kosher salt*

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder*

1/3 cup water

1 Tbs light or dark corn syrup*

1 tsp vanilla extract

heat the water and corn syrup in a sauce pan, over medium heat until it just comes to a boil.  remove from heat.  sift together the powdered sugar, salt and cocoa powder.  stir the hot syrup/water into the powdered sugar mixture and beat by hand until smooth and shiny.  toss in the vanilla and melted chocolate and beat again until smooth.  dip cookies or use an offset spatula to frost. let cookies sit a minimum of 3 hours to ensure they are set.  decorate as desired. 

the ingredients marked by * have been altered, or added by yours truly.

Gingerbread Nostalgia

I like gingerbread

the cake, not the cookie

BUT I LOVE GINGERBREAD HOUSES

no matter how frustrating they can be

but sadly, this year

I didn't plug time in the calendar to devote to one

because I have a gingerbread house problem

I am very supportive and genuinely so, when I see a ginger-house made up of four walls and a roof with a few half eaten candies pasted to it. I find all gingerbread projects charming and nostalgic. But what is good for the goose is not good for the gander.

I have issues

I can't just make a house

When in culinary school, the assignment was make a gingerbread house. I made a neighborhood of East Coast row houses with clear windows and decorated interiors.

One year I mentioned to my mom that I wanted to do a simple gingerbread centerpiece for Christmas and showed up with a shopping village replete with a bakery, art gallery and dress shop 100% edible and fully furnished.  The stone church even had pews.

Listen

I already admitted that I have a problem

A couple of years ago, I was asked to enter a gingerbread competition

The theme was Christmas Around the World.

Immediately I thought, Swiss Chalet!

 I then turned to my husband and said...

you have to help me

I am already going over-board and it is only in my head

which is how our gingerbread project was born

Mike built the whole structure from foam core to test the structural viability and appropriate scale

because he is a guy and does guy things

while I got to making caramel corn for the base of the mountain

It took us about 10 days to craft

but it was well worth the effort

we won lots of goodies and a bunch of cash

and it won just about every prize--except the fan favorite

or as we like to call it--be a college student and bring your class, then grab a school bus and drive around town picking up folks to stuff the ballot box.

but i am not bitter

-much

because even without ballot pushing proletariats, we garnered second place in the fan fave category

and hear this...

we won the grand prize

from actual judges

And then we gave the chalet to the hotel

for their holiday display

We left that party

with our arms full of prizes

and our egos full of pride

even after 24 months, I can still feel the sunshine of that very good day

the day my obsessive gingerbread disorder

reaped rewards

Channeling Andy Rooney

I love cookbooks and I read them like they are novels.  Novels I won't pass on to my friends.  I always like to share a great book I have read, and have a pact with friends; i"ll let you borrow the book, but pass it on to someone else when you are done. Typically, I don't want it back. Only twice have I regretted to that rule. I passed on 1st editions of both Wicked and A Confederacy of Dunces.  Had I known when I read them, that they would be possible collector's items, I might have purchased separate "pass on copies" .  But, I console myself by knowing that if  kept they would have eventually been misplaced or lost. It's much better to have loved and lost, than have them yellowing in a box in the back of a closet somewhere.
My cookbooks don't get passed on.  I write in the margins, cross out entire sections and create from those published works of art.  I have never counted the number, but if I have 1, I have 150.  I have a custom bookcase in the office, filled not with literature, but with cookbooks and travel guides.  I am not "a riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma."  Five minutes in our house and you know me.  You know everything about me--including what shoes I have worn this last week.

i wear shoes only because society expects it, and public bathrooms are dirty.  If I could, I would go barefoot 24/7.  I hate shoes...or should I say, I hate wearing shoes. I love matching a shoe to an outfit...or having my shoes be the one element of my outfit that reflects my personality--which is saying something as I usually wear all black, all navy or all brown.  I'm a real jackie o, except I'm short, stout, blonde and own a condo instead of a yacht. Anyway, to make a short story long...my shoes come off the minute I hit the threshold. Except for when I am in the kitchen. I have kitchen shoes... because I need to reach the top shelf of the fridge.

I haven't baked in a while. With all my canning, I still have a few pears left. The weather is downright fall-like, and I want to play with flour.  My bedside reading last night was Dorie Greenspan's Baking.  Dorie is an amazing baker whom has written countless recipes and is the author of  Baking with Julia.  She's also quite thin, which naturally makes me suspicious...but that is for another day.
I'm sure she is a wonderful person.


I have earmarked a dozen or so recipes that I wish to try, but have never actually done so.
I am the worst recipe follower. I can't make a recipe as it is written. It's like a mental block.  With baking it is more sketchy than with cooking, as there is actually chemistry involved, but, I'm not cooking for The King.  So what if I make a mistake...it's hardly ever awful.


Today I wanted to incorporate some of those pears into a coffee cake.  I love cardamom and Dorie's recipe for cardamom coffee cake looked just the trick. Except I changed it up a bit.  The idea is definitely hers...the execution, mine.

This cake is not sweet...it is a real coffee cake.  If you take a whole bite, meaning top to bottom, it will be sweet enough, moist enough and spiced enough.  If you remove the crumb and then eat the cake...well, you get what you get.
Please refer to the recipe for the method.

Here are the ingredients and amounts I used
Cardamom Coffee Cake
CAKE
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp  baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cardamom
pinch nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cocoa powder
grated zest of 1/2 grapefruit
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup freshly made espresso--cooled
1 stick butter--melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla
CRUMB
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 stick unsalted butter
generous pinch of salt
1 /2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup or more toasted slivered almonds
grated peel of 1/2 grapefruit
PEARS
Peel, core and generously slice 4 cups of pears.  In a skillet, melt 1/2 stick unsalted butter.  Add about 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cardamom and a pinch or two of salt.  Throw the pears in and cook until all caramelly and the pears soften.  Adjust flavors to your liking. They should be sweet, but not overly so.
Pour 1/2 the cake batter in the pan.  Place a layer of pears, then proceed with the remaining batter.  Place another layer of pears on top.  Finally, evenly top with crumb.

Bake, cool, eat.

I made enough pears so that I could put a few on the plate with the cake.  They are also delicious on ice cream, on top of waffles or pancakes, or just eaten by themselves.


post script:  This entry was originally entitled "a good read..." but according to my husband, when I read it to him, I sounded just like mr. rooney.  So I read it again, in andy's voice, and it did sound like something he would say. Mike was right, and I had a good giggle.