This is an inspiring little article from the New York Times about pears, distilling, and the local food revolution.

Making jam without a recipe -- spiced berry jam with honey

Since I just arrived home from winter break, I'm trying to clean things up in the cottage a bit before the semester becomes truly insanely busy. One thing I'd been putting off for a while is cleaning the freezer. I had a new motivation when I saw that the power had been out during the three weeks I was away, and recently for long enough that my homemade stock in a mason jar in the freezer was mostly liquid. Sadly, many things went right into the garbage, but the butter and fruit looked okay.

But what was I going to do with two pints of organic cranberries I'd intended to make Grandma's cranberry nutloaf with, and with several huge bags of slightly frost-bitten fruit I'd bought at COSTCO for smoothie-making? Make an experimental entree into the world of jam-making, that's what. After poking around on the web a bit, with particular interest in finding out what I could about sugar-free jam, I decided to do it, but my own way, without a recipe.

I was inspired by some of the combinations I saw here, so I dumped the two bags of wild blueberries, some strawberries, and the cranberries into a big pot with a couple sticks of cinnamon, some cloves, and a piece of nutmeg. The fruit was defrosted and quite liquidy, so I didn't even need to add water. Skipping sugar for now, I just started cooking it, and spooned in about a cup's worth of honey that was pretty well crystallized and needed to be used in something baked or cooked or just get tossed out. I simmered it for a long time, probably a couple of hours, until it had cooked down quite a bit and had also thickened a lot. Then I left it for a while with the cover on it and the heat off while I went to the store to buy pectin.

I looked at the various types of pectin that were available here. I was attracted to the low-sugar pectin, but when I saw that dextrose was the first ingredient, I shied away from that, too -- I had a bad reaction once to dextrose candy they eat in Hungary, so I think it's yet another food allergy. I opted for the regular pectin, and figured I'd risk it with a limited sugar allowance, treat it as freezer jam, even though it's cooked, and re-cook it with more pectin and sugar if it doesn't set right.

So, when I came back, I started cooking the fruit mixture again, and I added the two packets of liquid pectin and just one cup of granulated sugar. I cooked it a while longer, continuing to stir, until it had thickened some more, then I ladled it into my newly cleaned, newly purchased jam jars.

So, right now the jam is cooling in the sweet little jars, and I'll check in the morning to see if it's set. I can't wait to eat it on homemade bread and in homemade yogurt. It's lovely, tart and a little sweet, tasting mostly of spiced blueberry with bursts of cranberry here and there.

Everybody says you're supposed to follow the recipe if you want good results with jam, and that it needs to be mostly sugar. Well, we'll see how this works out!!

Photos and update to come tomorrow. :)

Filled date cookies with walnuts, cinnamon, and spiced rum - easy step-by-step recipe with photos

I have updated another family classic from the old town in Minnesota where my ancestors lived and baked. Mom remembers Adeline, the lovely woman who used to play the organ in the community, and whose Date Filled Cookies recipe appeared in the Zion Lutheran cookbook. Unfortunately, the original baker didn't give too many details about preparation, so I winged it and have ended up with a lovely variation that comes out a bit like a jazzed-up snickerdoodle, which I have to hope she would approve of! The addition of spiced rum would probably have raised the eyebrows of many of the Zion ladies . . . even though the alcohol naturally bakes off in the oven. Can we keep this our little secret? :)

Ingredients
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda

Date filling
1 pound dates
water to cover the dates
splash of dark spiced rum (about 1/2 cup)
cinnamon
ground ginger
1 cup chopped walnuts

Topping
large walnut pieces, preferably halves (approximately 3 dozen)
ground cinnamon


Directions

1. Cook the pitted dates over medium heat in a little water in a medium saucepan, stirring frequently. When dates have a fairly smooth consistency, cool, then stir in a splash of spiced rum and a little ground cinnamon and ground ginger (to taste), and chopped walnuts. Set aside filling mixture to continue to cool. (You can make this ahead and refrigerate for a couple days until you're ready to make the cookies.)
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. In large bowl, cream the butter with the sugars.
4. Add the beaten eggs and mix well.
5. Add the hot water and vanilla.
6. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients (flour, salt, and soda).
7. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir well.
8. Prepare a lightly greased cookie sheet.
9. Remove dough by the teaspoonful from the bowl, and gently roll into small balls in your hand, placing on cookie sheet with plenty of space (about an inch or so) between the balls.
10. When you have filled the sheet with cookie dough balls, wash your hands, and using a clean, wet finger, make a small depression in each ball. It's okay if the ball gets a little flattened in the process.
11. Fill each depression with a small amount of date filling.
12. Take a walnut half (or large piece of walnut) and press into the date filling in the center of each cookie dough ball. Finish by dusting lightly with ground cinnamon.
13. Bake for approximately 13 minutes, or until cookies are firm and golden.
14. Cool for a minute on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

This recipe seems to make about 2-3 dozen cookies (depending on their size). The cookies are nicely symmetrical and would be pretty on a holiday cookie & candy plate.
Variations: consider adding raisins, chocolate chips, or shredded coconut to the mixture.

Eco-conscious coffee consumption -- shade-grown

Eco-conscious coffee consumers take notice: U of M researchers have found that shade-grown coffee benefits birds and general biodiversity in coffee plantations where overhanging trees are allowed to remain. Though the article here notes the trendiness of shade-grown coffee, I have to admit that I'd never heard about this issue and this was the first I'd ever known about this aspect of coffee growing practices. I'll definitely be paying attention to this in the future, and looking for shade-grown coffee.

The caramels that melt hearts; the stuff of Christmas legends

Some family recipes have rather mysterious origins. This old timer made its way into the Zion Lutheran Church cookbook in the mid-1950s in North Germany Township, Minnesota, thanks to my great-aunt, who called it "Amy's Caramels." Who Amy was, and where Artis found the original recipe that Grandma Ethel and Great-Aunt Lorraine made every year, is unknown to me. All I know is that it has become a family tradition to make these caramels every year at Christmastime, since they were the favorite among the fudge, divinity, and various other candies that Grandma made every year for us kids.

There is nothing healthful in the slightest about the ingredients; nonetheless, this is the kind of recipe that could get you a marriage proposal. No, really. Just make sure you have a candy thermometer, a long-handled wooden spoon (burns from hot sugar HURT, trust me) and a lot of energy to stir, because it'll keep you standing over the pot for close to an hour. It'll be worth it. They make an unforgettable gift for family and friends, if you can relinquish the idea of eating the whole pan yourself.


Old-time Homemade Caramels

• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups white corn syrup
• 1 pinch salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 cups whipping cream (or 2 cups whipping cream and 2 cups half and half)
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups chopped walnuts (we usually add even more than this, since we're a nutty bunch)
  

1. Combine first four ingredients and just 2 cups cream.
2. Bring to boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon (don't use plastic; it will MELT in the hot sugar, and metal will require using a potholder, since this mixture is going to get HOT), lower heat to medium and take care not to scorch. Bring to soft-ball stage on candy thermometer.
3. Slowly, while continuing to boil, add remaining 2 cups cream (or half & half), stirring constantly.
4. Continue to stir and cook until candy makes a firm pliable ball when dropped into a saucer of cold water (about 45 minutes entire cooking time).
   
5. Add vanilla and nuts and pour into a well-buttered 9x13-inch pan.
6. Cool, then cover and refrigerate.
   
7. When cool, cut into squares and wrap individual pieces in squares of waxed paper.
8. Keep refrigerated until just before serving (about 30 minutes)
   

Note: If you haven't made candy before, you may want to read up a little about the various stages of carmelization. The basic idea of the stages, though, is about what texture the candy makes when dropped into ice-cold water. "Soft ball" means that it firms up a bit, and you can squish the caramel into a soft ball. "Hard ball," similarly, means that the ball that forms in the water is hard. Watch the thermometer carefully; if it gets too hot, the candy will be more like a brittle texture, rather than caramels that soften to perfect chewiness when at room temperature. These keep for more than a week in the refrigerator. Mom says a couple months, but that might be pushing it.

We'll be making them in the next week or so, and I'll be sure to update with photos.

The results of this particular cooking adventure got rave reviews from friends at my New Year's party. Particularly beloved were those on which we sprinkled my sister's fleur de sel, a coarse salt from France that transforms the sweet to . . . transcendental.

Blackberry Scones -- Easy recipe with photos

• 4 cups flour
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup organic butter or margarine
• 1 cup milk (I recommend whole organic milk; I mixed skim milk and half & half because we had no whole milk)
  
• 4 organic eggs, beaten
• Zest of one orange
  
• 1 cup, more or less, of blackberries or boysenberries

1. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt).
2. With a pastry blender (or two forks), cut the butter into the dry ingredients, until they look like crumbs.
3. In a separate bowl, combine milk, eggs, and orange zest.
   
4. Add milk-egg mixture to the main bowl and stir until the dry ingredients are just combined (do not overbeat.)
   
5. Carefully fold in the blackberries to avoid bruising the fruit unnecessarily (the more blackberry juice gets mixed into the batter, the darker the color of the batter will be).
   
6. Using a large spoon, scoop scone mixture onto baking sheet.
7. Sprinkle lightly with extra sugar (I like coarse raw sugar for this purpose).

8. 

9. Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes, or until they are golden.
   
10. Makes a dozen large scones.
11. Scones are deliciously light and biscuit-like, with a hint of sweetness without being overly sweet. They are traditionally served with English clotted cream and jam; another delicious alternative is jam and creme fraiche (as seen below).
    

I realize this is more of a summer recipe, but we had blackberries from COSTCO and I was having a hankering for some scones to go with our coffee this morning. What a treat!

(Thanks, Karen Winters, for the original recipe I modified for pure delight!)

Vintage Hungarian Sausage Commercial

Mmmm, Hungarian kolbasz. Nothing like it.