Blueberry Meyer Lemon Jam for Valentine's Day

This blueberry meyer lemon jam is my favorite jam.  The first time I made it was back in December of 2014 when the associate director at my work brought in bags and bags of meyer lemons from his huge tree.  I was trying to use up the lemons so I made a few batches of blueberry meyer lemon and strawberry meyer lemon jam.  I gave most of the jam away as Christmas gifts but kept a few jars for myself.

I started using the jam to sweeten my kefir smoothies and fell in love with the citrusy floral flavor.  I used it up really quickly. Most of the time I make jam and it takes months to finish a jar.  When I started jamming, I was making several dozen jars each week as I tested different fruit and methods.

I started off making jam using the guide found on the box of pectin, moved to recipes from the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving, and then finally on to artisan-style jams made without added pectin. Jams made without added pectin relied on cooking the fruit with sugar until the sugar reached a certain temperature to gel the jam. The texture is amazing.

Over the years I've come to prefer a different method for each fruit.  Some fruit were finicky when it comes to jamming. I never had much luck with making low sugar strawberry jam using pectin. The strawberry chunks always floated in the syrup.  I've tried slicing, crushing, blending, and leaving them whole. My frustration grew with each batch.  I then tried making strawberry jam using the no added pectin method. The longer cook time and higher sugar content resulted in no floating pieces. Except I did not like the flavor over-cooked strawberries. I then tried making freezer strawberry jam. It's the only way I make strawberry jam now.

While strawberries are difficult to work with, blueberries are easy. They work well using the regular or low sugar pectin method. The flavor withstands the longer cooking time for no pectin added jam. I've made blueberry jam using both fresh and frozen.  Fresh when they are abundant in the summer and frozen in the middle of winter.  Blueberries work well pureed with an immersion blender, sliced in the food processor, or left whole like I usually do.

I found a few containers of old pectin in my stash.  I read that pectin doesn't expire so I decided to make low sugar jam instead of cooking the sugar to temperature for this batch.

Use a non reactive pot for the jam. I like making jam in my enamaled french ovens.  I'm using my trusty 5.5 quart that I bought when Williams Sonoma had the Cherry color on sale for $119. Sometimes I use the smaller or larger sizes but the 5.5 quart round is my most versatile and lives inside while the others are stored in the garage.


Blueberry Meyer Lemon Jam:

10 cups blueberries
4 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons low sugar pectin
1 teaspoon citric acid
2 meyer lemons
1/4 cup Grand Marnier (optional)

1. Mix pectin with 1/2 cup sugar and citric. I used Zulka brand sugar this time and didn't have any problems. It's cane sugar. Awhile back I read to only use C&H brand cane sugar. Some people have issues with their jams not setting when they use a store brand.  Growing up in California, most sugar on the the market is cane and not beet sugar.

2. Remove seeds and then grate the meyer lemons. I used the entire lemon including rind and pith.

3. Add lemons to the blueberry, pectin, and sugar mixture.

4. Bring the blueberries to a rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. I usually like to smash some of the blueberries while keeping most of them whole.

5. Add 4 cups sugar and Grand Marnier. Return to rolling boil and cook one minute.

6. Test for gel by either using a cold spoon or plate that has been placed in freezer.  After making a few batches of jam you will be able to tell if your jam will gel by looking at the consistency of the jam.

7. Ladle into sterilized jars. A canning funnel makes it easier (less messy). I must like canning funnels because I found three in my drawer.  I couldn't find the bubble remover or magnetic lid tool though.

8. Process ten minutes in water bath canner.  

I bought a different inset for my canner. The one that came with the canner had grooves for quart jars. I prefer 8 ounce jars. Pints are a little too big for jam and 4 ounces holds about two servings worth of jam. I love the way Weck jars look but the sizes are a little strange to me and those clips are not very practical.  After I open a jar of jam, I replace the two-piece lid/ring with a plastic twist-off cap.

I turn off the heat, lift the entire rack out of the water, and let the jars cool.  When I am making more than one batch, a jar lifter is very handy to get the hot jars out of the pot.  I usually lift them out of the pot and onto a heavy duty sheet pan to transport them to their cooling spot. Since I was only making one batch, I simply let the jars cool on the rack.  I don't believe I even took the lid off or lift them out of the water after I turned off the heat.  I left them in the pot for a little while.  It must be habit.  In Denver, I always processed my jars for 20-30 minutes instead of 10 minutes.

 I tested it out on a slice of toasted sourdough bread.

I don't believe I took a picture of the jams after I labeled the jars.  I took a screenshot of the PDFs. (At the beginning of this post.) It's basically the same labels I've used for years.  I changed the text from "from malisa's kitchen" to "happy valentine's day" since I was giving them to my team for Valentine's day. The rectangular label goes around the jar and the round label goes on lid.  

I also made chocolate drizzled pretzel rods.  I didn't dip the pretzels.  I just put them on a silicone sheet and drizzled melted chocolate on them. The Ghirardelli melting wafers are delicious. I used the leftover chocolate to make pudding and I the pudding was better with Ghirardelli than Scharffen Berger.

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Apple Pie Filling

Be prepared for a series of posts about my adventures in canning. I've spent the summer and part of fall learning about water bath canning.

One of my coworkers had an abundance of apples so after spending a weekend making apple butter and apple jelly, she left me a box of apples for pie filling. After doing some research, I discovered that I needed something called ClearJel in order to safely can the apples. ClearJel is difficult to find in stores so I ordered it.

My order took longer than expected to ship. By the time I got the Clear Jel, the apples from my coworker were pretty mealy so I abandoned the whole canning pie filling idea and made apple sauce instead. It was a great idea because the apples were perfect for apple sauce. I used some for pie and the flavor was too one dimensional. I prefer apple pie made with a combination of different types of apples.

After making apple sauce, I went out and bought apples for the pie filling. I used the trusty Granny Smiths and combined them with some Braeburns and Jonathans. I wished we had Gravenstein, Spy, Macoun, and other great pie apples out here but we don't so I had to make do. We do get Honey Crisps and Pink Lady apples but those are my eating fresh varieties.

Here are the apples from my coworker. I don't know the name of these apples but I assume they're probably a variety that does well in Colorado.


I used one of those nifty apple peeler/slicer/corer thingamajig to save time. I wish I was able to adjust the thickness of the slices because I wanted them to be a little thicker.


The peels and cores from when I made apple sauce and when I made apple pie filling. I boiled them down and made pectin. The first batch with the mealy apples made a poor pectin.

This recipe uses a product called Clear Jel sold under the brand name ClearJel. Clear Jel is a modified corn starch and is the only USDA recommended thickener for canned pie fillings.

Clear Jel is used in almost all commercially prepared fruit pie fillings and used by many home canners who care about safe canning. I’m a safe canner. (I’m HACCP certified. It was part of the food safety and sanitation class we were required to take.) I know many people swear that they have been using the same recipe for 30 years without any ill effects. But I don’t want to be the person who poisoned or killed a friend or family member with strawberry jam.

The reason why it is not safe to use regular cornstarch or tapioca starch is because the thickeners thicken the product while it is being heat processed and therefore inhibiting the product from reaching the correct temp to kill the bacteria. I never cared for cornstarch as a thickener because to me, it is considered an inferior thickener. It produces clear sauces that break down with prolonged (ten minutes) heating. That’s why gravies separate and become watery when reheated. Tapioca and arrowroot are better thickeners but also not safe for canning.

I pretty much followed the recipe on this website. I think they know a thing or two about canning. http://www.pickyourown.org/applepiefilling.htm

The only thing I did differently was use all water instead of apple juice and used a baking spice mix from my local spice shop supplemented with some freshly grated nutmeg instead of the list of spices they used. I also tripled the amount so instead of the 7 quarts, I got about 20 quarts and one half liter. (I'm mixing quarts and liters because I used a Bormioli Rocco Quattro Staglioni jar because I didn't have enough apples to fill a full quart.)

Canned Apple Pie Filling:
5 gallons of peeled, cored and sliced apples (use a variety of apples)
9 cups sugar
6 tablespoons baking spice mix
freshly grated nutmeg
22.5 cups water (just over 5 and a half quarts)
4 cups Clear Jel (I used slightly less because I didn't want the filling to be too thick)
1 1/2 cups bottled lemon juice (use more or less depending on the tartness of your apples)

1. Wash and sterilize jars.
2. Prep apples by washing, peeling, coring, and slicing. Soak apples in a mixture of water and citric acid or lemon juice.
3. Blanch apples in batches for about one minute. Reserve blanching water and use for making your filling liquid.
4. Make the filling liquid by combing water, sugar, spices. Heat the liquid. When it comes to a boil, combine Clear Jel with lemon juice to make a slurry. Add the slurry to the boiling liquid. Boil one minute and remove from heat.
5. Fill the sterilized jars by alternating layers of apples and liquid. (I tried filling with apples and then with liquid. It doesn't work. The liquid is thick enough that it doesn't really seep nicely.) Pack the jars tighly with apples. Who wants a mostly thickened liquid pie? Leave about half an inch to and inch of space. There will be some expansion while processing. Remove air bubbles. Clean rims (and in my case outsides of jars) and place lids and bands.
6. Process in a water bath for 25 minutes. (I processed for an additional 10 minutes because I live 5,280 feet above sea level.)

What I learned:

- Triple batch of apple pie filling takes a long time and should not be tackled on a school (work) night. I was up until 1 AM and making pie filling and baking two cakes for class.

- Wide mouth jars are my friend.

- Italian canning jars are strange, especially when you fll them too much. The lid almost exploded off. It was nicely rounded when I took it out of the canner. I thought I would have to use the jar right away because there was no way it would properly seal. I woke up in the morning and the lid was nicely flat and sucked back in and it sealed. Yay!

- Large quart size jars probably will not all seal right away like little pints and half pints. I went to bed thinking that after canning over a hundred jars of jam, this was my first batch with less than 100% sealing success rate. (The unsealed jars were Kerr brand. All of the Ball jars sealed within half an hour.) I woke up in the morning and the two remaining jars were sealed. Yay for maintaing a 100% sealing success rate!

I think the jars of apple pie filling are just gorgeous. The apple slices are nicely suspended in the Clear Jel -- No floating apple pieces above a layer of sauce. The Clear Jel is supposed to last indefinitely so I have a number 10 can of it plus a smaller can of instant Clear Jel. I'm excited to try a fresh strawberry pie using instant Clear Jel.

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Spring Fling Cake from The Market in Larimer Square

This is a recipe for the Spring Fling cake sold at The Market at Larimer Square.  It is a very unusual zucchini-based cake frosted with a whipped cream and cream cheese icing and topped with an abundance of fresh fruit.  The first time I had the cake was for a celebration at work.  I didn’t realize the cake cost $150 for the full sheet.  This recipe is for the 10 inch round that retails for $50.  When I lived in Lodo, I frequently walked over to The Market to buy a slice.  A slice cost just under $7.  I think it’s worth every penny.

The cake itself is not hard to make.  It just requires gathering many ingredients together.  The Market usually tops their cake with strawberries, mango, kiwi, black grapes and mandarin oranges. I omitted the blueberries listed in the recipe because I don’t ever recall having blueberries on my cake.  I consulted the picture on The Market's website and I didn't spot a single blueberry.  I also subbed blackberries for the black grapes because I was feeling it.

The recipe below was published by the Rocky Mountain News.   It calls for a 10 inch round cake pan.  I didn’t have a 10 inch round so I used a 10 inch scalloped pan instead.  I’ve also successfully used this recipe for cupcakes by filling the pan about three quarters full.

EDIT: December 2017 

I've been having trouble baking this cake since I moved from Denver to San Diego.  Initially, I blamed it on the oven but other cakes and breads come out fine. I then moved from baking it in my 10 inch Fat Daddios aluminum cake pan to two 8 inch Fat Daddios aluminum pan and finally to two 9 inch Calphalon nonstick pans.  Nothing made a difference.  The cake tasted fine but the texture was gummy and almost uncooked. 

I read and reread the recipe, trying to figure it out why the cake failed.  From the comments below, it looks like others ran into the same problem. It is not a particularly fragile cake so it's shouldn't be so finicky. Then it clicked! The amount of leavening for 3 1/4 cups of flour seems really low. The paltry amount of leavening worked fine at 5,280 feet above sea level but was not enough for sea level.  I tested it out by making half the recipe and doubling the baking powder and soda and it worked! I probably need to tinker with the recipe a bit more but for now, it works.

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Apple Butter

I can’t remember the last time I made apple butter but it came to mind when we had an abundance of apples at work. We just had our annual team building event and my boss bought tons of apples for one of the challenges. We tried our best to eat the apples but there were still several left at the end of the week. Everyone preferred the Fuji over the Red Delicious so I took a sack of Red Delicious home with me.

Red Delicious apples are not ideal for apple sauce or butter. (But in my opinion, they are not ideal for eating either.) I had a few Fuji apples in my fridge so I added them to the batch to add more flavor.

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Vietnamese Avocado Shake (Sinh To Bo)

This shake sounds very strange to those who have never had it. Most people who see this on a Vietnamese menu will usually order the strawberry version. I can’t even remember the first time I tried this. I believe it was at Phuoc Loc Tho (or Asian Garden Mall) in Westminster, California.

I get excited every time I see Sinh To Bo on the menu. However, I am disappointed most of the time when I order it. Most restaurants skimp on the avocado and all you get is milky crushed ice.

Here’s a list of some of the varieties:
Sinh To means fruit shake in Vietnamese.
Sinh To Bo = avocado shake.
Sinh To Dam = aloe vera shake.
Sinh To Chuoi = banana shake.
Sinh To Cam = orange shake.
Sinh To Dau = strawberry shake.

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Challah French Toast Casserole with Macerated Berries

If you read my blog, you may (or may not) notice my love of French Toast. I have posted several variations of French Toast. (And most variations involve challah.)

This variation was inspired by one of the brunch dishes served at one the many baby showers I hosted. One of the other hostesses was in charge of the menu and she made a dish she called “French Toast Casserole.” We briefly discussed the dish and I asked if she used maple syrup. To my surprise, she said the dish did not contain a drop of maple syrup. The syrup was made with brown sugar and corn syrup.

I forgot about getting the recipe from her so I tried to recreate it from memory. I know she mentioned that she used challah and I recall the challah was cubed. (I’m not sure if she removed the crust. I ended up leaving the crust.) She also mentioned Grand Marnier so I stuck with the Grand Marnier. I think Cointreau, Curaçao or regular old triple sec will work.

This version of French Toast is very good. It is reminiscent of a good bread pudding. Since I was in testing phase, I decided to start with a smaller quantity. The amount was perfect for the two of us. (It was actually enough for breakfast on both Saturday and Sunday.) I’m sure it can be doubled and baked in a 2.5 quart baking dish instead of the 1.25 quart dish I used.

I worked backwards when I made this. I cubed the bread and placed it in the baking dish until it was almost full. I then transferred the cubed bread into a large measuring cup. (That’s how I discovered the baking dish held just over 4 cups (1 quart). I wanted about a cup and half of liquid so I started with ¾ cup of half and half. Each egg is approximately 2 ounces or ¼ cup. The other ingredients’ volumes were negligible.

The macerated berries side was a last minute decision. I like fresh fruit with my breakfast so I picked up some strawberries and blueberries. I discovered that the strawberries were tasteless on their own. (I realize it is not strawberry season.) Out of desperation, I had to find a way to rescue them. I decided to macerate them and booze them up. The berry-boozy syrup is heavenly with the French Toast.

Challah French Toast Casserole with Macerated Berries

¼ cup (half stick) unsalted butter
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
4 cups challah bread, cubed
3 large eggs
¾ cup half and half or heavy cream
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier (Cointreau, Curaçao or Triple Sec)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
freshly grated nutmeg (about a pinch)
pinch of salt

1. Combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave about 30 to 90 seconds to melt sugar. Stir to combine and allow to slightly cool and then pour in a 10.5" x 7" x 2" (1.25 quart) rectangular pan. (I measured my pan and my measurements were 9" x 7" but the manufacturer lists 10.5" x 7". Who am I to argue?)
2. Place bread cubes in baking dish.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Whisk together eggs, half and half, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and Grand Marnier. Pour mixture over bread cubes. Let stand until oven is preheated.
5. Bake about 30 minutes, or until the top is golden.

Macerated Berries:

- 1 pound berries (I used 1 pound of strawberries and a half pint of blueberries)
- ¼ to ½ cup sugar (depending on the sweetness of your berries)
- 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier

Wash, hull and slice strawberries. Mix everything together and allow to sit while the French Toast is baking. The berries are ready when the sugar turns syrupy. (Some people like their berries to sit a while longer but I don’t like mushy berries.)

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Cranberry Chicken

It was very cold and snowy yesterday so I decided to channel 1950s-era cooking and try out a recipe I found on the Kraft website. This type of cooking is often referred to as “dump cooking” and the recipes as “dump recipes.” These recipes are easy and require almost no measuring. They are perfect for those busy weeknights.

The cranberry relish is not leftover from Thanksgiving. I made another batch on Saturday, using the remaining cranberries that served as frogs for my floral arrangement.

I made a few minor changes to the original recipe. Instead of breasts, I decided on drumsticks. Instead of canned cranberry sauce, I used homemade cranberry relish. I also decided to pan-sear the drumsticks before baking them with the sauce. Many people just dump everything into a slow cooker and press the button.

3 pounds chicken drumsticks
salt
pepper
2 cups cranberry relish (or 1 can cranberry sauce)
½ bottle Kraft Catalina dressing
½ package onion soup mix

1. Mix together relish, dressing and onion soup mix in a bowl and allow to sit. Wash chicken and pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat a cast iron skillet on medium heat. When skillet is hot, sear chicken until golden. Transfer chicken to a large baking dish. (I would have use the cast iron skillet but the chicken was too crowded. If your skillet is large enough, you can skip the transferring step.)




2. Pour sauce over chicken. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Let the chicken soak up the sauce while the oven preheats.

3. When oven is preheated, bake chicken until it reaches 165 degrees, turning chicken once or twice during cooking.

That is it. Now serve it with some canned green beans and crescent rolls.

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Raw Cranberry Relish

I used to cook my cranberry sauce on the stove top but last year I decided to make a raw version. I found that I preferred the raw version over the cooked. This year I made the relish the night before Thanksgiving and kept it refrigerated until dinner.

The pictures are not from Thanksgiving. I forgot to take pictures so I remade the relish today. It looks exactly the same as the one I made for Thanksgiving. Now I need to figure out a way to use almost a quart of cranberry relish.

Raw Cranberry Relish

1 12 ounce bag fresh cranberries, washed and drained
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 cup apple juice (I like to use Odwalla)
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup sugar

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to a container and refrigerate until ready to use.
Yield: Just under 1 quart

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Favorite Apple

Guess what's in season? My favorite apple: the honeycrisp. This is a relatively new apple on the market. A few years ago (I think it was 2004) I discovered this new love. I love this apple so much. I remember checking out at the grocery store and three apples cost over $5.00. It is difficult to eat healthy.

Prior to discovering honeycrisps, my favorite apple for the longest time was the pink lady. I still eat pink ladies because the honeycrisp has a very short growing season (about a month). I think I will be eating honeycrisps every single day for the next month.

What is so special about this apple? The taste. It is sweet and tart at the same time and the crispness is to die for.

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Chinese Birthday Cake Take Four (or Five)

I've been a little lazy with posting again. I'm still cooking. (I just downloaded tons of pictures off the camera.) I've just been a little busy with family (preparing for their arrival, entertaining them and then recovering from entertaining).

I've been so out of it that I baked a cake (and made 75 egg rolls and 3 dozen zucchini muffins) to take to a birthday party and when I got to the party, I discovered that the party is next Saturday. Maybe next time I need to learn to read the date correctly on the invitation.

By special request, I made this birthday cake for the cutest 2 year old girl. (I will be making another one next week.) It will be three straight weeks of Chinese birthday cake baking. I made it last week for a friend's 30th birthday party. (We were out until 4:00 AM.)

The cake is the same recipe as the other cake but doubled to make a half sheet cake. Did I mention that I LOVE this cake? It is my favorite cake in the whole wide world. Growing up in California, we always had Chinese cake at every birthday.


Chinese Sponge Cake (aka Chinese Birthday Cake)
(Gai Don Go)

18 eggs, separated
2 cups cake flour, sifted
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
½ cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla

For decorating:
Chantilly cream
2 pounds strawberries, sliced
3 bananas, sliced
2 cups slivered almonds, toasted

Chantilly cream:
1 quart heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

1. Beat egg yolks until thick, add sifted flour, sugar, baking powder, water, oil and vanilla and beat until creamy. Set aside.
2. Beat egg whites until foamy, add cream of tartar and beat until stiff peaks are formed.
3. Fold a third of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Gently fold the rest of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture until incorporated.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven. Divide batter between two quarter sheet cake pans. Bake for about 20-25 minutes.
5. When cool, slice cake two make two layers.
6. For chantilly cream: whip heavy whipping cream with vanilla, sugar and cornstarch.

Spread whipped cream on the bottom layer. Arrange strawberries and bananas on top of the whipped cream.

Spread a thin layer on top of the fruit filling. (I also sprinkled with some almonds because I like the taste of the spongy cake, sweet strawberries, creamy whipped cream and the toasty almonds. Whenever we have Chinese cake, I always ask for the edge piece because the middle slices never had any almonds. Now every slice comes with almonds.)
This is the coolest tool ever. It is an f.dick 9" spatula. I have no patience for decorating cakes but this tool makes the task easier.

Arrange the second layer on top of the bottom layer.

Spread with whipped cream.

Decorate sides with toasted slivered almonds and top with fresh fruit.
Okay the middle looked empty so I decided to place three whole strawberries there.

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