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Real Food - Real Life

Recipe for Holiday Jam

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First off, if anyone can come up with a better name than Holiday Jam, please let me know. At any rate, this is a little bit strawberry, a little bit cranberry, some spice, some sweet, and some tang. It pretty much has it all.

The original recipe that I based this on was a Ball Recipe that called for 5 lbs of sugar and powdered pectin. At that level of sugar, I’m not sure how you even taste anything else. I’ve cut the recipe in half to make it a small batch, and I’ve cut the sugar way down and taken out the powdered pectin. I don’t like the taste of powdered pectin and it isn’t necessary anyway, because cranberries are so high in natural pectin.

I’m pretty darn happy with the end result on this jam. It would be great as a hostess gift over the holidays. We are planning to use it over cream cheese or goat cheese on a cheese plate. I think it would also be great on turkey sandwiches. Honestly, this one, I’ve just been eating straight up on crackers. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am!

5.0 from 2 reviews
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Holiday Jam
Author: 
Recipe type: Preserves
 
This is a bright jam that combines strawberries and cranberries. It is perfect for canning in small jars for holiday gift giving. It goes well over cream cheese or goat cheese, on sandwiches, or crackers.
Ingredients
  • 4 cups frozen strawberries, slightly thawed
  • 2 cups fresh cranberries
  • 1 orange, peeled and seeded
  • zest of one orange (from above), finely shredded or chopped
  • ½ t cinnamon
  • ½ t fresh ginger
  • ¼ t nutmeg
  • ⅛ t cloves
  • 2 cups of granulated sugar
Instructions
  1. Prepare a boiling water bath and 5 half-pint (8 oz) jars or 10 4-oz jelly jars. A boiling water bath can be done in any stock pot that allows for water to cover the jars by at least 1-inch. A tall stock pot is fine to use, just place a towel or rack in the bottom so the jars don't sit directly on the heat source. If your stock pot doesn't fit all of your jelly jars (it may not if you are doing 4-oz jars), only jar up the ones that will fit in the pot, keeping the rest of the jam warm on the stove while the first batch of jars processes. Once the first jars are done processing, jar the remaining jam and process in a second batch. Alternately, you can just jar any extra jam to eat right away or freeze.
  2. Wash and prepare lids and rings, according to the package directions.
  3. Place strawberries, cranberries and peeled orange in food processor and pulse to medium to finely chopped, but not pureed. It will break down some as it cooks, so it is better to go with larger pieces than too small.
  4. Combine the fruit mixture in a large skillet or dutch oven. The skillet allows for more moisture loss over the surface, which reduces cooking time and maintains the fresh fruit flavor. Stir the fruit over medium-high heat until they are combined, about 2 minutes.
  5. Add the spices and sugar.
  6. Stirring regularly over high heat, bring the fruit to a boil and cook until it bubbles and looks quite thick.
  7. This will take about 15-20 minutes. It's done when you pull a spatula through the jam and it doesn't immediately run back into the cleared space. You can also check the temperature with a candy thermometer - it's done when it hits 220 F.
  8. When the jam is done cooking, remove the pot from heat and allow to rest 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Skim any foam off the surface and reserve. Ladle the de-foamed jam into the prepared jars leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe the rims with a wet paper towel, remove air bubbles, if necessary, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
  9. After the processing time is complete, remove the jars from the water bath and place on a towel on the counter to cool. Allow to cool, untouched, for 24 hours and then check seals.
  10. If you don't want to process this recipe (or if you have a jar that doesn't seal), you can jar the jams and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. It will also freeze well.

 

Marmalade French Toast for the Instant Pot

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Once again, I got carried away with my preserving. This time it was with lemon and pink grapefruit marmalade. And while it is delicious, the recipe is HUGE and I ended up with 14 half pints of marmalade.

Just a quick note on this marmalade recipe, it is from a book called The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders. This book has some great tips on making jams and jellies without added pectin, and I have really enjoyed reading through it for inspiration.

Some Recipe Notes

This recipe is based on a recipe for croissants a l’orange that my husband and I had on our honeymoon. It’s been twenty years, and I still make that recipe and remember the bed and breakfast we stayed at in New England. I don’t make the recipe too often, however, because croissants aren’t a standard on my shopping list. This version of the recipe uses brioche bread, which I’ve found at Trader Joe’s. I cut the slices into cubes and then freeze whatever I don’t use in the bread bag for the next time. One loaf makes about three of this recipe.

Sometimes, it is fun to step a recipe up a notch. In this case, I’d recommend adding chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate to the bread and egg mixture.

If you’d like additional tips on making bread puddings or French toast in the pressure cooker, see my recipe for Cinnamon French Toast for the Instant Pot.

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Marmalade French Toast for the Instant Pot
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 4-5 cups of cubed brioche bread
  • 1 cup of milk
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 t vanilla
  • ½ t almond flavoring
  • ¼ cup of marmalade
  • 2 T brown sugar
  • ½ cup of chocolate chips or dark chocolate chunks (optional)
  • 2 T butter, melted (optional)
Instructions
  1. Add 1 cup of water to the pressure cooker and place a trivet in the pot.
  2. Make a tin foil sling if your trivet does not have a handle to remove your dish.
  3. Line a 7-inch cheesecake pan with parchment paper to prevent the milk mixture from leaking out. If you don't have a cheesecake pan, you can use a pyrex dish that fits into your pressure cooker.
  4. Spray the cheesecake pan or dish with cooking spray.
  5. Fill your baking dish with the cubed bread and mound the cubes over the top of the dish. This is how much bread you need for the recipe. Any extra can be frozen for another time.
  6. In a large bowl, combine the milk, eggs, vanilla, almond flavoring, marmalade, brown sugar, and chocolate chips (if using). Whisk lightly to combine and break up the marmalade.
  7. Toss the bread cubes into the egg and milk mixture.
  8. Pour the bread cubes into your prepared pan.
  9. Cover the pan with a paper towel and a piece of tin foil to keep out the moisture.
  10. Make sure the cooker is set to seal and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. Turn the keep warm setting off.
  11. After the cooking time is completed, allow the pressure to naturally release for 5 minutes and then manually release the remaining pressure.
  12. The French toast is ready to eat at this point, but if you'd like to crisp up the top, pour the melted butter on top and place under the broiler of your oven for a few minutes until the top is lightly browned.

 

Crock Pot Apple Butter

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You know apple butter is ready when no liquid pools around the edges.

In recent years, I have avoided making apple butter. My last memory of it involved thinking, “Boy, this just tastes like spiced applesauce.” So I didn’t bother with it for a couple of years. And then this year, a friend asked me to make her some and I had an overload of apples. So, I figured I may as well give it another shot. Worst case scenario, I was planning to make my girlfriend take the entire batch of apple butter.

Apple butter is really great on homemade toasted bread or added to plain yogurt or oatmeal. I also love it on my whole grain waffles with toasted pecans and a little whipped cream. A friend told me just today about making cinnamon rolls with apple butter as the filling. I’m going to give that one a shot in the very near future, because it sounds like the perfect fall treat.

So this time around, I did a few things differently. First, I did not puree the butter like a lot of recipes call to do. Instead, I chopped the peeled apples up at the beginning using a food processor – almost to a chunky applesauce consistency, but not quite. If you don’t have a food processor, you can just put the quartered apples into the crock pot and use an immersion blender on them once they are soft and mushy. Or just run it through a blender or food mill and you’ll end up with a smoother consistency.

I also played with the liquid on this recipe. Instead of using water as the liquid, I made one batch using apple cider and a second batch using hard apple cider. Honestly – they really didn’t taste much different. I was honestly hoping that the trendy hard apple cider version would be amazingly better than the old fashioned version, but not so much. But either one of them provides a little more flavor than using plain old water.

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Crock Pot Apple Butter = almost done.

I did this recipe in the crock pot. I really love this approach. It’s pretty hands off. You can stir it periodically, but really, you just let it do it’s job until the end when you jar and can it. The main trick with the crock pot approach is to leave your wooden spoon on the edge of the crock with the lid on so that the lid is cracked open for most of the cooking time.

You’ll know that the apple butter is done when the liquid is mostly gone. You should take a little bit and put it on a spoon or plate – let it cool a couple minutes and check to see if any liquid pools at the edges of the butter. Once there is no liquid, then the butter is done.

Enjoy!

 

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Crock Pot Apple Butter
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8 half pints
 
Because this cooks low and slow, this is a great recipe to start at night and finish the next morning. Your home will smell wonderful while you sleep.
Ingredients
  • 5 pounds of peeled, cored and quartered apples
  • 2 cups of apple cider, either hard or not
  • 3 cups of sugar - white or brown is fine
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoons ground cloves
Instructions
  1. Using a food processor, chop the apples into small pieces, almost pureed
  2. Add all ingredients to the crock pot and stir.
  3. Cover crock pot and cook on high for one hour.
  4. Turn crock pot to low and crack the lid with a wooden spoon to keep the lid slightly open. Cook on low for 8-11 hours. Stir occasionally, more towards the end.
  5. Once the butter has thickened, test it for consistency. Place a small mound on a spoon and let it cool for a couple minutes. If, after two minutes, no liquid has escaped the edges, the butter is done.
  6. The butter can be frozen in jars - leave enough space for expansion. Or it can be processed in a boiling water bath - leave ¼ inch headspace and process for 10 minutes.

 

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