My Jam Envy

I admire people who make their own jams and jellies. Everything about the process has charm, like a slightly faded floral quilt and French country-side. Take my friend Eve, those photos of strawberries and neat little jars invoke long summers of childhood. I have not ventured into jam-making so I rely on stores like Mom's to supply me with nearly-as-good as homemade jams and jellies.

So if you don't can, here is your essential jam round-up. First the lingo. Jam, jelly, preserve, spread, marmalade. Jelly is only juice. Spread is a rather new term for jam with too little sugar content. Marmalade is citrus.

First Crofter's. I love the bear on the jar. And the continent-themed fruit spread. Europe here has currants, pomegranate, cherries, and grapes. North America is chock full of blueberries, cranberries, and cherries. South America and Asia are a bit more exotic. It's organic too!



Got some in the fridge and it is going fast!

These jellies and preserves are made by the monks of St. Joseph Abbey in Spencer Mass. Trappist Monks, people! We discovered Trappist jellies on a trip to the Cape.

We had orange-cranberry (super!) and hot pepper (meh). If you know of a store that sells Trappist outside of Mass, I am on the lookout for quince.

Bonne Maman is my third pick, as much for the jar as it is for the preserves. Bonne Maman is made in France with a label that looks handwritten, as if it was actually made in someone's kitchen. No wildly exotic flavors here, just good old-fashioned strawberry, cherry, apricot. Perfect for a hot scone and a cup of Earl Gray.

What other almost-homemade no-Smuckers-in-sight jams should be added to this list?

Holiday Spirits

A glug of good bourbon, a pour of organic soy nog, a dash of nutmeg. Stir and enjoy.

New (Old) Crayons

‘Twas the night before Tuesday, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The lunches were packed, counters wiped off with care,
In hopes that weekend soon would be there.

The children were bathed and at last in their beds,
While visions of angry birds danced in their heads.
And mamma, nose-deep in her Pinterest app,
Instead of hitting the treadmill had decided to make projects from scrap.

Yes, that is how it happen. With old broken up crayons and a silicone mold in hand, I embarked on remaking of the crayons. A wiser woman would have poured a glass or yesterday's Chardonnay. And, I might add, melting crayons turned out to be very satisfying and easy.

Look familiar?

I've had a silicone ice cube mold for years but never got around to making sea-shell shaped ice. Bits of crayons went into the mold and into the toaster oven at 200 degrees. Ten minutes or so should melt the crayons. Be careful pulling out the tray, so you don't end up with orange crayon goo all over the toaster oven.

At long last ice-cube silicone tray had a purpose.

I could hardly wait for crayon liquid to cool! Pop, out of the mold came out cute little crayons shaped like shells (hearts or fish would be cute too, no?). Sure, I could buy a box for $3 at Target but would they be as cool as this? You tell me.

Note to self: Melting stuff is fun, must do more often. And invest in more silicone trays for future crayon-making.

 

That's that. One more thing - stick with high quality crayons and trash the off-brand ones, they just didn't melt well.  

 



Lessons in Marshmallow Making

For starters you may wonder, what on earth processes one to make marshmallows when perfectly puffy ones are available at every store in sight. I wondered the same when I first encountered homemade marshmallows for the first time at my friend Dina's house about a decade ago. And then one day I woke up thinking: "Marshmallows."

Among  the some 5,800,000 or so search results for "homemade marshmallows" I chose this recipe from Martha Stewart - if anybody can do it, Martha can! Plus this version is simple (more about that later) and eggless. But not so fast.

Lesson 1: Sugar Pitfalls On my first try I used powdered sugar rather than plain granular sugar. Big mistake, my friends. Turns out powdered sugar contains starch and my mixture, heated up to just the right temperature, just would not fluff. Instead I ended up with with sticky gross goo.


A few days later I summoned the courage to try again. While my gelatin mellowed in water, I started heating up granular sugar, corn syrup, and the rest of the water with a pinch of salt. With thermometer clipped to the side of the pot I felt like a pro!

Lesson 2: Not all corn syrup is created equal. Plain corn syrup might be ok, but some bottles have caramel color and high fructose corn syrup (there is still debate about the health impacts but I just try and avoid it!).

 

The mixture begins heating up quickly and then the heating process suddenly slows down. The last ten or fifteen degrees seem to take forever! Apparently that's just what should happen.

But back to the marshmallows. Once the mixture in the pot heated up to the magic 244 degrees "firm-ball consistency," it went in slowly into the water/gelatin swirling in KitchenAid. A few minutes later the mixture in the mixture begun to fluff! The fluffed mixture went into a glass pan generously sprinkled with powdered sugar. Lesson 3: this is SERIOUSLY sticky stuff. Don't give the bowl to lick to your kid unless they are headed for the shower. And you may want to pull your hair in a ponytail or something.
 

Just a few minutes into whipping, I knew that this batch of marshmallows just may work! It quickly turned glossy white and thick.

Let the mixture dry uncovered  for a day or two before attempting to cut marshmallows into squares. Kitchen shears are your weapon of choice. Lesson 4: You are not Martha, you marshmallows will not look perfect, as evidenced by lumpy specimen below.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Baker's Kitchen: Holiday Ready GF Kitchen

This post is a bit of a departure from posts past. But holiday baking is just around the corner. Last year we had great fun with the virtual cookie exchange. This year will be my first holiday season baking GF-style since we switched to no gluten diet six months ago. So to follow up the last post about baker's arsenal of tools, this post is about the pantry necessities to set up a GF kitchen ready for holiday baking.

Picture source

Gluten-free isn't for everyone and it may not be for you. It is hard before it gets easier.  But many people do give up wheat, beer and barley because of health, allergies, or vanity. And it isn't all THAT hard. There are plenty of excellent recipes and products. Many cooks and bakers who've walked the walk and are willing to share. So there you have it, things to stock up on to bake in style.

The Basics

When I started baking GF style, I just bought a packet of each type of flour. Research came later. But it turns out some types of flour are more indespensible than others. When  you do not use wheat flour, you have to rely on a mixture of several types of flour to bake. Some cooks vary the mixture depending on the recipe, others stick to one tried and true formula, even pre-mixing it it by the batch full. With these on hand you can make just about anything - pancakes, muffins, cookies.

• White Rice Flour or Sorghum Flour, that's your flour foundation. Both have very neutral flavor.
• Tapioca Starch and Potato Starch, both are lighter and are mixed in with the heavier flour. Tapioca in particular gives a nice crispiness and improves the texture of the baked goodies.
• Xanthan Gum - not so very scary, just a tiny bit of xanthan helps ingredients stick together. The other alternative is Guar Gum but from what I hear Guar is better for cold foods, while Xanthan is preferable for baking.

Bob's Red Mill has this nifty bundle to get you started. They offer just about every type of flour you can imagine and are at most stores, I really cannot imagine what we'd do without Bob's Red Mill!

Not to state the obvious but eggs, baking soda, and baking powder come in handy too.

Nice to have
These are some additional ingredients to vary your repertoire and boost the nutrition factor.

• Almond Flour it is excellent in power-breakfast muffins and desserts and is lower in carbs, higher in protein.
• Amaranth Flour has a unique taste that you'll either love or not, some call it nutty. It is high in iron and protein.
• Buckwheat Flour - despite the name, also GF. It is a very heavy flour. We've made blinis and even added it to pumpkin pie mixture.
• Cornmeal
• Garbanzo Flour has a very pronounced bean flavor. But surprisingly it works in sweets (I will be attempting Middle-Eastern chickpea cookie this year) and also is the main ingredient in socca, French savory pancake. 
• Quinoa Flour is super-nutritious but a little goes a long way.
• Brown Rice Flour is only slightly healthier, but to me it tastes grainy so I pretty much stopped using it.

A few additional flours that I have not yet tried are hazelnut (what can possibly be wrong with that?), soy, and  millet.

Wet and Fat Ingredients
I couldn't give up eggs in my baking but forgoing dairy is easy-peasy.

• Soy or rice milk do the trick, just one-to-one substitution for regular milk. Coconut milk is also a nice substitution.
• Coconut oil is amazing and makes the best pancakes ever!
• Oil, olive, grape, or vegetable, works in most goodies.
• Vegan shortening doesn't leave the funny aftertaste like animal products. Spectrum seems to be the agreed upon staple.
• Vegan butter, thought I do not often use it for cooking, is also an easy substitution. And don't be fooled, we use gobs of Earth Balance on toast, it is tasty stuff.

Last by not least, a couple favorite sources to get you started - there are other sources for course but these are the ones that I've turned to again and again:

• Bob's Red Mill for everything! Most stores actually carrry it.
• Silvana Nardone's recipies have not steered me wrong! And her cookbook is super.
• I bake something from Gluten Free Goddess at least once a week!

Baker's Kitchen: Most and Least Useful Tools

I've been baking a fair amount. No, scratch that. I've been baking at LOT. Muffins. Doughnuts. Tea cakes. Slowly but surely Klatch kitchen became more functional, more attuned to the baker's needs. The frequently used tools are now within arms reach and we've stocked up on additional baking tins, while other clutter has been relegated to the space above the fridge.

So here is a round up of the best and most undervalued baking equipment and also the items that seemed like a good idea but turned out to be utterly useless.

First, the Hall of Fame.If you have been telling yourself all these years that KitchenAid is only for serious bakers, stop this nonsense and get yourself one. Aqua or bright pink are both formidable options. And if you have one, plant it firmly on your counter and never ever move it (when you do not have to pull it out, you WILL use it). I may one day upgrade to a professional grade with extra juice, but my basic model, black with little specks, has served me well for the past few years.

I have my eye on Kitchenaid ice cream attachment but please skip fripperies like citrus juicer and meat grinder.

Don't underestimate the cookie scoop. This little fella gets a whole lot of use around our kitchen. When handling sticky dough it is the best way to fill up muffins or cupcake cups.

After countless muffins, my cookie scoop met its untimely demise just this morning. I have my eye on this slick one but will probably go with the more practical OXO.

A pretty ceramic pie dish, from France like so many other good things, goes the distance. I have not made an actual pie in some time, but this dish is a standby, whether we are making Sheppard's pie, a crumble, or just need a pretty plate to pile on the veg.

Ceramic pie dish with wavy edge just makes everything more special.

Surprisingly enough, my doughnut pan gets a whole lot of use around here.The thing is, a homemade and baked (rather than deep-fried!) doughnut isn't all that unhealthy. We had doubts, but this doughnut pan is worthy of the cabinet space.

If you are GF like us this pan is a MUST.

On these few things, the jury is still out. Obviously, measuring cups and spoons are very useful. But mine are, well, boring. I am not a fan of over-designed measuring tools but am on the look out for simple, functional, and cute ones to replace the current ones.

how cool are these measuring cups from The Container Store?

c Much of the year I wonder why a cookie press box is occupying valuable real estate in the baking cabinet. It is a one trick pony, if you know what I mean. But then holidays roll around, and I am glad to have spritz cookies, even if it means battling this deceptively simple device.

We are also fully stocked with loaf pans around here. From banana bread to meat loaf, no kitchen should be without a solid set of two (because one just doesn't cut it)l. But this Crueset loaf pan is adorable. It would look lovely next to the previously mentioned ceramic pie dish.

 Now for the overrated category. Don't get me started on the Bundt pan. Don't get me wrong, I like it and it is so pretty, but truthfully, how often does one make a bundt cake? I like my bundt pan and won't part with it, but that pan is lucky to see the daylight once a year.

Maida Heatter's Lemon White Pepper and Ginger Bundt cake is my favorite! Perhaps it is fine time to adapt it and make a GF version!

Cookie cutters are oh-so-pretty, especially the copper ones. But, seriously, how often do you bake roll-out cookies? They never quite turn out with edges slightly over-baked and oftentimes spread out in baking to look like a big doughy blob instead of intended Fleur de Lis or Lobster.

My cookie-cutters are comfortably stashed out of the way.

You might also enjoy last year's cookie posts.