Some fun variations/substitutions I use in my weekly muffin making:

• + cutting the recipe in half, using only 1 cup of flour, 1/3 cup of sweet, and using a 1/3 cup scoop results in 6 “normal” sized muffins.

 

• + substituting half of the flour with either coconut flour, whole wheat, or buckwheat is a fun way to introduce yourself to new flour flavors.

 

• + I usually lower the amount of sugar to ~2/3 cup for a whole recipe, or 1/3 cup for a half recipe.

 

• + sprinkling special no-melt, stay crunchy, sugar on the top of the muffin before baking helps the sweet tooth when you have drastically reduced the sweetness of the muffin batter.

 

• + any oil can directly be subbed for the amount of butter: coconut oil, sunflower seed oil, olive oil, brown butter, combinations, etc.

 

• + direct substitution of mayonnaise (homemade natch) for the amount of fat takes care of the fat and egg recipe requirement.

 

• + adding two whole pulverized oranges (ala immersion blender) results in a wetter, almost custard like muffin.

 

• + honey can be directly substituted for the amount of sugar.

 

• + immersion blender style with fruit :
  • Soak 2 cups of dried figs in hot water to cover overnight.

   

  • Next day, coarsely chop up half of the figs to use as stir-ins to the batter.

   

  • Add the remaining strained whole soaked figs to a mason jar with the recipe amounts for sugar, salt, fat, vanilla, egg and yogurt. Sip the strained fig water as a special muffin-making tea.

   

  • Pulverize the mason jar contents with the immersion blender thoroughly.

   

  • Pour into a bowl with your dry ingredients, chopped figs to stir in, walnuts, and orange zest.
    Gently mix- not over mixing, and bake as directed.

I think you’ll like these as much as I do!

That is until these cold crisp sunny wintry mornings when one of those jars gets snapped open.

Or until they are handed out as Christmas or winter birthday presents.

Or until the lid is pried off and you discover a layer of chocolate to crack through like the sugar hat of a creme brulee.

Lets chalk this chocolate jam trick up to one of the many lessons learned from Christine Ferber’s Mes Confitures. Stirring in 250g of chocolate to a 1 kg fruit batch of jam is mentioned in several of her chocolate jam recipes. My experiments indicate that doubling this amount of chocolate is all good too, especially as the chocolate seems to visually disappear as it is added to your hot fruit mixture. Additionally, I added a layer of finely grated chocolate to the top of the hot jam after it had been spooned into the jam jar. This helps visually cue the jar opener to the presence of something special in this jam.

Adding chocolate to your jam recipe will not adversely affect the preservation of your jam. As usual in jam making considerations- keep your chocolate clean to prevent mold contamination in your jars. Do this by keeping your chocolate covered, use only clean sterilized tools and wash your hands before touching.

chocolate jam recap

• In a 1 kg of fruit batch of jam, add 250-500 grams of chocolate.
• Chocolate can be dark, milk or white.
• Chocolate is stirred in as the very last step before adding the jam to the jars.
• Additional chocolate can be added as a thin layer to the top of the hot jam just before it is lidded and heat treated.
• As is usual in jam making- keep your tools clean, and in this particular case your chocolate minimally exposed to the air to prevent mold spore contamination.

more uses for jam

• Jam Soda: use jam as the flavor base and sweetener for homemade soda
• Fruit Popsicles: jam adds a nice flavor kiss when used to sweeten popsicles
• Fruit on fruit: double your flavor punch of thawed frozen berries by tossing them with jam to gloss and sweeten

This summer I have a new obsession thanks to the cookbook Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way, by Francis Mallmann: charred tomatoes. Several of Mallmann’s listed appetizers call for burning the featured vegetable (cherry tomatoes or carrots) or cheese and then platting the singed goodness on bread or a salad. With a slightly skeptical mind I tested it out on a hot cast iron skillet with halved cherry tomatoes, and now I can’t stop eating my tomatoes this way.

Charred or burnt tomatoes with cheese on bread has become my breakfast and after work snack in this glorious time of bountiful tomatoes. And since this is a weekend, you can guess what I’m eating three times a day…

Charred tomatoes and cheese on bread

Preheat a cast iron skillet on med-high heat. You’ll want the surface to be hot: judge by being able to hold your hand above the surface of the skillet for no more than 2 seconds.

Slice a small handful of cherry tomatoes in half, or cut 1/4 inch slices off of a large tomato. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the cut sides.

Assemble 1 oz of cheese (any type will work) in small thumb sized chunks and 2 small slices of bread to be close to your hot skillet.

Place the cut tomatoes, cut side down on the hot skillet. Make sure to obey Francis Mallmann’s 1st commandment of food making contact with a heated surface “Don’t Touch”.

After 1 minute, place the cheese chunks down on the skillet in the space remaining around the tomato slices. Place the pieces of bread along side to toast lightly.

Leave the cheese and tomatoes on the hot skillet for approximately 4 minutes at which time they will be burnt on the cooking surface.

Place the toasted bread slices on a plate, and with a nice sharp edged metal spatula, scrape/lift the charred tomato slices and cheese on to the bread, burnt side up (so it won’t get all steamy soggy).

Allow to cool slightly and dust with another slight sprinkle of salt and enjoy.

When its too darn hot outside, do I want to fire up the stove top to turn these fruity gems into jam? No.

To deal with over-ripening fruit super quick, my answer is to make popsicles. It’s a great answer for when your fruit is a ticking time bomb, developing a pool of juice love at the bottom of its storage container.

And when made with a judicious hand, these treats are perfectly allowable as guilt-free breakfast treats, (I say typing one handed with a cantaloupe black pepper pop). I like to think of them as summer’s answer to homemade poptarts, but even better.

Summer fruit popsicles

You don’t really need to be told how to make popsicles, but here’s a break down to help stir up your creative juices.

• First step: is to clear a bit of space in the freezer.
  A two-birds-with-one-stone approach to this process is to find some frozen fruit from last season you need to clear out and make this the target of your popsicle fixation.
• Second step: is to build the body of your pop up with your target fruit.
  Either stick your fruit in a blender (melons) or mash them up with a fork or potato masher (strawberries) to get a good sludge going.
• Third step: consider your options for popsicle body additions. Do you want these to be no-nonsense popsicles, or adventurous, creamy, chunky, caffeinated popsicles?
  
  • salt: I always add a touch of salt when making my popsicles. It helps get the juices flowing and always makes them taste even better.
  • extra sweetness: honey, agave nectar, rice syrup, jam, maple syrup, molasses, dissolved sugar (white granulated, brown, or palm).
  • chocolate: if I want chocolatey popsicles I like to mix up 2 Tbs of cocoa powder with ~2 Tbs boiling water. Add enough additional water to make this into a pudding like consistency.
  • liquid: water, juice, dairy, coconut milk, coffee, tea, vinegar.
  • dairy: keifer, yogurt, sour cream, milk, half and half, cottage cheese, custard or pudding.
  • toothsome bits: more fruit left whole or chunky, cocoa nibs, coffee grounds, bits of nuts, cookie crumbs, soaked cake cubes, vanilla bean specks.
  • spices and flavors: cinnamon, peppers (black pepper or chili), saffron, curry, cilantro, nutmeg, vanilla, mint, lemon, fresh garden herbs.
• Fourth step: pour your popsicle concoction into the mold of your choice.
  My favorite is my 1/2 cup Food Cuber.
• Fifth step: stick consideration.
  Add your popsicle sticks immediately if your mold is designed for such, or just pop them into your popsicles about 1 hour after freezing.
  
  The popsicle sticks can be many things: spoons, cinnamon sticks, flat skewers (I use wide flat bamboo skewers cut down to an appropriate size- as seen on amazon or your local cooking supply stores), chopsticks, or good ole clean recycled popsicle sticks.
• Sixth step: finishing touches to fancy-up your popsicles.
  Homemade magic shell is divine on strawberry popsicles. White chocolate magic shell on lemon pudding popsicles? You could even sprinkle ground nuts or sprinkles onto the magic shell right before it hardens, (but then you’d have clown popsicles).
• Storage: most popsicles can just be left in their popsicle molds, in the freezer. However, if mold space is at a premium because you have more popsicles screaming to be made, just pop your finished popsicles out into an air tight container. I use either large ziplock bags or large mason jars. As flavors can sometimes migrate, its best to keep different flavors separate, unless you want that chipotle banana mocha popsicle to mingle with your mango yogurt pop.

Enjoy!

Yeah- I know how odd that is… I had some silly convictions I carried with me through childhood as a picky eater. Strawberries use to be in that category of untouchable foods -like tomatoes. But now that I’m enjoying foods in season, strawberries have revealed themselves to be the nirvana that I had always heard about.

This summer has given me practice in my favorite way to prepare my sliced strawberries. This makes strawberries taste restaurant Grandma quality good, and is better than sprinkling strawberries with sugar. Your strawberry shortcake will thank you!

For a pint of juicy strawberries with amplified flavor:

• - core, then slice 1 pint of strawberries and place into a jar or bowl.
• - sprinkle with a pinch of salt
• - in a small bowl make up a strawberry syrup by mixing 1 Tbs of strawberry jam with 1-2 Tbs of hot water. Stir till the jam is broken up and is now syrup consistency. Putting the bowl in the microwave for 10-15 seconds on High will help loosen up the jam.
• - pour this strawberry jam syrup over the sliced strawberries and allow to sit at room temperature 30 minutes before use.

Not only are these extra juiced up berries good on ice cream and cake, but they’re wonderful spooned over yogurt.

Not only that, it’s nestled in between slices of the grainiest bread I know and melted to oblivion. Half-n-half grilled cheese style: horseradish chive havarti and pepperdew havarti.

How do you like to make your grilled cheese grown up?

Weekend Update

New favorite grilled cheese- grainy bread, horseradish chive havarti, and thin sliced pear.

Well, now you’re going to know my secret source for intriguing new recipes.

Delving into the world of raw recipes can seem daunting at first (it really is a whole new world of summer suited dehydrating and freezing techniques) but one is quickly rewarded in the development of a new arsenal of food preparation techniques.

And Yes, reading a raw recipe book can be a nice kick in the butt to eat more fruits and vegetables to supplement my cooked diet. However, Ani Phyo’s raw recipe books serve primarily to remind myself of how successful simple, bright wholesome flavors are.

Her latest book Ani’s Raw Food Desserts: 85 Easy, Delectable Sweets and Treats contains a wide range of raw recipes. From classic coconut oil based chocolates, nut based scones, dairy and tofu free “cream” concoctions, to simple unrecipes of Fleur de Sel Kissed Watermelon and apples dusted with fresh rosemary; Ani Phyo presents ample opportunities to enjoy your summer fruits in a new way.

New tricks I learned: using cacao powder, pairing mesquite flour with chocolate, and playing up agave syrups. Reading through Ani’s Raw Food Desserts shook up my conservative approach to using this sweetner. Now I can’t wait to toss fresh lavender blossoms in agave syrup, or to create a whole bottle of cinnamon nutmeg seasoned syrup for yogurt drizzles.

Featured below is one of the new recipes from Ani’s Raw Food Desserts: Sesame Snap Cookies. These speckled fruit patties are bombs of flavor: tart apricot with crunchy pistachios and sesame seeds that pop in the teeth, and they’re super easy to make with the use of a food processor. I think these will be my new super quick breakfast to grab out the door, when I’m not imagining them covered with chocolate, that is.

Sesame Snap Cookies

From the book Ani’s Raw Food Desserts by Ani Phyo. Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright (c) 2009. Find out more at www.dacapopresscookbooks.com.

Makes 10 cookies

• 1 cup dried apricots
• 1/2 cup shelled pistachios
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract or lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon agave syrup

Place the apricots in the food processor and process into a paste. Add the pistachios, sesame seeds, lemon extract, and agave syrup and process to mix well.

Scoop the dough by 1 1/2 teaspoons onto a sheet tray lines with parchment and flatten into cookies.

Will keep for a week in the fridge or for several weeks in the freezer (thaw before eating).

Variations:
If you love herbs, try adding 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme or tarragon to the dough. Or add 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger for zing.

A beginner in that I learned how to put up jam only last year. More so, a beginner in that I don’t quite have a handle on realizing I have to eat what I’ve preserved.

The jars of green beans and peaches were a delightful surprise. However, the many many jars of pantry jam have me realizing I don’t eat that much toast, or jammy cookies.

My jam guilt turned my mind to resourcefulness, and I now have a quart of apricot vanilla soda in my refrigerator, by the graces of my beginning jam excursions. Oh yes. I don’t even have to suggest what a bounty this could be… bourbon mixers, sodas, Italian cream sodas in any flavor of jam you have?

A little warm water, a soda siphon, and your tasty summer efforts are all you need to create an amazing array of flavored sodas.

Jam soda

makes one quart

materials:

• 1 quart pyrex measuring cup, or similar sized mixing vessel with a pouring lip
• whisk
• 1 quart lidded jar
• strainer
• funnel
• soda siphon
• CO2 cartridge

ingredients:

• 1 cup of jam (or a half pint jar)
• hot (almost boiling) water
• lemon juice

instructions:

• Measure into the 1 quart pyrex measuring cup the half a pint of jam.
• Slowly whisk in the hot water, 1/2 a cup at a time till you have one quart of jammy liquid.
• Pour the hot jammy liquid into the 1 quart size storage jar and refrigerate until cold.
• When cold, strain the jammy liquid of any fruit solids into the quart sized pyrex.
• Add 1 Tbs of lemon juice to the strained jammy liquid.
• With the funnel in place, fill the soda siphon with the strained jammy liquid.
• Lid and charge with one CO2 (soda) charger and shake vigorously.
• Pour into an iced cup and enjoy straight up or with a drizzle of half and half.

More lovely things to do with jam

• Orangette, Brown Butter Spoon Cookies with Jam: “they turn out smooth and curvy, the approximate size and shape of a flattened egg. They’re pale gold and flecked with toasted bits of butter, and you sandwich them with a festive sash of jam across the waistline. They’re sophisticated but still approachable, eminently edible. If they were human, you’d want to pinch their cheeks and buy them a drink.“
• 101 Cookbooks, Rombauer Jam Cake Recipe: “moist, with berry undertones, a sugary crispness from the brown sugar icing. Delicious. A perfect autumn and/or holiday cake –just be sure to use a good quality jam.”
• Chez Pim, Homemade Pop Tarts: “if you’re one of those who think a great pie is all about a good crust–I am of course one–these pop-tarts are perfect for you. They are filled with just enough delectable jam to punctuate the flavor without obscuring the buttery, flaky goodness of the crust.”
• the Kitchn, Easy Appetizer Template: Jam + Pork + Cheese: “The combination of sweet, salty, and creamy is sure-fire success, trust us, and you can mix up the components in dozens of different ways.”

We found ourselves habitually lingering over breakfast at Le Pichet, enjoying the simplicity of a petite breakfast muddled with the wrappings of a French title. Yaourt fabrication maison au miel et noix? How about thick whole milk yogurt with a sunken treasure of honeyed walnuts? I heard your heart just speed up in anticipation didn’t I?

House-made yogurt with honey and walnuts is a breakfast easily assembled to enjoy through out the week and on special lazy weekends with a baguette, butter and marmalade.

Honeyed Walnuts with Yogurt

Honeyed walnuts: toasted walnuts preserved in honey
Preheat oven to 350F.

Distribute in a pan 1-2 cups of walnut halves and pieces. The amount I use is as many walnut pieces will fit into a mason jar. Toast until fragrant and slightly golden. Tip the warm toasted walnut halves and pieces into a glass storage jar (like a mason jar). Cover with honey. This jar will keep indefinitely at room temperature on the shelves of your pantry or cupboard.

Assembly
This breakfast is best enjoyed with a high quality yogurt, and in a small cup.
Using your best whole milk plain yogurt, spoon about 1/2 cup into a serving dish. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of your honeyed walnuts into the middle, pushing down slightly to create a nearly hidden sunken treasure.

Enjoy!

Homemade candy this good has a catch though- it takes 2 – 3 weeks to make. So steel yourself and find that zen place of candy patience in your heart. It will be worth it, I promise.

What makes these candied orange slices better than the easier candied orange peel? These candied orange slices retain their pulpy fruit and are steeped in a sugar solution without heat. This minimal use of heat offers up an orange candy that has a more juicy, lighter fruity flavor than candied orange peels have.

Candy Orange Slices

modified version of procedure for candying fruit by Jean-Pierre Wybauw in Fine Chocolates, p70. Wybauw’s method utilizes a sugar refractometer- the following method doesn’t.

Fruit Prep:

• Clean three oranges by scrubbing under warm water.
• Slice into thin rounds. This candying method worked on all thickness of slices I tried up to 1/4 inch thick.
• The slices can be kept as circles, or cut into halves or quarters (hemi-circles and quarter-circles).

Blanching:

• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
• Have a bowl of ice water near by.
• Add the sliced oranges to the boiling water (may need to be done in batches depending on the size of your pot). Scoop from the boiling water when the slices float to the top and place into ice water to cool.
• When cool, drain and remove the slices from the ice water and transfer to a container large enough to hold all of the slices.

Candying:

• Bring to a boil: 1 kg of sugar and 600 g of water. This step is to just dissolve the sugar (not to cook the syrup).
• Pour the hot syrup over the orange slices. If the orange slices float, weigh them down to keep them fully submerged. Weighing down method I used the first week: placed a plate on top of the orange slices and a glass jar of water on top of the plate.
• Store the submerged orange slices in a dark cool place, like a cupboard or closet for the duration of the candying. I didn’t refrigerate them.
• Each day increase the sugar content of the orange slice sugar solution. Do this by draining off the sugar solution the slices are submerged in, add 100g of sugar, heat the solution to just dissolve the sugar, and pour back over the orange slices.
• Complete this increase-sugar step daily for two weeks.
• Notes

  • I didn’t follow the schedule as written: I skipped a couple days of the increase-sugar schedule, and just resumed the increase-sugar step when I was able to. My impression is that this recipe is not very picky about increasing the sugar each day. I think the variable of time is important though- don’t try to shorten the duration of this recipe.
  • Storage: the orange slices may be stored in the sugar solution indefinitely. No need to refrigerate, they can be stored in a cool dark place, like a cupboard.

Drying and dipping
The orange slices are removed from the sugar solution. Finishing can take multiple different routes:
arrange on a drying rack out at room temperature till less tacky, 1-2 days then

• roll in sugar (plain, vanilla, or with a touch of citric acid),
• or dip in chocolate (white, dark or milk- tempered holds up best).
• or you can do both- like in the picture: dip 3/4 of the orange slice in chocolate and sugar the exposed portion.

Storage of finished candies
In an air tight container is best to keep out humidity. I gifted these in glass canning jars or crunchy cellophane bags. The survivors of my nibbling suggest that these candies hold up well: at least a month, probably more.

Variations
The subject of your candying is the first variation that leaps to my mind. Keeping your choices in the citrus family is easy:

• lime
• lemon
• grapefruit
• buddah’s hand

Finding other fruits and vegetables for this process would be a great experiment too. I don’t know what the parameters for likely subjects are. But here’s some ideas:

• persimmon
• ginger
• pineapple
• apricot
• peach
• tomato
• cucumber
• cherries
• garlic clove
• jalapeno
• onion ring
• carrot
• chestnut

I’d love to hear what you try.

A long process- yes. But the bounty if offers will reward you and your friends over and over.

Cheers