I’m having a bit of a #FlashbackFriday post.
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fruit
Canning Adventures
Every now and then Emily and I have these adventures where crazy hijinx occur. Such past adventures include our day at the Brimfield Antiques fair, our trips to the Quite Corner, and our day visiting the cape. With the summer winding down and the start of school fast approaching for Em we decided we needed one of these adventures. Well instead of going somewhere we decided to say local, very local in fact…. my kitchen. We decided would would make jam and can it!!!!!
Last Christmas I got a pressure canner and a canning accessories kit (thx amazon wishlist and Mom!) Since then I bought 2 books on preserving home made food, starting to hunt down some canning blogs, and follow people on twitter. So with the equipment, some ‘knowledge’, and a desire we set out to make jam and can it.
Hijinx did ensure. We ended up with plenty of burns from hot jam and steam, a sticky floor, well used aprons, and got to prove that my smoke dectors do in fact work ( I already new that the one in the kitchen worked but sure enough, the one in the living room does too!). Luckily Price and his friend Chris were out getting us more jars when the apartment filled with grey smoke. Of course, Price knew when he called with a question that from our laughing and hint to ‘take your time’ that something was up. Price sums it up best… we are bad news. Yes, but we love it 🙂
So we ended up with 26 jars of 3 types of jam. Everytime a jar popped we would squeel, jump, or give each other high fives. eek! We have not cracked open any of them. I’ll describe them when I post recipes next week.
Enjoy our video…. be sure to leave some jam or general canning suggestions. I’m going to do another round of canning at the end of August!
Cranberry Apple Pies
Apple Pie is my thing. I won a pie contest at our local library when I was 5/6… no, really ask my Mom! I totally rocked it. Plus I used a Pillsbury crust which made all those grandmas pissed to no end since my pie with store bought crust kicked their pies bottoms with homemade crusts. Must dig that photo out somewhere. (Get on it Mom!) Well, since then I have to make apples pies in the fall. HAVE TO. I signed up for a Meetup event that was a mac and cheese/ pie cookoff so this required me stepping up my game and trying something new. I saw a recipe for an apple cranberry crumb pie in my new gourmet magazine that sounded good but since I hate crumb toppings I had to do things my way.
I was happy with the outcome of my pie since the sweet apple was balanced by the tart cranberry. Plus the cranberries still had a bit of that burst in your mouth consistency. I typically make pies that stack up really high but since I was pressed for time and space in my tiny ‘oven’ I made them average, I guess you could say that. While at the meetup people were saying how interesting and good mine tasted with the cranberries and something else, something they could not figure out. Well that something was ginger. I had an impulse to add some ground ginger and I guess it paid off. Although I used cornstarch, like usual, it still bubbled over. I’m guessing it’s due to the fact that the cranberries gave off more liquid than I expected ( I adjusted the recipe to reflect this). Luckily I put my pie on a sheet pan incase this would happen, also, its easier to take out of the oven for me.
Cranberry Apple Pie
2 crusts for a 9″ pie- homemade or store-bought 7 Cortland apples, peeled, cored, sliced into pieces 1/2 a bag of fresh cranberries, washed- look through for stems 1/2 cup of granulated sugar 1 tablespoon of cinnamon 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice 1 teaspoon of ground ginger zest of 1 orange juice of 1 orange 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract 3+ tablespoons cornstarchPreheat oven to 425.
Peel. core, and slice apples. In a large bowl combine the apples, cranberries, and all other ingredients. Mix well. If there is a lot of liquid add a bit more cornstarch to thicken it.
Put 1 crust into 9″ pie plate. Carefully, add all apples and cranberries into pie crust. Cover with the other crust. Trim the edges/excess and cut slits in top crust.
Bake for 15 minutes at 425. Turn oven down to 350 to continue baking, approx 45 minutes. If the crust starts to darken add tinfoil around crust or slip on a crust shield.
Let pie cool 15 minutes before serving. The cooling allows for the juices to thicken.
Serve and enjoy 🙂
And remember… a compost would love all that apple peel and core goodness. At least my compost does!
Banana Pecan Muffins
The last time I made banana muffins I was doubling the recipe and made a big goof because I did not double the sugar…. I tripled it. In the end I ended up with sugary banana pucks- not dense, just no levening. They were really good, they just gave you a cavity in the process.
Well, I got bananas this past weekend for the purpose of banana muffins- I had been craving them recently. So I got out the mixer and all my ingredients tonight to get some serious banana pecan muffins going.
Banana Muffins with Pecans
18 muffins
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 overripe bananas
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease the muffin tins .
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In a small bowl, mash 2 of the bananas with a fork so they still have a bit of texture.
In a large bowl, beat with an electric mixer, the other 2 bananas and sugar together. You want a light and fluffy mixture, approximately 3 minutes. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla; beat well. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Divide the batter evenly between 18 muffins.
Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. You may need to rotate the pan periodically to ensure even browning.
Cool the muffins in the pans for 10 minutes or so, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
I felt like mixing things up a bit and used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. The muffins had the same great texture and taste but they did not rise much, compared to when I use all purpose flour. No worries, taste is more important than appearance to me. Plus I made 12 muffins and I used the rest for a mini loaf that I am going to take with us when we go camping this weekend.
Bananas, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla have been incorporated at this point
Adding the whole wheat flour.
Ready for the oven.