Brownie Buttons

I really just like plain brownies, so I didn't do the frosting, so these weren't very photogenic. I tried "piling them in a bowl" as Dorie wrote, but that didn't end up as an appetizing picture. So here's just a loner on a plate (still not the prettiest). Whatever they looked like, these were tasty, and they would be great for snacking!













Thanks to Jayma of Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen for this week's pick!

Red Currant Tart

So now with my red currant jelly, I was finally able to try a tart! I still don't have a tart pan (let alone a mini), so I just cut rounds and used a muffin tin. This go around, I just made a baked custard tart, topped with currants and then the heated currant jelly as a glaze. It was a little messy, but very tasty. I'm hoping to try the recipe from the Pie and Pastry Bible before the currants run out!

Red Currant Jelly

Since I was so thrilled to find red currants, I thought I'd try to make jelly. I've made lots of freezer jam before, but only a couple cooked jams. And as far as I can remember this is my first jelly. I used my grandma's china cap (anyone know another name for this that doesn't sound like a slur?). I decided to try Christine Ferber's recipe from Mes Confitures. Basically it's
1.5 kg currants
1 kg sugar
200 g water
juice of 1 lemon


Weighing out my currants (the kids helped clean, and it
still took 2 hrs!).





















Ready to make the juice:






















After the boiling:





















What I didn't know about making jelly was how long straining the juice takes. At first I left my water bath going thinking I'd be putting the jelly jars in right after the 5 min on the stove - ha!

Here's about 1 minute's worth of straining, a photo about every 5 seconds or so.
















































































I don't know if you can really tell from the pictures, but that was 2 drops a minute.

It was just laughable. It took about 4 hours for the juice to strain. Part of the issue was pressing too much on the fruit in the china cap. And I didn't have a jelly bag so I used a flour sack set up, and then when I saw how long it was taking, I also put a coffee filter in the china cap and about 4 coffee filters in another strainer (propping them up against each other). Honestly, after this, I couldn't believe that people really used to make jelly every year. I was so discouraged and couldn't believe I wasted my time on this....until the jelly actually set....

and it looked so pretty - even on the kids' crooked picnic table. :)

Cherry Clafouti

After making my grandma's raspberry custard pie, I was reading Dorie's Paris Sweets and realized that the custard pie was basically the same thing as a tart (and a little richer). I made the cherry clafouti from the book, but had to use a pie pan (no tart pan yet!). I used the cream version, and I did leave the pits in to try to be a little more authentic :)

Sadly, this just did not work for me. Besides the fact that I left it too long, and it got so dark. Maybe it was my cherries - I didn't like the texture much and they didn't seem that flavorful (though they seemed great fresh). And you can see from the pic (isn't it horrific!) I had problems with the custard - the white spots and bubbles. Maybe I'll try this one again with one of the different fruit variations - maybe a raspberry one. But til then I'm sticking with grandma's :)

Raspberry Custard Pie

This is one of my favorite recipes from when I was a kid - though more when I was a teenager. My family would go 'up north' to a cabin for a week every summer, and one of our traditions was to pick wild blueberries and raspberries. The blueberries we'd mostly just eat fresh. But the raspberries would be made into jam and this custard pie, a recipe of my grandma's. I don't remember having this very frequently at home, but every year we'd try making it up at the cabin even though every year we forgot the recipe at home. One year we finally remembered it, so we stuck it behind a picture frame - and it was there every year after!

It's really not that complicated of a recipe :)
Raspberry Custard Pie
crust for 9in pan
1 1/2 c milk
3 eggs
1/4 c sugar plus 1-2T for berries
1t vanilla

Cover the unbaked crust with raspberries. Sprinkle 1-2T sugar over the berries. Whisk well the milk, sugar and eggs and vanilla. Pour over berries. Bake in a 450 over for 15 min, reduce heat to 350 and bake another 30 min or til custard is set.

Vanilla Ice Cream

We love our ice cream here, so I knew this would be a favorite. For mine, I added some of my attempt at Ferber's Bing Cherry, Honey and Mint jam that didn't set, but still makes a pretty tasty sauce :)

This is the very last scoop of ice cream out of the container, so it's looking a little icey, but I am loving RLB's Fresh Blueberry Pie. Her flaky crust is the first recipe I've actually been able to made a decent crust with, and even though I have never really liked blueberry pie - I'm really liking this one. (This pie's a day old here, too - so in all it might not be the most convincing recommendation, but I really wanted to share my enthusiasm for it before blueberry season's over!).


Thanks to Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu for this week's pick!

Strawberry Jam

I'm really slow with this post, the pictures have been sitting here a few weeks already. The strawberries are done now, but here's my first try with a cooked strawberry jam without added pectin.

I tried using this epicurious recipe that cooks a portion of the strawberries and then adds the rest fresh at the end. It turned out ok, the kids loved it. It was all gone by the end of the week (along with about four loaves of bread!). I think I still prefer freezer jam, it tastes fresher to me. It was a really good first experience though to walk through the process!