Autumnberry Ketchup

For several years now I've been all talk, claiming that I'd try to make something other than jam and fruit leather with the plentiful autumn olive berries, aka autumnberries, we have around our property.  Well this year the Spice Rack Challenge, mace, gave me a second reason to push myself to make some ketchup.  Mace if you don't know is the outer covering of nutmeg and is similar in flavor.  Though it is sometimes found in sweet recipes I find mace more suited to savory dishes.  Seasoning for pot roast or a pinch added to faux cheese sauce (made with nutritional yeast) are two of my favorite ways to use mace.  And you often find it in the spices in ketchup.  

I based my experimenting on a cherry ketchup recipe I found online from Jose Andres.  After making one batch with the exact same spice amounts I found his recipe a little too assertive and made some adjustments.  I love the resulting milder condiment.  It is very similar in taste to good store bought ketchup though my son Alex still found it too "mustardy".  I guess a few more batches are needed to fit his palate.  This shouldn't be a problem, we have enough berries on our land to fill a pool!

Perfect with homemade fries
(cooked in beef tallow, from my Gallagher Farms steer)

Autumnberry Ketchup
Based on several basic ketchup recipes online and this cherry ketchup from Jose Andres.
Makes ~1 1/2 cups

24 ounces of autumnberry pulp* (~3 cups)
1 teaspoon whole mace (or 1/3 teaspoon ground)
1 teaspoon granulated onion
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon ground dry yellow mustard
1 inch piece of cinnamon stick

1/2 teaspoon whole allspice berries

5 whole cloves

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

-Add your prepared autumnberry pulp and the salt and spices to a saucepan.  Bring to a simmer and simmer for 15 minutes.
-Add the vinegar and cook until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
-Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove the whole spices.  Store in the fridge until use.

*Instructions for autumnberry pulp:
Rinse and drain the berries.  Place in a pot with a tiny amount of water and cook covered over medium heat until the flesh is loose and the seeds squish out easily.  Strain the pulp either with a chinois, mesh strainer or a food mill.  I prefer the food mill.  Chill until use.  Be aware that the pulp may separate into the red skin material and a milky liquid.  If it does, stir it well before measuring for a recipe.

More autumnberry recipes
Autumn Olive Jam and Leather
Spiced Autumnberry Jam
*I also found a good article on mace at the Kitchn.  It has a great photo of mace covering a whole nutmeg.  
**Updated to add some more information about autumnberries/autumn olive:
Autumnberries are also known as autumn olive (scientific name: Elaeagnus umbellata) and are found in various places across the US, most heavily in the mid-west and New England. They are prevalent in my part of Michigan and thrive in nutrient poor, dry, disturbed areas. Here is a good link with pictures and information on how to identify the plants: Information on habitat and identification of autumnberry (aka autumn olive)

I've been busy sewing more this month. I just finished this jacket for Penny. She has a major Hello Kitty addiction.

And is also fond of apples.

We went to Rennie Orchards.  The kids loved their teepee.

Any hike means eating a ton of autumnberries off the bushes that are everywhere.

Alex's new photo expression, *maybe* it is a slight improvement over the tongue out and other crazy faces of the past months.

I added this post to the Make Your Own Mondays 

at Natural Family Awareness

Update and some Peeled Snacks (giveaway too!)

We're back from the beach. Our week of fun in the sun is over and fall looms ahead. Instead of waking up to sunrises like this and going for a walk on the beach.

We're back home and waking up to this!  It turns out one of our supposed to be pullets is a rooster and started an oh so lovely crowing ritual while we were gone.  We've renamed him Hawkeye by the way.  Votes are being taken about his soup pot status.   

Travelling with our food restrictions is always tricky but some homemade beef jerky and lots of dried figs saw us through.  While we were travelling, I received an email offering a sample from a company called Peeled Snacks.  Since giving up refined sugar myself and cutting down on it for the while family we've really been appreciating the sweet kick dried fruit gives.  So I accepted the offer to try some of their goodies. 

They were waiting for me when I got home and today we gave them a try. We received apricots, pineapple and their farmer's market trio (apple, cherry and raisins.)   All were delicious with no added sugar.  The trio was especially kid friendly and I liked the small package size of the pineapple, since I am known to go a little overboard on dried pineapple and need the portion control. 

For more about their products, Peeled Snacks has the trifecta of Facebook, Twitter and Website.  Samples will be available at Costco stores on Thursday (8/18) and Wednesday (8/24), for you lucky southeast Michigan folks who can go.  They also have a cool recipe contest going on right now, details can be found on Facebook and HERE.

**Giveaway** Now Closed
In addition to my free samples Peeled Snacks has offered to give one of my readers an Organic Fruit Picks Variety Pack.  So drop a comment here before midnight Tuesday August 23rd.  If you like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter you can drop an extra comment or two for a better chance at winning.

*I received these samples free of charge in exchange for reviewing them here and running a giveaway.  No other compensation was given and the opinions are mine and honest.

DB Fresh Frasier (or rather Framboises)

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

Daring Baker time!  This month's creation was chiffon cake filled with fresh fruit and pastry cream, a Fresh Frasier.  I chose to use fresh raspberries, made the gluten-free chiffon cake from Penny's birthday, used coconut milk for the pastry cream (alas no stabilized whipped cream for us) and sweetened it all with maple sugar. I overcooked the pastry cream a bit and I think I'm getting to a point where even maple sugar is too much for me.  I'd rather just have the berries plain or the berries with a splash of coconut milk and skip the cake.  But the cake was put to use and served some kind friends that put up with my experimental desserts.  Penny loved hers but Alex balked at the coconut milk cream.  He's my picky one.  Thanks for the challenge Jana!

Links:
-For the full original recipe visit our host Jana at Cherry Tea Cakes or see the pdf recipe.
-I made this gluten-free chiffon cake but this time used maple sugar.  I made the pastry cream from Jana's recipe but replaced the whole milk with full fat coconut milk and left out the whipped cream.
-Her recipes are based on those of Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson from the cookbook Tartine.
-Other participants for this challenge are listed in the Daring Baker Blogroll.

Penny had no patience for my picture taking.

Her new hobby is flower picking.  This week Queen Anne's Lace is the favorite.

Mint and Melon

This month's Spice Rack Challenge is mint.  I have my vegetable garden planted and school done for the summer so I should be able to find a few moments to blog here and there.  I have my two favorite mint combinations blogged already, mint/chocolate and mint/lamb so I had to think of what else I like to do with mint.   I think mint is wonderful in any fruit salad and mint and melon are especially good together. Here is my non-recipe for fruit and mint, of course it's simple but I need a baby step right now.

Mint and Melon

1. Seed, peel and cube melon
2. Chiffonade fresh mint leaves
3. Toss with citrus juice and a little zest (I like orange or lime for this)
4. Eat

My other mint recipes:
Mint Coconut Milk Ice Cream with Gluten-free Chocolate Cones
Quinoa and Blood Orange Salad
Candy Cane Cocoa
Winter Mint Cookies
DB Lavash Crackers w/ Moroccan Carrot Dip
Heartnut and Wild Rice Salad
Cherry Tomato and Mint Salad on Lamb Steaks

Raspberry-Oat Teacakes (gluten-free)

Psst, guess what-- I have a little girl!!!  And that means that I can dream of talking about clothes, of having tea parties and sleepovers and maybe even of playing together with makeup, when she's 18 of course.  In anticipation of all this we took the first step and bought Penny her first tea set recently.  So far she loves carrying around the cups and hiding things in the teapot but I thought I'd put it to better use and make some mini teacakes.

The idea came from the recent request from Foodbuzz for tea party recipes.  Foodbuzz is donating $50 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund for every tea party inspired recipe created by a feature publisher before March 23rd and I'm making it just under the wire.   I really had no idea what a "teacake" was and in this case the internet wasn't much help, even Wikipedia struggles for an answer.  So I went to the source of all baking knowledge, Martha.

I based my mini teacakes on Martha's recipe but tweaked them to be nut and dairy free.  We are just beginning to try coconut oil on Penny and this is really her only taste of sugar so far, outside of a little maple syrup.  But it's her birthday week and I feel like being indulgent.  The mini cakes are not too sweet, a little denser than your average muffin with a slightly crisp exterior.  I love the oat and raspberry combination and it completely won over Penny and her older brother. Now we just need to whip up some deviled eggs, one of Alex's favorite things to make on his own, and a spot of tea to have our petite fête.

Links:
-Visit Kelly Confidential and you can play make believe and host an imaginary tea party at Kelly's Tea Party for a Cause. When you do, Electrolux will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.
-A friend runs a tea directory online at Now Serving Tea.  Take a look at her site for information on tea rooms, tea houses, tea shops, tea crafters, tea farms, tea retailers, and restaurants serving tea.
-How about some homemade chai tea with your tea cakes?  This recipe from intellectual relish uses black cardamom.  

Raspberry-Oat Tea Cakes
Based on the recipe for Tiny Cherry and Almond Tea Cakes from Martha Stewart Living, July 2007
Makes 12 mini muffin sized cakes

4 tablespoons coconut oil
8 tablespoons processed oatmeal*
5 tablespoons sugar, I used coconut sugar
4 tablespoons brown rice flour
3 tablespoons potato starch
3/8 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
12 frozen raspberries

*I ground rolled oats in a food processor to a cornmeal consistancy.  Please be sure that your oats come from a gluten-free source if you have health concerns.

-Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease and flour a mini muffin tin with coconut oil and potato starch.
-In a small saucepan, melt your coconut oil and then remove from heat.
-In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together your oatmeal, sugar, rice flour, potato starch and salt.  Set aside.
-In another medium sized bowl, whisk your egg whites just until frothy.  Add in the dry ingredients and vanilla extract and whisk until the batter is smooth.  Then drizzle in the warm coconut oil and beat until a uniform smooth batter is created.
-Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin and then press a frozen raspberry into each cake, you don't need to push the raspberry all the way into the batter.
-Bake for 11-12 minutes until they toothpick test done.  Cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan and then remove to cool on a rack.
-Serve with tea and maybe some deviled eggs, if that tickles your fancy.

 Penny gives me staging advice, right before she made off with the teapot lid!

I'm adding these to Simply Sugar and Gluten Free's Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays

Dairy-free Citrus Curd

This month's Spice Rack Challenge featured citrus.  At first I racked my brain over the whole idea of dried citrus rind.  What do you use it for, just in place of fresh?  Why would you buy it in the first place when most citrus fruits are so easy to find year round?   Then I gave up pondering and tried making a almond shortbread cookie inspired by these Orange and Dark Chocolate Scones from Joy the Baker.  I liked the texture but hated the flavor, so I pitched them.

I found myself on the last day to post and all I had in the house was a really sad dried up lemon and two slightly beaten up grapefruit, I never did buy or make any dried peel.  Instead of throwing in the towel I decided to make grapefruit curd.  Lemon curd is so insanely good and addictive that I've never bothered to make a curd with other citrus fruit.  For awhile I made homemade dairy-free lemon curd with Earth Balance margarine but then I found out it is even better made with coconut oil.  Lemon curd sweetened with honey and made with coconut oil is my favorite.  But since grapefruits were what I had, I gave grapefruit curd a try.

Well, I may be won over.  The grapefruit curd was excellent on toast.  For the bread I made this coconut flour bread, except I used coconut oil in place of the ghee and maple butter instead of honey.  It tastes like poundcake without all the crazy sugar and was the perfect foil for the sweet curd. (And now that I'm thinking about it, the coconut bread would be great with a little citrus zest added to it.)  The curd was also great on fruit, try dipping strawberries in it!, and of course straight from the jar.  

Dairy-free Citrus Curd
Thanks to Straight Into Bed Carefree and Dried and Martha Stewart
Makes ~1 1/2 cups

3 egg yolks (egg quality really counts)
zest from 1 fruit
4 tablespoons sugar (or honey)
1/4 cup citrus juice
4 tablespoons coconut oil

-Place your yolks, zest, juice and sugar (or honey) in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat while whisking.
-Cook until the mixture thickens and can coat a spoon.
-Turn off heat and whisk in the coconut oil one tablespoon at a time.
-Strain through a fine metal sieve and whisk again if any oil begins to separate out.
-Cool and use.  Store any remaining in a glass container in the refrigerator. 

Carob Fruit and Nut Bark

Though I'm still full of my typical end of winter griping about dark days and slippery roads, I am noticing that February has been flying by. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I'm still trying to lay off sugar and wheat and grains in general. But that's a topic for another post, which I'm too scatterbrained to write at the moment, so here's a recipe I've been working on.

John and I have been upping the ante with our chocolate lately. I've long been a fan of the dark stuff and look for at least 70% cocoa (the bare minimum) but with my current dietary changes I'm even finding things like these brownies too sweet. So we search for darker chocolate for snacking and that results in eventually even liking unsweetened chocolate, if combined with fruit and nuts. The trouble is that chocolate has caffeine and though my tolerance is way higher than John's a little too much snacking ends with me up all night.

So John suggested carob (yes honey, I'm actually giving you credit) and at first I scoffed. Have you ever had those carob covered nuts from the bulk section? Or a carob bar? They are so insipid and gross with a weird chewy quality but John likes them anyway. I remembered seeing carob powder, also called carob flour, at the co-op so I agreed to give that a try. I had some cocoa butter around to try and make homemade dairy-free white chocolate and thought, "Hey I could make carob chocolate and it wouldn't be an oxymoron!"

For my first attempt I went completely sugar free and it was wonderful! Of course you have to be used to eating very low sugar/high cocoa chocolate but if you are the kind of person who can snack on cocoa nibs than you might really love this and it won't keep you up at night. Plus, carob may have other health benefits and it's much less bitter and therefore requires less sweetness to be delicious. I've played with the recipe further, added a little dried fruit for a smidgen more sweetness and a little coconut oil so that I don't have to worry about tempering the cocoa butter. The variations are endless but I like this Chunky bar homage with raisins and almonds.

Carob Fruit and Nut Bark
This is for super low sugar chocolate lovers. If you can't handle nibbling on cocoa nibs or 90% chocolate then either use a higher percentage of dried fruit or try adding a little stevia. 
Makes about a pound

3 oz (~3/4 cup) cacao butter*
2 oz (7 tablespoons) roasted carob powder*
8 oz (2 cups) almonds, ideally soaked/dehydrated*
3 oz (3/4 cup) raisins*
1/4 ounce (~1 1/2 teaspoons) coconut oil
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

-Melt the cacao butter in a double boiler add the carob powder and coconut oil and whisk until smooth.  You could also melt the cacao butter in the microwave but it seems to take forever so I prefer a double boiler for this.  Of course a double boiler does not have to mean anything more than a heat proof bowl that fits on a saucepan with a little water in the saucepan.
-Add the almonds and raisins and stir to coat.  Spread on a parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.
-Chill in the freezer for 10 minutes and then remove and break apart.

*Ingredient notes:  Cacao butter is the same thing as cocoa butter but be sure not to skimp on this. I've found cheaper stuff that has off flavors and tastes like soap and it's awful!  Carob powder is also called carob flour.  Of course any combination of nuts with/without any combination of dried fruit would be good. 

**Other notes:  I think a variation with some spice would be excellent and there is an interesting Cinnamon Spiced Coconut Bark on Diet, Dessert and Dogs.  Also, I'd love to try some filled chocolates with this carob chocolate mixture and plan on using this recipe for Double Chocolate Hazelnut Candies as inspiration.

***Note to mom: Hey, check out the Russell Stovers Elvis box, that thing has really gotten a lot of reuse!

Maple-Rosemary Fried Apples

The jar of dried rosemary was still next to cutting board when I went to fry up some apples for dessert that came in my 9 Bean Rows CSA share today.  Then a miracle happened and Penny fell asleep early, let's pray that she stays down for the night.  So here's another entry for this month's Spice Rack Challenge from Mother's Kitchen.

Maple-Rosemary Fried Apples
Makes ~ 1 1/2 cups

1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil (or butter)
2 large apples, cored and cut into 1 inch chunks (my apples were Ida Reds)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon maple syrup
pinch salt

-Heat a cast iron skillet and after it is good and hot melt the coconut oil (or butter) in it.  Add the apples and toss to coat with the oil.  Cook, tossing occasionally, until they start to get golden brown.
-Add the cinnamon, crumbled dried rosemary, maple syrup and a tiny pinch of salt.  Toss to coat and continue heating until you get the fragrance of the cinnamon and rosemary and the apples are done to your likeness.
-Good served alone but could be better sprinkled with almonds or as a side with pork or chicken.  Obviously ice cream would be a perfect accompaniment. 

Laughing Penny with a Rice Krispy on her nose

DB Christmas Stollen

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

Though I do appreciate all yeasted goodies I've never been a big fan of Christmas breads like stollen and panetone.  They are often dry and flavorless and I much prefer the sticky goodness of the much maligned fruitcake, even the brick like kind.  But this year I fully embraced the challenge and fell in love with stollen.

I followed Penny's recipe replacing the butter with Earth Balance tub margarine.  For the fruit I made my own candied tangerine peel with cognac soaked currants and dried cranberries.  I used the spice combination from the Martha Stewart recipe because I have a recent obsession with mace, an extremely underused spice.   To avoid having on giant stollen wreath in the house to tempt me, I split my recipe into three loaves.  Two I froze and later shared one each with my parents and in laws and one I kept to enjoy.

It was fragrant, fruity, yeasty and wonderful and a fitting send off because in our household we're trying out being wheat free.  I made almost all of our Christmas cookies this year wheat free because my husband feels better not eating it.  And I'm personally committing to all of January completely wheat and gluten free to jumpstart my diet and see if I feel better eating that way.  Wish me luck because I know I'll be daydreaming about yeasty deliciousness like this stollen.

Links:
- Here is the complete stollen recipe which can also be found on our host Penny's blog, Sweet Sadie's Baking
-Along with advice from her German friend who bakes Stollen every year, Penny used the information in Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker’s Apprentice and this Martha Stewart recipe for a stollen wreath
-Visit the Daring Kitchen and see more festive breads made this month by browsing the Daring Baker Blogroll.

Slices of stollen

Penny and Fritz with the snow drift after the big snow on December 12th, I love birthday snow!

The ducks still wander around in the snow, but thankfully we've been able to convince them that their nice heated house is the best place to spend the night.

The best Christmas photo I could get this year

A dreamy Christmas Fritz

He like the rest of us is a little sad this Christmas because our oldest dog Roxy unexpectantly passed away earlier this month. We all miss her very much.

Cherry Pie Lattice Cookies with an Iron Foodie Twist

Last week I received my Iron Foodie ingredients from Marx Foods.  In our mystery "basket" were whole bourbon vanilla beans, Aji Panca chiles, fennel pollen, dried wild porcini mushrooms, maple sugar, dulse seaweed,Tellicherry peppercorns, and smoked salt.  In an attempt to be a "serious" competitor I spent most of the week tasting and contemplating a savory entree entry.  But the whole time all I could think about was Christmas cookies and cornmeal. 

I wait all year for the baking excitement around Christmastime and planning a new addition to the cookie round up is a big deal to me.  (What can I say, maybe my life is too mundane or maybe I'm baking-obsessed?)  Old favorites take up considerable cookie plate real estate so a new cookie has to be something special to earn a spot.  I knew these ingredients could help an average cookie recipe become "Christmas plate worthy".

I browsed my cookie recipe collection and found one I liked.  This Apricot Windows recipe from Martha Stewart gave me a chance to use some cornmeal from my homegrown Bloody Butcher corn, the same corn we used to make our corn husk dolls, and it seemed adaptable to the mystery ingredients.

The bourbon vanilla bean combined with the cornmeal and the maple sugar to make a brilliantly flavorful shortbread.  In place of the apricot jam, my shortbread was topped with Michigan sour cherry preserves that had been jazzed up with some freshly cracked Tellicherry peppercorns and fennel pollen.   Sour cherry was a better foil for the fennel and pepper together, anise flavors go well with cherry and I love almost all fruit with black pepper.  The resulting cookie had an attractive lattice-topped pie appearance and a unique flavor that will earn it a place on this year's cookie plate.

Cherry Pie Lattice Cookies
Based on Martha Stewart's Apricot Windows recipe
Makes 12-16 cookies in an 8"x8" pan

1/2 cup sour cherry preserves or jam, at room temperature
1 teaspoon fennel pollen
1 teaspoon freshly cracked  Tellicherry peppercorns
1/2 cup maple sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 whole vanilla bean
1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup cornmeal, medium or coarse for texture
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg 

-Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
-In a small bowl, mix the jam with the fennel pollen and pepper.  Set aside.
-Place the maple sugar and butter or margarine into a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle blade.  Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean and cream these three ingredients until light and fluffy.
-While the sugar and butter mixture is beating, whisk together the flour, cornmeal and salt in a separate bowl.
-Add the egg to the creamed butter and beat until incorporated.   Add the flour mixture in three installments, beating until almost combined each time.  Then scrape and beat to create a fully mixed batter.  
-Fit a piping bag with a #12 or #11 plain piping tip or use a sandwich bag and cut a 1/4 inch hole in one end.  Fill with a 1/2 cup of batter.  Fold over or close to keep the batter from drying out and set aside.
-Line an 8 inch by 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with vegetable oil.  To keep the parchment paper from shifting spray a small amount under the paper as well.
-Spread the rest of the batter in an even layer onto the parchment lined pan.  Bake for 20 minutes, until light golden brown.
-Remove the pan from the oven, spread on an even layer of the seasoned jam or preserves.  Then top with crisscrossing lines of piped batter approximately one inch apart to create a grid.
-Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 20-25 minutes until the piped lines on top are golden brown.
-Allow the cookies to cool.  Using the parchment paper, lift the uncut cookie out of the pan and then slice into bars or squares. 

*Variation: These could also be baked in a removable bottom tart pan and then cut into wedges like a mini pie. I would suggest a 8 or 9 inch diameter pan.

Our homegrown Bloody Butcher corn

If you are a Foodie Blog Roll member you can vote for your favorite Iron Foodie dish starting Tuesday December 7th.

DB Autumnberry Crostata

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Ever in search of a better pie crust I was trilled to try out this month's recipe for pasta frolla, Italy's contribution to the pastry dough world.  I made our host's variation that adds in coconut flour and whole wheat pastry flour to supplement the all-purpose flour.  For the fat I used a combination of two thirds solid extra virgin coconut oil with one third Earth Balance margarine.  I filled my tart with the spiced autumnberry jam I made earlier in the month.  Then because Alex and I nibbled too much on the scraps, which were very tasty, I added some pecans on top for crunch and decoration.  It was a simple but tasty tart that I brought along to a Black Friday lunch with my parents.  Thanks for the challenge Simona!

Links:
-Go to our host Simona's blog briciole for her two pasta frolla recipes and her aunt's pastry cream recipe.
-Simona used the recipes for pasta frolla from the book Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well, follow the link to read it on Google books.
-Come across any autumn olive berries (autumnberries) still left on bushes in the woods?  Make a batch of this jam.  The berries are even sweeter after the frost. 
-Visit the Daring Kitchen and see more crostatas made this month by browsing the Daring Baker Blogroll.

A slice of autumnberry crostata

 This Thanksgiving my son Alex and I made corn husk dolls using husks from our homegrown Bloody Butcher corn.  The corn itself is drying for our next project of grinding it into cornmeal. 

Spiced Autumn Berry Jam and Vegan Lemon Yogurt Scones

The wild autumn berries on our land have been ripe for a few weeks now.  Autumn berry is a more attractive common name I found for autumn olive berries, scientifically known as Elaeagnus umbellata.  We have a ton of these invasive shrubs on our property and while they make for tasty snacking on hikes they shine the most in jam and fruit leather.

My son Alex and I picked a big load and I decided to spice up, literally, one batch of this year's jam.  Since I find the berry's flavor similar to cranberries, I chose to flavor them like my favorite cranberry relish.  This relish, which I typically make for Thanksgiving, includes oranges, cinnamon and ginger.  I also was craving fruit and black pepper together so I gave the jam a little extra heat with freshly ground black pepper.  To try out some of the jam I made lemon scones with coconut milk yogurt.  The scones were a special request from Alex and a great match for the jam.

For pictures of autumn berry bushes and more information see my first post on autumnberries, Autumn Olive Jam and Fruit Leather or read more about autumn berries and their controversal status.  Don't have access to autumn berries?  Buy some Michigan made jam from Food for Thought.

Spiced Autumn Berry Jam
Makes ~9 cups

5 cups seedless autumn berry pulp*
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
7 cups sugar
1 box SURE.JELL Fruit Pectin

*To make the berry pulp:  Pull the berries from their stems, wash and drain them.  Add them to a pan with 1/2 cup of water for every 4 cups of berries and cook over medium high heat until the seeds are separating from the fruit flesh.  Use a food mill to remove the seeds.  Cool and store the prepared pulp in the fridge until needed.  Note that the pulp will separate into a milky liquid with red particles when cooled in the fridge. You will probably need at least 8 cups of berries to get the required 5 cups of pulp.

-Follow the standard SURE.JELL Directions for Berry Jam but add the ginger, zest, cinnamon and pepper along with the pectin at the start of the recipe.

Lemon Coconut Milk Yogurt Scones
Based on this Orange Yogurt Scone recipe from Taste of Home 
Makes 8-10 mini scones

1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
3 tablespoons coconut oil, solid
6 tablespoons plain So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt
1-2 tablespoons pearl or coarse sugar, optional

-Preheat your oven to 400 degress F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
-Sift or whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Then after that is whisked or sifted well add in the zest and stir or whisk to evenly distribute.
-Cut in the solid coconut oil with a fork or pastry cutter until there are no pieces of solid oil larger than a pea.
-Add the yogurt and stir in just until the dough comes together.
-Scoop with a medium disher (mini ice cream scoop) onto the lined baking sheet and press down the mounds slightly.  Or you can gather the dough into a flattened circle and cut into wedges.
-Sprinkle over the pearl or coarse sugar.
-Bake for ~12 minutes until light golden brown.

Penny came along for the berry picking.

Later that evening I found a bunch of berries that had fallen in her hood and gotten smashed, eww!

She and Fritz love to look out the doors and windows together.

P.S. Thanks to all those who are rooting for me in the Iron Foodie challenge. I got in! The box of mystery ingredients should be arriving early next week. Alex and I can't wait to see what's inside!

DB Swiss Roll Ice Cream Bombe

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

This month's Daring Baker challenge was a layered, Swiss roll covered, ice cream bombe.  Not only was it a fantastic idea to have a baking challenge that included ice cream for the summer but I loved that our host Sunita took a "semi-homemade" recipe and challenged all of us to make it 100% homemade.  Our task included the Swiss roll cake, the cake's filling, two ice creams and a fudge filling.  All were to be made from scratch.

This combination ended up as the biggest smash hit any Daring Baker challenge has ever made with my son!  He flipped over the idea of a rolled up cake, loved the marshmallow frosting I filled it with, and then thought he'd died and gone to heaven when I told him that I was going to add ice cream to this already delicious combination.  Ice cream, whether the homemade kind, from a mix, raw, or Tofutti, is one of his major food groups.

To keep the size of the finished bombe manageable I made the Swiss roll several days earlier then served some of it to friends over for dinner.  It was delicious on it's own and I had to fight off Alex to keep enough of the rest safe to make the bombe.  Over the next few days I sliced and froze the remaining roll and made the two ice creams and fudge.   For the cake I followed Sunita's recipe using half black cocoa, which I will admit to being addicted to.  Since her cake filling was whipped cream based, I replaced it with my own marshmallow frosting.  The cake was chocolaty, spongy and easy to roll without cracking. 

For one of my ice creams I chose to make a strawberry one based on Jen the Leftover Queen's Fruits and Nuts of the Forest Kefir Ice Cream.  I hoped to come up with a probiotic packed version of ice cream that my son would like.  I used So Delicious coconut milk kefir (a favorite in our house for smoothies), a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil + more kefir in place of the cream, only a tablespoon of booze (vodka), strawberries and sugar in place of maple syrup.  I tasted and adjusted the sweetness until I liked the result but after freezing it was fairly hard, more like sorbet.  My son Alex wasn't impressed.  Even with the real sugar, it wasn't rich enough for him.  I'll be making a batch with the nuts, Frangelico and maple syrup next time.  And I won't be sharing!!

For the other ice cream I tried out the "The World's Easiest Dairy-Free and Egg-Free Vanilla Ice Cream" from Speedbump Kitchen.  It definitely lives up to it's name-- melt marshmallows and creamer, cool, freeze-- that's it!  I replaced the soy creamer with So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer in French Vanilla.  I had my doubts because this creamer's flavor has disappointed me in the past.  But combined with the marshmallow flavor it was pretty good, though a bit too sweet for me personally.  Alex thought it was frozen manna from heaven and would have consumed the whole batch by himself had I let him.

Finally, I attempted to adapt my favorite dairy-free fudge topping to get the perfect sticky, gooey texture like in the ice cream cakes of my youth.  I added a little corn syrup to keep it gooey but then cooked it a bit too long. The result was tasty but more reminiscent of a Good Humor candy center, something I should have played off as intentional.   The fudge layer along with the stiffer strawberry-kefir ice cream made the bombe a pain to cut.  A plate was broken, hilarity ensued, and somehow the bombe survived and was served to the guests at my recent food blogger get together.  Add another notch to my Daring Baker bedpost.  

Marshmallow Frosting (Swiss Roll Filling)
Makes ~2 cups, enough to fill one 10 1/2" x 15 1/1 cake generously

4 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar, super fine is best (or whiz regular sugar in a food processor)
seeds from 1 vanilla bean
5 oz coconut oil, liquid
pinch of salt

-Prepare a double boiler with a large bowl.
-Add the egg whites, sugar and vanilla bean seeds to the bowl and beat for 4-5 minutes until smooth, fluffy and hot to the touch.  This is best done with a hand held electric mixer but it can be done by hand, just be prepared to have your forearms aching.
-Remove the hot meringue from the heat and continue to beat until cool, ~5-7 minutes.  Add salt and then the coconut oil a spoon at a time while beating.
-Beat until very smooth and use fairly soon.  There isn't enough fat to keep the marshmallow completely pliable once it starts to set.

Links:
-For the complete original recipes for the challenge visit our host at Sunita’s world- life and food
-Sunita's from scratch recipes where inspired by the Swiss swirl ice cream cake from the Taste of Home website.
-The two ice creams I made were:  Jen the Leftover Queen's Fruits and Nuts of the Forest Kefir Ice Cream and the "The World's Easiest Dairy-Free and Egg-Free Vanilla Ice Cream" from Speedbump Kitchen (click to see all her other ice cream flavors.)
-I replaced the soy creamer with So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer in French Vanilla.
-Visit the Daring Kitchen and see other bombes made this month by browsing the Daring Baker Blogroll. 

A bombe slice

Rolled up cake cooling in a clean sugared dish towel

Unrolled cake

Frosted cake before rolling

*These Amazon links give me a monetary kick back if you buy through them.  They are products I own, use and like.  My endless mentions of So Delicious brand are completely uncompensated. Hey, Turtle Mountain how 'bout some love for this volunteer product tester?