kattitudes

Oh this makes a fantastic wonderful gift for the holidays. I mean wonderful! This is a tasty butter like substance that goes on anything; toast, pancakes, waffles, tarts, muffins, scones, cakes, ice cream, you name it. A spoon even. Some people do call it butter instead of curd. It spreads like butter and is creamy and smooth like its namesake. It’s hard to describe, but rather than the the overwhelming richness of butter from milk, this is a tart sweet and creamy goodness.

The most important aspect of this recipe is to cook it slowly on low heat. The low heat is vital so that the eggs don’t curdle and you end up with little chunks of scrambled egg in your recipe.

Ingredients:

3 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lime zest (be cautious to avoid the white part or the pith, which is very bitter)

Whisk together eggs, sugar, and lime juice in a 2-quart heavy saucepan until combined. Add butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking constantly, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of the whisk and first bubbles appear on surface, 8 to 10 minutes.

Immediately pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding solids. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

Stir in zest, then chill, covered, at least 1 hour.

Previously, we talked about chow-chow and how interesting it was as a relish. Hopefully you gave it a shot (it is available on the condiment aisle of pretty much every grocery store if you are not up to making your own the first time around).

As odd as it sounds, it really is quite tasty in a tangy sort of way. This recipe is simply a variation on a theme, and quite good on its own merits (although, as a southern lady, I am required to question as to whether this is really a chow-chow or more along the lines of some sort of vegetable marmalade. It’s all technical details anyway, so in the end, why fuss over a name?).

4 cups chopped cabbage
3 cups chopped cauliflower
2 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped green tomatoes
2 cups chopped green bell peppers
3 tablespoons salt
2 1/2 cups vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds

Combine cabbage, cauliflower, onions, green tomatoes and bell peppers. Sprinkle with salt. Let mixture stand 4 to 6 hours in cool place.

Drain well. Combine vinegar, sugar, mustard, turmeric, ginger, celery seeds and mustard seeds in large saucepan. Simmer 10 minutes. Add vegetable mixture and simmer 10 minutes longer. Bring to boil.

Pack, boiling hot, into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Adjust lids and process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

This recipe, oh man. Back in the days before my Mister, there was another. And on the weekends when I would bake these scones for him, wonderful things happened. He (and his roommate) would descend on the kitchen like their own mini plague of locusts, intent on devouring everything that could be seen before them.

In fact, every single time I have baked these scones, everyone goes bonkers. This is an old fashioned full flavored creme covered and creme flavored English scone. Good grief, it is tasty.

I will say that my favorite bit with regard to this recipe has been to add the creme on top as a wash before baking. It is actually a very important step. It does amazing things. Between that and interchanging dried fruit with whatever floats my boat in that particular moment, these scones are just second to none.

And easy! Oh my goodness, this recipe is so easy that it is just embarrassing. You expect to have to create some terrible complex recipe to get this flavor and no. Just a simple toss and mix. The recipe from the book goes into this nice complex explanation at the end as to how to make a circle of dough and how to cut out pie shaped wedges and so on and so forth. After making them a kazillion times, I toss the dough down and whack it into the shapes I want. No fuss, no muss. And the scones still come out tasting divine.

Definitely try your hand at these as soon as you can. You might just find that you end up getting requests to make them more often. And once that happens, you are golden. Make a fresh pint of fruit compote and bake a batch of scones and you have an instant gift basket that will smell good enough to drive people wild!

Don’t be afraid to play with this recipe, once you feel comfortable with it. I have and the scones have never suffered.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, cut into 10 pieces
3/4 cup currants
2 large eggs, well beaten
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Sift flour, baking powder, 1 tablespoon of the sugar and the salt into a mixing bowl. Add butter and work into flour mixture with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add currants and toss.

Make a well in the flour mixture and add eggs and 1/2 cup of the cream. Mix with a wooden spoon until the dough begins to clump together, then knead into the bowl for about 30 seconds; do not overwork dough.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and halve. Form each half into a ball and flatten to form a circle about 1/4 inch thick, and 5 inches in diameter. cut each circle into 8 pie shaped wedges. Place wedges about an inch apart on a lightly buttered baking sheet. Brush tops with remaining cream and sprinkle lightly with remaining sugar. Bake in the center of oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

This recipe came from one of my ultra-uber favorite cookbooks in the world; Crabtree & Evelyn Cookbook: A Book of Light Meals and Small Feasts.

Yes, Crabtree & Evelyn, of the toiletries fame!

You can still get copies for outrageously cheap on Amazon (I just looked it up. Thirty four cents for an outstanding cookbook? Wild!):

I am still just in shock over the price. Good grief. Thirty four cents. Listen, grab multiples and gift them for Christmas! This is just an incredible cookbook, and I’ll even start posting a few more of the extremely successful recipes that I have used over the years. I don’t know if the book is in print officially anymore, particularly since Crabtree & Evelyn downsized the comestibles portion of their sales. But if it is, indeed, out of print, all the more reason to snap this up!

This is an incredible kitchen gift, making some of the most wonderful little caramel silk bombs in a jar. You wrap them up and hand them off to your lucky recipient with the attached instructions, then run away, allowing them the opportunity to heat up and participate in little moments of caramel ecstasy. Tell me they won’t love you for this.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
2/3 cups butter
1 1/3 cups whipping cream

Combine all ingredients except whipping cream in 3-quart heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a full boil (15 to 20 minutes).

Stir in whipping cream; continue cooking 1 minute.

Cool 5 minutes. Pour mixture into 5 (8-ounce) jars.

Cool 15 minutes; cover. Store refrigerated. Makes 5 (8-ounce) jars

Tie ribbon on jars and attach gift tags with following serving directions:

To serve, remove cover. Microwave on HIGH, stirring every 30 seconds, until warm (30 to 60 seconds).

Now is the time to be making your alcoholic type festive kitchen gifts if you wish for them to be ready in time for the Christmas holidays.

Of course you can stop off at your friendly neighborhood liquor store and buy yourself an ordinary bottle of what have you, but for some reason, it just doesn’t have the same flavor or the same snap that a bottle of homemade spirits holds.

If you have not made anything like this in the past, this sweet luscious peach liqueur is a wonderful place to start. You will need to plan at least four weeks in advance to make this before it is ready to drink, so get moving now.

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup water
* 2 pounds fresh ripe peaches, stemmed and washed
* 1 teaspoon lemon zest
* 1 teaspoon orange zest
* 1-1/2 cups 100-proof vodka
* 1 cup brandy
* 4 drops yellow food coloring

PREPARATION:

In a heavy saucepan, boil sugar and water over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Do not let the mixture burn. When the sugar is completely dissolved and the syrup is clear, remove from heat and let cool down to about 110 degrees F., little more than lukewarm.

Slice peaches in half and twist halves opposite each other to separate and remove the pit and set it aside, but do not discard Thinly slice the peaches. Place peaches, peach pit, lemon zest, and orange zest into a clean 2-quart glass canning jar. Add the cooled sugar syrup, vodka, brandy, and food coloring . Seal with an airtight lid. Turn jar top to bottom in one full revolution to gently mix. Place in a cool, dark place for two weeks.

Strain out solids through a fine mesh sieve. Pour peach liqueur into a clean jar, seal, and let stand another 2 to 3 weeks in a cool, dark place. Strain a final time through a double layer of cheesecloth or other filter into a decanter or decorative bottle that is able to be sealed.

I know this sound a bit odd, but this is one of those fantastic savory kitchen gifts to try, particularly for those people that don’t want to deal with all the sugar sugar this Christmas season (even though tomatoes are officially a fruit and there is a lot of sugar in this recipe).

Still this is a wonderful flavor and it tastes so interesting as an accompaniment to meat recipes.

3 quarts tomatoes; 12 cups, after cutting
2 oranges
2 lemons
10 cups sugar
2 tablespoons whole cloves
6 tablespoons broken cinnamon stick

Remove peel from tomatoes and cut in small pieces. Slice oranges and lemons very thin and quarter the slices. Pour off juice from the tomatoes. Add sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add oranges, lemons and spices which have been ties loosely in cheese cloth bag.

Place mixture over high heat and boil rapidly, stirring often.

Cook until clear and thick; about 50 minutes.

Pour into sterilized jars to within 1/2 inch of top. Put on cap, screw band firmly tight.

Process in boiling water bath 10 minutes. Yield: 8 eight ounce jars.

Still unsure about tomato marmalade? How about mixing up just a pint of a tangy tart marmalade instead to try? This is a very different flavor, but is still very good. In fact, since my flavor preference always goes for tart and salty, I like this, but they are both really interesting flavors and worth trying.

1 quart ripe red tomatoes
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pickling spices

Put tomatoes in boiling water for 2 minutes. Skin, cut into quarters, and put in a saucepan.

Add the other ingredients and bring to a slow boil. Cook slowly until thick, stirring frequently. Pour into sterilized jars or bottles and seal. Makes 1 pint.

Ingredients:

1 pound rhubarb, sliced
1 to 1 1/4 cup sugar (depending on sweetness of rhubarb)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
(if you want a nice red color, you can use a drop or two of red food coloring, but the choice is up to you)

Place rhubarb in a medium saucepan; add a small amount of water, about 1/2 inch. Add sugar; bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until rhubarb is tender. Spoon into blender; blend until mixture is smooth.

Add cornstarch and a few drops of red food coloring, or until desired color is reached. Return rhubarb sauce mixture to saucepan and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until thickened. Makes about 3 cups of rhubarb sauce.

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup light corn syrup
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute; remove from heat. Stir in cream and vanilla immediately. Cool; store in the refrigerator. Makes about 3 cups of butterscotch sauce.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
4 tablespoons flour
1 cup boiling water
dash salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cream
1 tablespoon vanilla

Mix sugar with flour in saucepan; blend well. Add water and salt. Stir while cooking for an additional 6 to 8 minutes. If too thick, add a little more water. Remove from heat; stir in butter, cream, and vanilla.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon flour
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
1 egg
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup heavy cream

PREPARATION:
Combine flour and sugar in top of double boiler. With a whisk, beat in the water, egg, lemon peel, and lemon juice; cook over boiling water, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Add butter; refrigerate for about 1 hour, until well chilled. Just before serving, beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form; fold into the lemon sauce until combined.

Makes about 2 cups of lemon sauce. This tastes incredible over pound cake. Almost “should be illegal” incredible.