Apricot Preserves

If you follow me on Instagram, you may know that I declared Sunday, July 14th the best day of the year. Why? Because it was apricot preserves day! On Apricot Preserves day, I wake up early, drag myself to the farmers market to buy a 20 lb box of apricots, lug it home on the bus, and then spend all day sweating in the kitchen making preserves. 

I realize that description doesn't make it sound that fun, but trust me, it's great! The whole house smells amazing, I blast music, usually Neko Case, sing at the top of my lungs, and totally get into this awesome relaxed groove while I can and can and can. By then end of the day, I'm obviously exhausted, but I have about 30 jars of the most delicious preserves and know that me and my preserves-loving-friends will have something delicious and homemade in the cupboard to last us until next summer (ya know, if we pace ourselves)!

The recipe I use is from what's basically my canning bible, Canning for a New Generation by Liana Krissoff. Her recipes are amazing. I particularly love that they're low sugar recipes that generally rely on the pectin already present in the fruit you're using. This helps the preserves really hold the true flavor of the fruit you're working with!

Liana was sweet enough to give me permission to post a few of the recipes from Canning for a New Generation on my blog, but I highly recommend you go out and buy her book to see all the amazing recipes and tips she has to offer!

Apricot and Vanilla-Bean Preserves (Recipe from Canning for a New Generation)- Makes about 5 half-pint jars
(* = notes from Becca at Ladyface Blog!)

Ingredients:
- 3 lbs ripe apricots, halved and pitted (no need to peel)
- 1/2 cup rose or white wine, or 3 tbs fresh lemon juice 
(*I actually use 3 tbs of lemon juice plus enough wine to equal 1/2 cup!)
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
-2 vanilla beans split lenghtwise 
(*buy vanilla beans in the bulk spice section of your grocery store! They'll be like, 75 cents each instead of $10 for a jar of two.)

Prepare for water-bath canning: Sterilize the jars and keep them hot in the canning pot, put a small plate in the freezer, and put the flat lids in a heat proof bowl. (See page 21 for details. (*If you're a seasoned canner, you'll be in good shape. If you're new to it, pick up the book so you can read more about the process, which is what's on page 21!))

Cut the apricots into 1/4-inch slices. Put the apricots, wine, (*lemon juice), sugar, and vanilla beans in a wide 6- to 8-quart preserving pan. Bring to a simmer stirring frequently, then continue to cook until the juices are just deep enough to cover the apricots, about 5 minutes. Pour into a colander set over a large bowl and stir the apricots gently to drain off the juice. Return the juice to the pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil, stirring occasionally, until the syrup is reduced by about half, 5 to 10 minutes.

Return the apricots and vanilla beans and any accumulated juice to the pan and bring to a simmer. Simmer, stirring frequently, until a small dab of the jam spooned onto the chilled plate and returned to the freezer for a minute becomes somewhat firm (it will not gel), 10-15 minutes. (*This step usually takes 8 minutes for me!) Remove from the heat and stir gently for a few seconds to distribute the fruit in the liquid.

Ladle boiling water from the canning pot into the bowl with the lids. Using a jar lifter, remove the sterilized jars from the canning pot, carefully pouring the water from each one back into the pot, and place them upright on a folded towel. Drain the water off the lids.

Remove the vanilla-bean pods and ladle the hot jam into the jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace at the top. Slide a piece of vanilla-bean pod into each jar so that it's visible from the outside. Use a damp paper towel to wipe the rims of the jars, then put a flat lid and ring on each jar, adjusting the ring so that it's just finger-tight. Return the jars to the water in the canning pot, making sure the water covers the jars by at least 1 inch. Bring to a boil, and boil for 5 minutes to process. Remove the jars to a folded towel and do not disturb for 12 hours. (*This assumes you do not have cats who will jump on the counter while you're asleep and knock them over. Sheesh.) After 1 hour, check that the lids have sealed by pressing down on the center of each; if it can be pushed down, it hasn't sealed, and the jar should be refrigerated immediately. Label the sealed jars and store.

Aren't they the prettiest preserves? They're amazing on toast, in your yogurt, or in your oatmeal, and also make a great cake filling, awesome homemade fruit leather, and are perfect for making this apricot and custard tart!

Do you have a favorite way to use preserves?

Til next time!

-Becca

Follow me on:

Bloglovin/Facebook/Instagram

DIY Tags for Mason Jars!

Alright guys, this post is going to start off with a lot of qualifiers. Here we go!

If you're like me and you like canning, and you like giving your delicious canned goods as gifts, you may find yourself looking for a cute easy way to jazz up your jars! So how about trying these super cute tags for mason jars? It's a fun way to bring a little life to them and make them a little giftier.

And hey, even if you don't can, you can always use this basic concept to make cute tags for any old thing! 

Here's what you'll need to make them:

Supplies:

• Tags appropriately sized for your jars and stamp.
• A jar shaped stamp like this one.
• Stamp ink, which is not pictured because some dummy, I can't even begin to know who *ahem*, forgot to put it in the picture.
• A pen that matches your ink. If you're not into matching, totally feel free to use different colors.
• Washi tape in a pattern and color of your choosing.
• Scissors
• Baker's twine. If you have string already lying around you should totally make your own baker's twine using this tutorial over on Radical Possibility!

Step One! 

Apply your washi tape to the edges of your tag. I recommend doing the long sides first, then the short sides, then the diagonals. Be sure to trim off the excess at the ends every time you apply the tape to one of the sides so you can keep everything nice and neat.

Also, be sure to leave plenty of clearance for your stamp! When I placed my tape I would say I set it up so 1/3 of the width was on the front of the tag and the other 2/3 of the width got folded to the back side of the tag.

Step Two!

Press your stamp into your ink and then press your stamp onto the tag.

To help with placement, I usually put the stamp on its end and try to center the design, then rock it down onto the tag. I'm really not great at telling where the stamp is centered on the block so I find this method incredibly helpful!

Step Three!

Write on your tag! I did my best attempt at fancy lettering and wrote the contents of the jar in the jar stamped on the tag (woah.), which in this case was Sour Cherry Preserves. I also always put the best by date on the bottom of the tag so the recipient knows when to use the contents by.

Step four!

Attach your tags to your jars using the baker's twine, tie a bow and call it a day!

I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial and hope you will now go forth and make adorable tags for every canning and gifting occasion.

Til next time!

-Becca

P.S. I am clearly a fan of the good old exclamation point. Ya'll would be shocked to see how many are in a post before I edit! Oof.

Easy Cherry Hand Pies

Well guys, as summer fast approaches and I still have a cupboard full of preserves, I'm looking for new ways to use them up. I eat them in yogurt almost every day, I put them on toast, make milkshakes with them, but I'm always looking for more ideas. Last week I made this Apricot Custard Tart, and since I had  leftover dough from that, I decided that this week I would make hand pies using sour cherry preserves!

Now, I'll say this: it was not my most, er, elegant work, but they came out super tasty and with a little more care they will look as good as they taste!

Ingredients:

• Prepared pie dough for a double crust. I used the recipe found over here. If you would like to use that recipe, double it or you'll only end up with 3 hand pies since it's for a single crust! I would also recommend doubling the sugar called for in that recipe for a sweeter crust.
• Two half pint jars of Sour Cherry (or other fruit) preserves
• 1 egg
• Approximately 1/8 cup granulated sugar (fine granules are ok, but coarse would be better if you've got it in your cupboard. I did not.)

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.

2. Roll out your pie dough to 1/8" thick. I like to roll my dough 

   between 2 sheets of greased saran wrap since gluten free dough 

   tends to get quite sticky.

3. Cut your dough into 4" circles. I used a 4" tart pan, but you 

   could use a biscuit cutter, a bowl, etc. To maximize the use  

   of your dough, you may need to re-roll it after you've cut a 
   few out so you can keep cutting more.

4. Place half of your dough rounds on a baking sheet lined with 

   parchment paper, and reserve the other half.

5. Place 2tbs of cherry preserves in the center of each round on 

   your baking sheet. This picture makes me drool. Yum!

6. Top each pie crust round on your baking sheet with one of the 

   ones you reserved. Then, using a fork, pinch together the 

   edges to seal the pie, and poke two sets of holes in the top 

   of the pie using your fork.

7. Got any holes or imperfections on the top crust of your hand pies? Me too! I always use leftover dough scraps to make cute little shapes to cover them up. Easy as, well, pie. Cue sad trombone noise.

8. In a small bowl, beat the egg well. Then using a pastry brush,  

   brush the pies with the beaten egg.

9. Sprinkle sugar over the top of the pies. No exact amount here, 

   just enough to give it that lovely bit of extra crunch and 

   sweetness when they're all baked up.

10. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until golden brown, bubbly, 

    and dreamy looking.

11. Let cool to warm but not hot. Serve with vanilla ice cream, and eat up!

Til next time!

-Becca

Apricot Custard Tart

Today I'm going to show you how to make this Apricot Custard Tart. And boy is it dreamy. It's made using apricot preserves, which are one of my favorite things because they can give you a taste of summer all year round. I'm always looking for new ways to use my stock of preserves and was super happy to use them for this tasty treat.

Tart shell ingredients and filling ingredients.

To get started, you'll need some ingredients!

For Tart Shell (for a 9-10" tart pan):

• 1 1/4 c multi purpose flour (I used Manini's Multiuso gluten free flour)
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 c (1 stick) butter cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1/8 c super cold water

For Tart Filling:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split with seeds scraped out
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 heaping tbs sugar
• 12 oz Apricot preserves (or 1 1/2 half pint jars). I used homemade apricot vanilla bean preserves, but you could use store bought, too. Heck, you could even use preserves made with a different kind of fruit (raspberry would be dreamy!).

You'll want to begin by making the tart shell because it needs to be cool when you add the filling.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor and   

   pulse a few times until combined.

3. Add the cubed butter and pulse until it resembles a coarse

   meal.
4. Add the water and pulse until forms clumps and starts to look

   like dough (you can add a tiny bit more water if your dough

   looks dry).

5. Carefully pull the dough out of the food processor, form into

   a ball, then flatten it into a disc, wrap it in plastic wrap,

   and refrigerate for 1 hour.

6. After pulling the dough out of the refrigerator, roll out the 

   dough to just slightly larger than the tart pan, then place in

   the tart pan and press up the edges. I'm usually a mess at     

   putting dough into pans so i tend to have to press lots of

   cracks together and push the dough up the sides with my 

   fingers. And that's ok! It doesn't have to be perfect, just

   delicious!

7. Place a piece of parchment over the tart shell and fill with 

   pie weights or dried beans. This will help avoid any bubbling

   of the crust and is called blind baking.
8. Put the shell in the oven for 10 minutes, take out, remove 

   parchment, and cook for 10 more minutes.
9. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.

While the crust is cooling, you can begin work on the filling. The preserves are already ready to go, so you'll just need to make the custard. Here's how:

1. If you turned your oven off, now is the time to re-pre-heat it

   to 350°. Then, in a small pot, combine the milk and the  

   vanilla bean and seeds and bring to a boil over medium heat,   

   stirring occasionally.

2. When the milk comes to a boil, remove from heat, cover, and 

   let sit for 30 minutes so the vanilla bean can infuse into the  

   cream.
3. After 30 minutes, strain the mixture and put it back on the   

   stove over very low heat, just to keep it warm.
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks with the sugar 

   until they become light and somewhat pale in color.

5. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking as   

   you pour.

6. Return the mixture to the pot and cook over medium-low heat, 

   stirring constantly. Don't let it boil as that can cause it to 

   curdle. Cook it over the stove for 7-10 minutes, until the 

   mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
7. Remove the mixture from the heat immediately and pour it into 

   your tart shell.

8. Bake for 10 minutes, just long enough to slightly bake the 

   custard, then remove from the oven and spoon the preserves 

   over the top. You'll want to add just enough of 

   the preserves to come to just under the edge of the tart 

   shell.
9. Return to the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes, or until the 

   preserves begin to bubble and thicken slightly. I used a 

   fairly loose preserve so this took some extra time. The 

   easiest way to tell if the preserves have thickened is to 

   shake the pan. If it's real jiggly, then it will need a little 

   more time. If it has just a touch of jiggle, it'll be perfect!

10. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature, cut and  

    serve!

I hope you get a chance to try making this delicious tart soon!

Til next time!

-Becca