Pomegranate Jelly

I know in the last few years I’ve shared with you some of my favourite things:
1. Chocolate ~ of any kind.
2. Beautiful Cupcakes.
3. Frosting.

Add to that list my undying adoration for the pomegranate. It’s such a gorgeous deep crimson fruit that’s full of vitamin C and antioxidants.

I eat one a day, and soon the season will be over around here and my daily treat will be scarce. I thought I needed to bottle up some of that sweet tart juicy pom love so I made a jelly.

It was just the prettiest darn jelly I have ever seen.

As a treat after dinner I made some easy butter puff pastry nests with mascarpone whip piped around the top and a dollop of jelly in the middle. So darn good. A light dessert that’s like a little bite of spring.

No word of a lie, if the world was crumbling around me I would not move an inch until I had licked the mascarpone whip bowl clean. It’s that delicious.  It’s the same whip that I used here only with mascarpone cheese.

Make extra and dip it with some fruit.  Or just selfishly eat it with a spoon like I did.

I read a few recipes and combined them for my own.   The grated orange peel gives this jelly an amazing flavour that can be used for both sweet and savoury dishes.

Enjoy,

*this made eleven 8 oz jars

• 5 cups fresh pomegranate juice – you can use POM juice too for less mess
• 7  cups white sugar
• zest of one orange
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 packages of liquid pectin

1.   Combine pomegranate juice, butter, zest and sugar in a large saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat and add liquid pectin. Bring back to a full boil, and boil  exactly 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam, if any.

2.  Ladle into hot, sterilized jars to within about 1/2 inch of the top.   Seal with lids (that have been sitting in some hot water) and rings.   Leave the jars to rest on the counter for 24 hours.

** the puff pastry nests are store bought pastry that I cut with a round cutter.

Glazed Yeast Doughnuts

There are few desserts that I can eat 7 or 8 of in one sitting.

Seven cupcakes?  I’d do my best, but nah…

Eight scoops of ice cream?  Nope…

Seven pieces of pie?  No way!!

Seven or eight warm homemade glazed doughnuts?

*Gulp*  Ten.  Easily.

No kidding.  These are a sweet, light, fluffy, circle of joy.  Warm out of the fryer and then dipped in a vanilla or chocolate glaze.    Gets me every time.    I make a large batch for the family to enjoy and then immediately box up the rest to give away.  You can’t keep this stuff just lying around.

It’s lethal.

This is a perfect Sunday morning activity to do with the whole family.   We fried some with holes and some without.  No filling needed.

We dipped.

We double dipped.

We, errr… triple dipped too.

See the pink ones below?  Just a dab of coloured gel in the your glaze.  Easy peasy.

Do you share my love of the doughnut?  I can’t wait to hear about it!!

Glazed Yeast Doughnut

• 2 cups cake flour
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 pkg (8 grams) – instant yeast, quick rise
•  3 tbsp honey (I use creamed honey)
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole milk, heated to 115 degrees
• 3 egg yolks
• enough oil for frying

1.  Mix cake flour, salt, yeast, honey and shortening in a large bowl.   Slowly add the milk and vanilla and stir to combine.  Add one cup of the all-purpose flour and the egg yolks.  Add another cup of all-purpose flour and mix just until combined.  The dough will be sticky.  Dump the dough onto a counter and knead for 8 minutes adding just enough flour to allow you to knead without it sticking to the counter (add as little as possible).    The dough ball will be very soft and moist.

2.  Place the dough back in the bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour (overnight is good too!!).

3.  Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface (to about 1/2″ thickness).  Cut out with a doughnut cutter or use a biscuit cutter.  I used a 2″ biscuit cutter and an icing tip for the hole.

4.  Let doughnuts rise on a flour dusted parchment lined baking sheet (cover them up with a towel!).  Once doubled in size (about 1/2 an hour), they are ready to fry in oil heated to 350 degrees!  Fry on each side for approx.     1 1/2 minutes per side.  No more!  Drain on a wire rack over a baking sheet.

Glaze while still warm.

Vanilla Glaze

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2-4 tbsp warm milk – just enough to make the glaze pouring consistency

1.  Mix all ingredients in a bowl and dip the warm doughnuts in.

*for the chocolate, I used the same glaze above but added 3-4 tbsp of dark cocoa powder

Peach Fritters

My dad is a great story-teller.   It’s something that I love about him and a bond that we share.  I love to hear the stories of his childhood in a small fishing village.  I love to hear stories about my ancestors and my heritage.  And I appreciate every one of them because they make the generations past seem real to me.

This year for my birthday he gave me the best gift.

He gave me an old cookbook that was my great-grandfathers.  My father is named after him and he died in 1927 in an accident.  He was a cook on a tug boat and my grandmother got this book when they went to retrieve his body and belongings.   It just made me feel so much more that cooking must be in my genes.   That I’m doing the right thing.

I decided to try the recipe for Fruit Fritters that was in there.  I love how some of the pages are marked with pencil and some have drops of  whatever on them.

I wonder, did he make the Fruit Fritters?

On my card my dad said that my great-grandfather would have been proud of the work I have done in the kitchen.

Gosh, that is just the best gift isn’t it?

For my fritters I used peaches.  It’s peach season around here and they are big and juicy and so sweet.  Apples would be good too.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 4-5 medium peaches, peeled and sliced into 1 inch slices
• powdered sugar for dusting

1.  Sift dry ingredients together.  Add milk and eggs and mix until smooth.

2.  Heat canola oil to 350° in a deep pan or fryer.  Batter peach slices and gently drop into oil.  Fry for 3-5 minutes.  Dust with powdered sugar.  Best eaten warm.

Ina’s Classic Coconut Cake

To say that I”m a chocolate cake fanatic is an extreme understatement.  For some reason, I’m just drawn to rich dark desserts that ooze with chocolate and the like.  Vanilla just isn’t my thing.   I’m not sure why, I love the smell and I do like the taste (really, of any dessert), but if I had my druthers I would bake something chocolatey.

Not so today, I just got it in my head that I needed a bright and cheery dessert for a New Years Day dinner at my sister in-laws.   And I had coconut on the brain.  Now, I’m not a huge coconut fan, unless they are in these snacking favourites, but I just needed to make something…well…different.  So the search began for a fantastic Coconut Cake, something coconutty but not too sweet.  A look through some of my favourite cookbooks and I quickly settled on Ina Garten’s Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.

I made just a small 6 inch version as a test batch and then an 8 inch contour version for the dinner.  I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.  I must say that it’s pretty darn good and will be on my ‘make again’ list.  This is a fairly dense cake and the icing compliments it so well.  I do love a good cream cheese icing every now and then.

I needed to glam it up a bit with the pineapple flower.  These are so easy to make and look stunning on desserts.

It doesn’t take long before the cake is gone… and oddly enough, there are only two of us in the house at the moment, the baker and the photographer.  You know what that means…we had cake for lunch!

Thank you for all of your support in 2011.  I can’t say how much your comments and feedback mean to me.  I have so enjoyed this year of blogging and meeting new blogging and baker friends alike.  I get my inspiration from so many of you!  We sure have whipped up some sweet things on this journey.  Lets see what 2012 has to bring!

Renee

Coconut Cake

*recipe adapted from Ina Garten’s Coconut Cake Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 4 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1 pound confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 6 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans, then line them parchment paper.

1.   In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.   Set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl once during mixing. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

2.  With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter in 3 parts, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Fold in the 4 ounces of coconut with a rubber spatula.

3.  Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and smooth the top with a knife. Bake in the center of the oven for appox 4o minutes,  until the tops are browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack for 10 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a baking rack to finish cooling.

4.  For the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and almond extract on low speed. Add the confectioners’ sugar and mix until just smooth (don’t whip!).

5.  To assemble, place 1 layer on a flat serving plate, top side down, and spread with frosting. Place the second layer on top, top side up, and frost the top and sides. To decorate the cake, sprinkle the top with coconut and lightly press more coconut onto the sides. Serve at room temperature.

Garnish with a pineapple flower.