Jam Treasures

There are only 9 days left before Christmas. Are you panicking yet?

If you’ve ever worked in retail during the holidays, then you know that this past weekend and heading into next weekend is the part of the season you dread the most. Armed with lists that usually include rather vague notions of what they’re after, the last minute shoppers are out in full force. The clock is winding down and the sense of urgency and desperation is kicking in, which typically means the idea of manners and civility, and that cheerful holiday spirit we’re all supposed to be filled with, goes quickly by the wayside.

Manners are the first things to go. The amount of people that just blatantly interrupt because they think their request is more important than the person you’re already helping (and the other five in line ahead of them) always baffles me. Some days I just want to scream, “How about you wait your turn like everyone else, cause guess what. You’re not the only one shopping. See all these other people around us? They’re all trying to do the exact. same. thing. WE’RE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT HERE!” But, of course, I don’t.

As it gets closer to Christmas, even the civility towards others declines right along with the manners. Every year there are fist fights in the parking lot (with a few instances of the police having to be called). Come on people. Let’s not let the holidays stress us out so much we end up hauling off and hitting someone over a parking spot. Let’s just eat cookies and be friends. Isn’t that what Christmas is supposed to be about?

I think some might call these cookies Kolache, but I’m not really sure what an authentic, traditional kolache entails, so we’ll just stick with calling them Jam Treasures. They’re made with a tender cream cheese dough and a hefty helping of delicious jam to make them perfectly sweet. I used homemade blackberry, but fill them with whatever you love. And yes it’s true—there’s no sugar in the dough. (Which I totally freaked out about when I taste tested it. I thought I forgot to add it and had to double check the original recipe and compare it to similar recipes to make sure that was how it was really supposed to be!)

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go curl up in the fetal position in a corner somewhere and stress eat cookies until next Monday when people are so desperate for a gift they’ll take just about anything you hand them.


Up to Cookie #9! We're almost there!

Blackberry Pie

An open letter to Pie:

I think I need to apologize to you. For years I’ve been acting under the notion that I hate any and all kinds of baked fruit. Because of it, I’ve turned away from you, ignored you, shunned you. I’ve passed you over in favor of things like cake and cupcakes, lured in by their swirls of sweet sugary frosting.

In my constant search for recipes, you were always the last on the list, if you even made it to the list at all. Cookies were always my top choice. Macarons even beat you out. I’d cite my abhorrence to squishy fruit and my fear of pie crust as reasons for my avoidance. The few feeble attempts I made at conquering you over the years were of the cream and custard variety, with graham cracker or store bought crust, and did very little to sway me from my firm prejudice against you.

That is until I made handpies. With real pie crust. From that moment on, I was hooked. Enrobed in flaky, buttery dough, my hatred of baked fruit began to wane. You broke down my defenses and made me realize how wrong I had been this whole time. And I’ve been so, so very wrong. This Blackberry Pie proves it.

The filling is almost jam-like sweet and I can’t get enough of the crust. I’ve eaten piece after piece, unwilling to share with anyone else. I can’t believe I went this long without you, Pie. With just a few simple ingredients, you turn into something incredible. You’ve certainly changed my mind, and for that I’m grateful. And I’m truly sorry I ever doubted you.

Signed,
A new pie lover

PS- I'm on my way today to the Ohio State Fair, where I find out whether my 7 entries this year won any ribbons! *Crossing fingers*

Strawberry Galette

I spy some green outside my door! The past week has brought warmer temperatures (finally!) and the first buds of spring popped up seemingly overnight. Hooray! Spring has finally sprung!

The first taste of warmer weather makes me excited for what's to come. I can't wait to rock my dresses again. I live for days I can throw open the doors and windows and let the breeze blow in. I long for evenings spent on the patio, book in hand, surrounded by green leaves and the beginning bursts of colorful flowers. (Until they inevitably succumb to the negligence of my black thumb...) I yearn for dinners on the grill and big bowls full of ripe, juicy, sweet berries. Oh, sweet delicious summer fruit, how I’ve missed you in the cold winter months.

Strawberries are by far one of my favorite fruits. I generally eat them sliced up and sprinkled with an ungodly amount of sugar. Lately, however, I’ve been enjoying them with just a drizzle of honey to enhance their natural sweetness. A bit healthier and a lot cleaner than my usual snack, and every bit as delicious.

And it makes the perfect base for a simple, rustic, no fuss dessert.

Think of a galette as pie for people who are scared of pie crust. No messing with pie plates or double crusts or crimping. Just roll the crust out flat and relatively round, throw some fruit in the middle and fold it up. No need for perfection here. It’s as easy as… pie. Or rather, pie’s calm, laid back brother.

The honey bumps up the strawberries’ natural sweetness, while balsamic vinegar adds a subtle layer of extra flavor. Wrapped in a flaky crust and drizzled with a little extra honey, it’s a heavenly way to welcome in spring.

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Blueberry Coulis

Well now doesn’t that just sound fancy—Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Blueberry Coulis. We’re stepping it up and putting on our fancy pants over here at The Busty Baker! Sort of..

Until very (very) recently, I had no idea what panna cotta really was. I’d heard of it. I’d seen it around the interwebs. But it just sounded very classy and probably way too complicated to make. So I paid no attention to it, because, hello—I’m lazy. I don’t want to work harder than I have to. (Let's just call it low-key instead of lazy, shall we?) But you want to know a secret? Panna cotta is totally simple. And totally delicious.

Think of it as pudding meets Jello, all dressed up in pearls and a pretty dress. This isn't your lunchbox pudding cup. Smooth and creamy, speckled with vanilla bean seeds, and served up in a fancy glass, it’s an elegant dessert at the end of a meal. And the Blueberry Coulis? Dark and dramatic on top of pure white, it’s the perfect accent to the panna cotta. And no one has to know coulis (pronounced coo-lee) is just a fancy name for blueberry sauce.

I mean really, what sounds more classy and impressive: Panna Cotta with Coulis? Or Vanilla Pudding with Blueberry Sauce? I think we all know which one is more likely to wow and woo.

Both the panna cotta and the coulis can be made ahead of time, so you have plenty of time to pretty yourself up for your Valentine’s date night and enjoy a fabulous dinner, followed by a divine (and totally stress free) dessert!

Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Sometimes you just need a fuss-free, quick and easy treat to throw together at the last minute. A "hurry--the guests will be here in an hour!" snack for your holiday party. The nearly midnight "I forgot I was in charge of dessert for the office potluck tomorrow!" treat. Or maybe you just need chocolate. Now. Right now. Right this instant, or else. Whatever the reason, sometimes you just need these cookies.

I've come to love these pantry cleaner types of cookies. They're always good in a pinch, when the urge (or necessity) to bake strikes with limited time and supplies. Just pull out whatever you have, throw it in the mix, and reap the deliciousness that will come forth from your oven in a short amount of time.

Almost brownie-like cookies studded with tart cherries and gooey chocolate chips--they're meant to share. You won't want to. You'll want to hide in a corner and eat the entire batch alone, but trust me. You should probably share.  

The most wonderful part of these cookies is that they're very flexible. No cherries? Try cranberries. Throw in some crushed candy cane bits and use peppermint extract instead. Perfect for the season! Make them festive with red and green M&Ms. Or leave out the extras entirely, and just have the perfect chocolatey chocolate cookie. You can't go wrong. Just be sure to serve them with a big glass of milk because these cookies and milk are total BFFs.

Strawberry Peach Jam

I seem to be living a very eco-hippie life right now. Not really by choice either. My 16-year old car has recently taken to overheating to the point of smoke pouring from under the hood, and with my very limited (non-existent) budget, she’s been sidelined in the parking lot in favor of taking the bus to and from work every day. Yay public transit. And then there’s my washer. My free, hand-me-down, probably older than I am washer I acquired from a lady at work who was moving and couldn’t take it with her. After what I assume was a long and productive life, it’s finally given up. It doesn’t spin anymore, so there’s no real washing going on. With no way to get my clothes to a laundromat (because I’m NOT taking them on the bus), I’m hand washing my clothes in a bucket. Luckily my free, hand-me-down dryer from yet another coworker is still going strong, so the neighbors don’t have to see my unmentionables hanging out on my back patio to dry.

So I figure, while I’m embracing this forced hippie life, why not dive in even further. Let's take up canning! Because obviously, I needed a new hobby. (Right.) Now trust me, I had no interest in canning. At all. The thought had never even crossed my mind. But then I made my own barbecue sauce. And then Boyfriend raved so much about it, he wanted to give some to his brother and coworker for them to try.

It’s one thing to make a batch and put it in my fridge to use. I have a very high tolerance for expiration dates (I mean, those are really just suggestions, right? As long as it smells fine..), and if I make myself sick, well it’s my own fault for being stupid. And it's fine to give it to Boyfriend who used it on nearly everything almost immediately. It’s a completely different thing to give it to someone else who may or may not use it in a timely manner. And I don’t want to kill anyone with spoiled food. So I started Googling how to can homemade barbecue sauce. And found out just how easy it really is. Boiling water, a big pot, and some Mason jars. That’s really about all you need. Obviously there’s a bit more to it than that, but if you’ve got those, you’re nearly ready to can!

After my first BBQ attempt, I was hooked. I wanted to can everything in sight! With my aversion of all things veggie, the next obvious step was to make jam. Lots of jam. Blackberry, strawberry, cherry.. Jam, jam, jam! And it’s all so easy! I may never, ever buy jam at the store again. At this very moment, I have 4 different types of hanging out in my pantry. Which is perfect, since I'm living on a PB&J budget with my hippie ways.

Making and canning jam isn’t as scary as it seems. I went from thinking about canning, to reading books about canning, to actually canning my own jam in the course of an afternoon. 1 afternoon! The next morning I had toast and jam for breakfast. My own jam. That I made. Jam that spread just like Smuckers. And tasted just as good! If I can figure it out in my tiny little kitchen (and win a 1st place Blue Ribbon at the Ohio State Fair for my first attempt at Cherry Jam!), I have all the faith that you can too.

 

I wish I could go into all the details and specifics of the canning process for you, but honestly, I don’t really know them all. Which is why I haven’t progressed much past jam. (And because of that whole veggie aversion thing.) I will say that it’s very important to know the difference between water bath processing and pressure canning, and which you should use for your creations. Water bath processing is simply boiling the jars in water for a period of time. This method of processing is fine for fruit based products, such as jam, because the majority of fruit is high in acidity, which bacteria generally don’t like to hang out in. Boiling the jars will kill off what bacteria might still be hanging around. Pressure canning requires special equipment that uses pressure (obviously) to heat the jars to a temperature higher than boiling. Unlike fruit, veggies are generally low in acidity, which makes them perfect playgrounds for all kinds of yuckies that can make you sick. To kill the bacteria and prevent spoilage, you need heat that’s well above temperatures that boiling alone can reach, which is where the pressure canner comes in. There’s a bit more to canning than that, so I definitely recommend doing a little research before diving headfirst into it.

If you’re into the book reading thing, I highly recommend Canning & Preserving with Ashley English. This is the one I read nearly cover to cover before I started. It’s easy to read and understand, especially that science-y part about the pH levels (high vs low acidity). And of the 6 books I got from the library on canning, this is the one I liked the most. There’s also the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, which is written by the experts of all things canning, so you know they know what they’re talking about. If you’re more into the web surfing thing, check out the Ball website for quick reference on the basics of canning, as well as tons of recipes to get you started. So what are you waiting for? Go forth and jam!

Lemon Triple Berry Buckle

I’m a sale shopper. Nothing makes my little heart soar more than those 4 little letters. S-A-L-E. Even if I don’t really need it, I can’t help myself if it’s on sale. A pair of shoes that I can’t wear through an entire shift at work without feeling crippled? But they’re adorable, and they’re on sale! 5 of the exact same shirt in different colors? They're half off!  Numerous bottles of BBQ sauce? They’re on sale for $1 and I have $1 off coupon. They’re FREE! No matter that I have no use for 8 bottles of BBQ sauce. I didn’t pay a dime!

Nothing gets me more than fresh fruit on sale. Every trip to the store, I load more fruit in my cart because, “you just can’t beat that price!” Before I know it, I have more fruit than is humanly possible to eat, and I’ve got to use it NOW. Because unlike BBQ sauce that’ll hang out in the pantry for awhile, fruit doesn’t stick around forever. We’re just hitting the stride of summer fruit sales, so right now, my fridge is packed with berries, cherries, and other fruity goodness just begging to be used up. When I saw this recipe, I knew it’d be the perfect way to show them off—a Lemon Triple Berry Buckle.

Honest truth—I’d never heard of a buckle before, other than what’s on a belt. Cobbler, crisp, crumble, pie—those I get. But buckle? What the heck is a buckle? Think of a buckle is a cake/crumble hybrid. A moist soft yellow cake base, a layer of delicious juicy berries, topped with a lemony sweet crumb topping. I think I found my new favorite thing to bake! It's perfect for summer picnics and barbecues. Portable cake you can eat with your hands, and no worries of melty, gooey frosting! It may be your perfect 4th of July treat!

I used a mixture of blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries, because I had them all hanging out in my fridge, but feel free to use whatever berries you want. And absolutely make sure you rub the lemon zest into the sugar first before mixing it in with the other ingredients. It releases all the oils from the zest and gives it a bright lemony pop.

Now to find more recipes to use up the rest of my raspberries and blueberries before I bring the next load of fruit home.

Friday Favorites - Vol 5 - Summer Food (Recipe Recap)

Currently I'm sitting on my back patio staring up at a brilliant blue sky filled with white puffy clouds. I'm surrounded by warm air, bright pink flowers, the heavenly scent of mint leaves, and a tiny hummingbird that keeps coming to visit. It's summer, and it's absolutely perfect. I wish it would stay exactly like this forever.

Can you guess what my absolute favorite part of summer is? The food. Fresh fruits, ice cream, picnic snacks--there's so much great food to eat during the summer! I put together a list of all my favorite recipes for you, so hopefully it's not too hot in the kitchen to jump in there and whip up some deliciousness before you head back out to the pool or the barbecue!

Let's start with something to cool off--Ice Cream!

1. The perfect blend of slightly salty and sweet - Salty Caramel Ice Cream, 2. Simple yet utterly delicious - Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, 3. The easiest ice cream you'll ever make - Peanut Butter Ice Cream, 4. It's all about hot and cold, so add a little spice to your chill - "Hot" Chocolate Ice Cream


There's nothing better than fresh fruit in the summer. Ripe juicy berries are my weakness, and they just beg to be used whatever way they can.

 

1. Blackberries bursting with flavor - Blackberry Crumble Bars, 2. Be patriotic with a great Independence Day picnic dessert - Red, White, and Blue Shortcakes, 3. Chocolate and Raspberry marry beautifully - Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes, 4. This stunner of a dessert is simple to whip up - Strawberry Cream Cake, 5. Why not take your pie with you! - Peach Hand Pies


Heading out to a baseball game or a drive-in or outdoor movie? Make sure you pack some popcorn to munch on!

Left: Homemade Kettle Corn - a little bit spicy a little bit sweet, a whole lot of yum, Right: Homemade Caramel Corn - Lame prize not included.


Don't want to spend time inside? Take your snacks to go!

Left: Whether you're sitting around the campfire or just sitting in the airconditioning, S'mores are the essential summer snack. Class it up with Homemade S'mores, Right: Create your own beautiful fireworks with out all the noise and danger of blowing your hand off - Firework Sugar Cookies


And last, but certainly not least, celebrate Independence Day with a delicious cake! Red, White, and Blue and oh so good.

Hope you have a great summer, and happy summer baking! :)

Blackberry Crumble Bars

The sunshine outside right now is deceiving. It looks absolutely gorgeous, but there’s still a bit of a chill in the air. I shouldn’t complain because it’s beautiful for early April. But after a few weeks of way above average temperatures that felt more like May than March, I want the almost 80s back! I want to grill out for dinner. I want to sit outside on my brand new patio furniture. I want to ride my new bike. I want to frolic in the sunshine in a tank top and a skirt! But I guess I’ll have to settle for staring at the emerging green outside my back door from the couch and eating some summer berries to trick myself into thinking it’s almost warm.

Is there anything better than juicy, ripe berries? I’m a terrible eater when it comes to fresh produce (I hate nearly every vegetable on earth), but I can pack away fruit like it’s my job. It’s the main reason I love summer. Because I certainly can’t stand the heat.

The grocery store has been having sales on summer fruit for the past couple weeks now. While I held off on the cheap, but not-so-great looking strawberries, I couldn’t resist the perfect blackberries. They just called to me, and at $1 a carton, I couldn’t stop myself.

I also couldn’t stop myself from eating these bars. I didn’t even share! Warm from the oven or room temperature with a bit of whipped cream, they were hard to say no to. Sweet and tart with just a tiny hint of cinnamon spice, these helped convince me that I’m officially over my aversion to baked fruit. I’m ready to try these bars again when the big hauls of summer fruit come rolling in. I think they’d be amazing with a mix of raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries.

Oh Summer, please hurry!

Lemon Pull Apart Bread

I give you fair warning—if you’re still going strong on your New Year’s Resolution (go you!), turn away. This isn’t for you. This will completely and utterly derail you from your goal, and I don’t wish to be responsible for your demise. So quick—look away! Click somewhere else! Save yourself! For the rest of us… Behold. The carboholic’s dream.

Lemon Pull Apart Bread. Layer upon layer of delicious lemony sugar coated carbs. Amazing. Beyond amazing! So incredibly good, you won't be able to control yourself.

I’ve seen these pull apart breads around for quite awhile, usually in Joy the Baker’s cinnamon adaptation, but I’d never gotten around to trying it out myself. Until I saw the lemon version. Something just clicked, and I HAD to make it.

In every post I’ve read about these pull apart breads, they always say they totally just stood at the counter eating piece after piece of this stuff still warm from the oven. I thought it was just an exaggeration—surely all these people could control themselves better than that, right? Wrong. After the first bite, I knew they weren’t just exaggerating. I found myself just standing there, like so many others before me, pulling piece after piece off, indulging in the utter bliss that only warm sugary carbs can give you.

I’m telling you. This bread is like crack. Bright, lemony, candied, carbolicious crack. You won’t be able to stop. You’ll literally stand there, shamelessly pulling piece after sticky piece, losing all control of your senses. You’ll eat half the loaf within hours. You’ll proclaim to the whole world, “Oh... If I die tonight, I'll be going down in a heavenly blaze of carboholic glory.” You’ll find yourself at 3am pulling off just one more piece. Your clouded senses will convince you that it’s really okay to have a couple more pieces for breakfast the next morning. Within 24 hours you’ll have singlehandedly finished off an entire loaf of bread all by yourself. And you’ll dream about making more before you’ve even finished the last piece.

I’m already plotting a roll version of this. Like a cinnamon roll. But with lemon instead. Oh it will be done. I’ve already got the lemons waiting on me. Must. have. more.

Extra Crispy Apple Crisp

Apple season is winding down as we get closer and closer to the flavors of the holidays, when even pumpkin is an afterthought behind peppermint and gingerbread. But before we say goodbye to apple, I thought I’d share one more yummy treat to send apples off with a fond farewell—a good old fashioned apple crisp.

While we picked apples, Boyfriend kept insisting I make an apple crisp for him. His one requirement for this apple crisp? Make it with tons of topping, because the “crisp” is the best part. After apple braids and handpies, I finally got around to making his crisp with the last few apples I had.

With double the crisp topping, you could barely see the apples on the bottom of my pan! But I have to say, Boyfriend is right. That topping is amazing. I’d eat an entire pan of just the crisp if I could.

I brought it over to Boyfriend’s still warm from the oven and served it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. He actually kept pausing his video game to take another bite! I left it with him to finish off, but ended up making a tiny loaf pan sized crisp for myself the next day because I wanted more. I guess I really am an apple convert now. So long, apples. I'll definitely be seeing you again next year.

Apple Hand Pies

I may have found the remedy to my baked fruit aversion. Tuck it into a tiny little pie. Then smother it with whipped cream or ice cream. Suddenly, what once was only somewhat tolerable turns into something I’ll downright eat the crap out of. I totally get the whole “a la mode” deal now.

With 8 pounds of apples left after my Apple Braid, and some apple pie spice I found hanging out in the back of the spice cabinet, I decided to get some use out of my new toy and give hand pies another shot.

I found this contraption at Target for about $5. You just roll out your pie crust, open the press up and use the back (non-textured) side to cut out your rounds. Place the round on the textured side, fill with pie filling, then fold over and press to crimp them shut! (Rub a little water around the edge of one side before you fold to help seal.) It seriously cut my pie making time in half! So incredibly easy!

And so incredibly tasty too. Warm from the oven and smothered with the can of whipped cream I’ve had hanging out in the back of my fridge-- oh man. I never thought I’d say that about an apple pie, but seriously. This won me over. The recipe only made 8, and I’m not ashamed to say I ate 2 of them myself, and contemplated eating the two I saved for pictures that I promised to give to Boyfriend, since he seemed to like them a lot. After snagging one in the car from the container of still-warm-from-the-oven pies I was taking to my parents while I went back inside to grab something, he declared them to be “pretty kick-@$$”.

My only warning—don’t overfill your pies. I learned this after my one casualty sort of exploded in the oven. But it still tasted amazing.

My other word of advice—check the expiration dates on things in your pantry every now and then. When I pulled my apple cider vinegar out, I noticed there were some gross random floaties in it. Then I realized it had expired about a year ago. Oops. (Also, feel free to substitute regular vinegar instead, so you don’t end up going to the store to buy 1 thing and walk out with $70 worth of groceries you probably didn’t really need.. Not that I’d know anything about that. And don’t forget to take the water you have chilling out of the freezer if you go to the store, because you’ll come home to an ice cube rather than ice water.. But I wouldn’t know that either.)

Apple Braid

It’s 67 degrees and sunny, and right now, this is the view outside my window.

This is perfection--the fleeting few weeks where the mornings are crisp and cool, the afternoons are warm and bright, and the world bursts into flames of vivid color. These few weeks are what I’ve looked forward to all summer.

Every fall, Boyfriend and I try to make it out to a local farm to pick our own apples and pumpkins. The last few years, we’ve only made it for the pumpkins, but this year I was determined to get some apples too. Luckily, I found myself with a gorgeous, sunny Sunday off, so it was time to hit the orchard and start picking.

 

 I always feel bad for the apples that fall on the ground.

Our bag filled up fast, and after jumping mud puddles and climbing trees, we carried home 10 pounds of gorgeous apples. I would have loved to keep picking, but I knew I would struggle finding ways to use the ones I had. After scouring my usual recipe sources, I found the perfect inspiration in what has lately become my new obsession—Pinterest.

It’s there I found the Apple Braid that Rachael of La Fuji Mama posted on Eat, Live, Run. Think of it as "cinnamon roll meets apple pie and get’s braided up into a gorgeous loaf." Incredibly simple to put together and looks like a lot more work than it really is. The best part about it? It’s a yeast dough, but you don’t even have to let it rise. Just mix the dough together, knead it like you would normal yeast dough, roll it out, cut and braid, then bake.

My braid didn’t turn out quite as defined and gorgeous as Rachael’s. (Check out the link to see step-by-step photos of the braiding) I think because I tried to roll it out a bit too big, so my strips were really thin and stretched way too much, but it still turned out nice. (It would probably have also helped if I had a pizza cutter. Cutting with my knife just wasn't working.) I have to say though, while everyone else thought it was good, it still didn’t change my mind. I’m still not a fan of baked apples at all. I thought I’d overcome my baked fruit prejudice with my Peach Cobbler and Peach Handpies, but nope. I just don’t like baked apples. I’ve still got about 8 pounds left, so I’ll definitely be baking more, I just probably won’t be eating them myself... So.. Who wants some apple treats?