Drunken Apricot Spread

I have been canning for quite a while now, and although its a hobby I really enjoy, it has also lead me to can things I'm just not going to eat. For instance, I don't really eat jam, but when I come across a ton of fruit that is either free or very cheap, I have a hard time not turning it into jam. Thus I tend to have jars of it lingering in my fridge for far to long with only one scoop taken out. Understandably I get pretty excited when I come across a recipe for my overabundance of the sweet stuff.

This recipe is great because it cuts the crazy sweetness of the jam so it doesn't overpower my savory inclinations at breakfast time. It also has booze it in, and who doesn't love having an excuse to pull out their jug of bourbon at 7:00 in the morning? I did accidentally pour too much bourbon into my measuring spoon. My automatic reaction was to drink the extra (like licking the spoon when baking a cake). Luckily I remembered that this was booze and it was only 8:00 am before I drank it. Back into the bottle went the extra. I swear.

 The original recipe called for peach preserves, but I think any stone fruit would pair fine with the spiciness of the bourbon. I happened to have apricot so that's what I used. The original also called for 1/4 of preserves. While that ratio looks prettier, I wanted the apricot flavor to come through a little stronger.

Drunken Apricot Spread
original recipe can be found here

1/2 cup of room temperature salted butter
1/4-1/2 a cup of apricot preserves
1 1/2 Tbsp. of bourbon
1 Tbsp. lemon zest

Directions
1) Cream the butter with a hand held mixer.
2) Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
3) Spread a nice thick layer on a grainy piece of toast and enjoy.

Blackberry Oat Buckle

I've been eyeing all the blackberry bushes in my area over the last couple weeks. With the abundance of rain we had late in spring, combined with my areas already high water table, I figured this season would be filled with plump juicy blackberries that would certainly find their way to my table. Over the weekend I couldn't wait any longer and took a little trip down Hwy 29 to see what I could find. Unfortunately they were all growing on pretty steep embankments, and I wasn't eager to repeat my spill last year when I slid down a blackberry hill (note: it's not the falling, but the getting back up that hurts the worse), so I just got what I could from the slightly less treacherous parts. Even with that restriction, it only took 30 minutes, and about twenty thorn scrapes, to have three and a half cups of bulging berries tucked away in my bag. Of course that not counting the ones I ate along the way!

From what I saw, only about half the berries on the bushes were ripe last Saturday. I'm sure there will be several more trips down to the patch before the season is over. Here is the first of my recipes involving one of my favorite parts of summer.

Blackberry Oat Buckle

Recipe adapted from
Cory Shreiber's
Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More

Ingredients

1 tbsp. butter for pan
1.5 cups flour
.5 cups oat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
.5 tsp. baking soda
.75 cups butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2.5 cups blackberries
.25 cups rolled oats
2 tbsp. brown sugar

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 and butter a nine inch square backing dish

2) Mix the regular flour, oat flour and backing soda. If you don’t have oat flour, simply chop up regular oats (aka oatmeal) in a food processor until it resembles a coarse meal.

3) In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and white sugar with a hand held mixer at high speeds until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at and time and then the vanilla.

4) Stir the flour mixture into the butter/sugar mixture in three additions, alternating with the butter milk. Start and end with the flour mixture. The resulting batter will be much lighter/airier than a normal cake mix.

5) Fold in half of the blackberries and pour the mixture into the prepared pan.

6) Sprinkle the top of the buckle with the remaining berries, oats and brown sugar. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

This cake can be served right away with ice cream as a wonderful dessert. The blackberries stay nice and juicy inside and ooze a bit when the buckle is sliced. It's also good the next morning without the ice cream as a delectable coffee cake. Its not an overly sweet buckle so you don't feel like you've started the day off with a sugar rush. Also feel free to substitute your favorite berry or even a mix of berries!

Momma's Poached Eggs

Perhaps it is because I am feeling both overfed and I'm pretty sure a cold is about to take hold of me, but this morning I got a hunger for a couple of poached eggs. If I have made breakfast for you before, then you probably already know that I really love to season up my fried eggs with some dill or basil or if I'm feeling zesty a little chipotle pepper. This is because I generally see eggs as a carrier for some other delicious taste. There are times however, when I just really wish to enjoy the flavor of a farm fresh egg and don't wish for all the extra fluff. When I am in these moods, usually because I am ill or I have over indulged the night before, I like to enjoy a simple poached egg with salt and buttered toast.

I have read several recipes for poached eggs, and I have seen many contraptions for making them, but my favorite poached egg is still my mothers poached eggs. She has made them for me since I was a child and she has always referred to them as faux poached eggs because there is nothing fancy or technically challenging about the way they are made. Perhaps after you've over indulged this holiday season you will enjoy this simple breakfast as much as I do.

Momma's Poached Eggs

1. Fill your smallest pot with about an inch and a half of water and put on high heat.
2. Break an egg (or however many your making) and put it directly into the water and cover with lid.
3. This is the fun part. You will know when the egg is done because the pot will boil over. Don't worry, it's only water so it's not as messy as it sounds. I like my white especially well done so at this point I take the lid off and leave the egg in the hot water for another minute.
4. Remove with a slotted spoon and add a pinch of salt. Do not add any other seasonings. The point of this dish is to enjoy the simple wonderful flavors of the salt and egg.

Serve the egg(s) with some buttered toast to sop up all the runny yoke!

Pumpkin Scones

Hello friends, I hope you all got out to enjoy the nice fall weather this weekend. My sister sent me a recipe in keeping with my fall theme that I had to try out now that the weather is perfect for heating up the oven. Although these pumpkin scones didn't turn out as pumpkiny as I expected, they were super moist and made the house smell wonderful! I was feeling particularly domestic so I used a pie pumpkin for this recipe, but you could substitute if for canned if you like. So pour yourself a hot glass of apple cider and enjoy this fall treat!

Pumpkin Scones

(originally recipe from Sunset)

Ingredients:

About 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
About 1/2 cup (1/4 lb.) butter cut into chunks

3/4 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk

1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Preparation:

1. Cut pumpkin in half, remove seeds and place cut side down on a cookie sheet with a thin layer of water in it. Bake at 350 degrees until a fork inserted through the skin slides through the pumpkin (about 1 hour).

2. In a bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt. Add 1/2 cup butter and, with a pastry blender or your fingers, cut or rub in until pea-size crumbs form.

3. In a small bowl, whisk pumpkin and 1/2 cup milk until well blended. Add to flour mixture and stir just until dough is evenly moistened.

4. Scrape onto a lightly floured board, turn over to coat, and gently knead just until dough comes together, 5 or 6 turns. Pat dough into a 6-inch round 1 1/2 inches thick; cut into 6 equal wedges.

5. Separate wedges and place on a lightly buttered 12- by 15-inch baking sheet. In a small bowl, beat egg yolk and 1 tablespoon milk to blend; brush lightly over tops of scones (discard any remaining egg wash). In another small bowl, mix granulated sugar and remaining 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon; sprinkle evenly over scones.

6. Bake in a 375° regular or convection oven until scones are golden brown, 30-35 minutes. Transfer to a rack; serve warm or cool.