"Would Ya Please Pass The Jelly?"

I had a very large bottle of wine, opened and with not much of it drank, left at my house by a friend after an event that Husband and I hosted.  I am not much of a wine person, especially white wine, so I had no idea what to do with it; and because it was Moscato, it would be too sweet for cooking with.  After lamenting in passing about this “dilemma” in the proximity of other friends (I do hate to waste things, even if I didn’t pay for them), it was suggested that I make jelly out of it.  I didn’t know one could make jelly out of wine, but what the hell, right?  To the Internets I went researching, and soon enough, I had a plan and a box of pectin.  This, was, let’s not forget, my first foray into any kind of canning other than pickles, and I would most certainly categorize it as an experiment.  I will tell this story mostly via pictures.  Here goes...

The instructions that came with the Pectin - part 1.

The instructions that came with the Pectin - part 2.  I used the recipe shown
here for Sweet Grape juice.  (If you click on the photo, you should get a bigger version on
which the type should be large enough to read clearly.)

The wine (this was a double-size bottle), after I poured what conveniently
amounted to exactly 4 cups of liquid into the pans); and the Pectin package.

Jar lids and bands, ready to be boiled.

Boiling the jars.

 

Pectin being scooped into the boiling liquid in the blender.

Blending the Pectin into the 1 cup of boiled wine.

After the jars were filled, back into the water they went to be boiled for 10 minutes.

Bubbles coming up and out.  (I had to put my glass casserole lid on top to weigh them down
because I didn't have enough product to fill both jars enough, and they wanted to float.)

Cooling down.

The next morning, I tried it out on an English muffin.  It's not the best color for photographing,
but when starting with white wine, there's not much that can be done about that.

Thoughts, musings, and what mt brain absorbed:

1. I found it odd that this recipe didn’t call for any sugar at all.  I am sure when staring with actual fruit or fruit juice, it’s no big deal.  But I think the fact that I started with wine turned this out far less sweet than I would have wanted, despite the fact that Moscato is a pretty sweet wine to begin with.  The jelly is not bad and I won’t throw it away or call it a failure – but I can only give it a “meh” review for flavor.  Bottom line – I should have added sugar anyways.
   
   
2. Regarding the Calcium Water – this brand of pectin and its instructions and website make it sound like using the calcium water is absolutely essential, or else their particular kind of pectin just won’t do its thing.  I don’t know about that.  After researching about pectin, liquid versus powdered, etc., I feel like the calcium water wasn’t truly necessary.  But I followed the instructions anyways because having some extra calcium in the jelly can’t hurt.
   
   
3. Speaking of liquid versus powdered pectin – the original recipe that I found online and was planning to use called for liquid pectin and was simpler than this one, but we couldn’t find liquid pectin at the store.  So, I followed the package insert instructions from the brand we did find, exactly.  However, I did do a bunch of research about when and how to use liquid versus powdered pectin, and I feel confident now that I know what to do next time and/or can modify a recipe that calls for one or the other.  According to these links (Liquid Pectin Vs. Powdered Pectin and Canning 101: How to Substitute Pectin), the basic tenet is if you are using liquid pectin, you can throw it in close to the end of cooking; but if you’re using powdered, you should mix it into the sugar before you combine it with the fruit because it responds better when you cook it the entire time and also avoids the risk of pectin clumping that can happen if you add powdered pectin at the end of cooking.
   
   
4. I want smaller canning jars.  The unused leftover ones I had on hand from when I made pickles were just too big, and I ended up with only two 3/4 full jars -- which is probably still too much jelly for us to consume before it goes bad after opening.  I will get some smaller ones for any future jelly making.

In the end, I feel as though I learned a lot insofar as the basics of canning (general method / basic concepts / procedure / order of operations).  I feel much more confident and less intimidated about it all and look forward to giving it another try sometime soon.  I also plan to try jams, preserves, some no-pectin recipes, etc.

Sometimes at work you were researching liquid v. powdered pectin, and leave the package
insert on your desk when you go to lunch, then this happens. Lol.  (That's my boss' handwriting.)

EDITED TO ADD:  After chatting with my boss about the bland-ish taste my jelly ended up with, she suggested (thinking in the realm of wine/food pairings) that next time I put some basil in the jelly.  Hmmm, very interesting.  Given how well hot peppers go in sweet jellies, I think this sounds like a good idea.  I am even considering melting this jelly down and re-canning it (because that’s a thing that can technically be done) into smaller jars, with the added basil.

Tarts that Pop (Strawberry Habanero Toaster Pastries)

As I mentioned in my post earlier today about the Southern Vermont Garlic Festival, we recently picked up several varieties of spicy jam made by Jamtastic! of Rupert, VT.  One of them was a strawberry habanero jam that was fantastically tasty -- hot, sweet, and (bonus) containing only essential natural ingredients.

Not even two days after getting home from the festival, I received an email from Hubby stating "OMG we have to make these with the habanero strawberry jam."

Who am I to turn down such a great idea using an Alton Brown recipe?  No one, that's who.

So we made the homemade toaster pastries last night, and can now likely add Pop Tarts to the list of packaged foods we will never again buy (not that we purchase them any more than extremely rarely anyways -- but now we can have them at home, all natural, with no preservatives, and made from scratch!!).

We followed the recipe pretty much exactly as given on AB's website, and I do have a couple of adjustments that I will make next time.  I will note those as I go along, but basically, it's like this....

INGREDIENTS (all ounce measurements are of course by weight, not volume):

• 22 ounces all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces sugar
• 6 ounces vegetable shortening
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup jam, fruit butter, or preserves
• For Egg Wash: 1 large egg plus 2 tablespoons of milk

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.  Set aside.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the sugar and vegetable shortening on medium speed until light, scraping down the sides as needed.

3.  Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time. Again, stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

4.  Add the flour in three installments, alternating with three installments of the milk.  Add the vanilla with the last milk installment.

5.  Form the dough into a log and place width-wise onto a piece of parchment paper and fold over the paper.  Using a half sheet pan as wedge, roll the dough into a log.  This procedure tightens the log into a clean cylinder.  Remove the waxed paper and slice the dough into 16 rounds.  Place the rounds on a sheet pan, cover, and chill for at least 1 hour.

6.  Set two racks in the middle of the oven and heat to 350˚F.

7.  After the dough has chilled, roll each round out to a 5 - 6" circle in between two sheets of parchment paper.  Fold over the edges of each round to create a rectangle, then roll out the rectangle to about 1/4 inch thickness.  Repeat with remaining rounds.

(I think it's worth clarifying here that all the rounds should remain in the fridge and only the one or two that you are currently working with should be taken out -- in other words, take them out of the fridge one or two at a time, not all at once.  With the oven on and it being a warm day, the shortening softened up pretty quickly, making the dough sticky, too pliable and inadvertent holes got made in the dough that required patching.  Second, the whole rolling, folding, and rolling again process was time consuming, again leading to the dough that wasn't refrigerated softening and needing to be re-refrigerated before we could continue.  So I wonder if there's any reason why the entire dough log can't be treated like sugar cookie dough, using a really large square cookie cutter, or a even a bowl -- there ain't nothing wrong with round toaster pastries, right? -- to make the process faster and also ensure that the two sides of the pastry will be exactly matching in size?  I see no reason why not.)

8.  Now match up the 16 rounds into 8 matching pairs.  Brush one rectangle with the egg wash and top with 1 tablespoon of jam, fruit butter or preserves (obviously we used the strawberry habanero jam), spread into an even layer about 1/2 inch from the edge, and top with another pastry rectangle.  Use a fork to seal the tart by pressing the tines long the edge, and gently dock the top of the tart with the fork.

(We ended up with pairs that didn't really match exactly or perfectly, and had to trim little bits off the edges here and there -- see my note about about using cookie cutters or a bowl for uniformity.)

9.  Repeat with remaining dough and filling.

10.  Bake for 25 minutes on a parchment paper lined sheet pan (we used Silpat instead) until the edges are just beginning to brown.

11.  Cool on a rack , while you  make the icing.

(You may have noticed that there are only 7 pastries here, rather than the 8 that the recipe should yield.  Because of the refrigeration/dough softening problem mentioned above, we had one casualty that never even made it into the oven.)

12.  In a small bowl slowly whisk together 4 ounces of confectioner’s sugar and 2 tablespoons milk (you can adjust the amounts of milk and sugar to your liking, for flavor and consistency), then paint/spread on the front of the tarts.

13.  Allow to dry before stacking, storing, or freezing.

These were delicious.  What else can I possibly say?  And the recipe is super-versatile, because you can fill/frost the pastries with whatever you choose, or even make them any shape or size you want.  Even with following the recipe exactly -- i.e. not making the adjustments mentioned above (which we will do next time) to make the process faster, easier and more efficient, this was well worth it.  Oh how we heart our AB!