Christmas Jam

October 23, 2025 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Last Fall I came across a recipe for Christmas Jam. What was particularly intriguing to me was the use of cranberries and the warm spices. This is the time of year that fresh cranberries are available in the supermarkets, and I always buy several pounds so I can make whole cranberry sauce. I feel like chicken dishes need a side of cranberry sauce! When I canned my applesauce last Fall I threw in some cranberries along with the apples. The cranberries added a little color and gave it some nice pops of flavor. So this jam recipe really appealed to me. The tartness of the cranberries, in combination with the other berries, makes this jam particularly tasty. And when you add in the orange zest and the spices it does make this jam taste like a holiday!

Ingredients:

30 ounces of berries (I weighed out 10 oz of each)

Cranberries, blueberries, and strawberries

1 T orange zest

1/4 tsp each of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg

1 package sure jell

1/2 cup water

small pat of butter

4 cups sugar

Coarsley chop your fruit. I used my mini ninja, and they were perfect after a few pulses. You don’t want to purée them.

In a heavy stainless pot combine the chopped fruit, water, spices, orange zest, and sure jell. Add a small pat of butter to reduce the foam.

Over medium high heat bring the berry mixture to a full boil stirring constantly. Once it boils add the sugar and bring it back up to a boil stirring occasionally. Once it is back at a boil, boil for one minute without stirring. Remove the pan from the heat.

Ladle the jam into sterilized jars leaving about 1/4 inch head space. Seal with lids and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Remove the jars to cool on a towel and let them sit 24 hours. Make sure all of your jars have sealed before storing. If you have any that didn’t seal refrigerate them.

I got 8 jars per batch. Enjoy on toast, pancakes, as a filling for cookies, as an ice cream topping, or just a plain old PB&J. If you are inclined to share, add a festive ribbon or bow and you have a delightful holiday gift. Homemade is best!

NOTES: Stick with 10 oz of cranberries, but you could also use raspberries or blackberries. I also substituted ground ginger for the cinnamon in my second batch. I like my jam to have some chunks of fruit but, if you prefer, you can do a finer chop on the berries.

Chocolate Beet Cake

April 28, 2025 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

We used to regularly go out for breakfast on Sunday mornings, but since we adopted Leo, our rescue pup, I’ve been making our bacon and eggs at home. After breakfast and clean up I enjoy watching a couple of shows on the food network…Mary Makes it Easy, The Kitchen, and, most recently, Girl Meets Farm with Molly Yeh. Molly lives on a farm on the North Dakota-Minnesota border, and is a Juilliard music major turned food blogger. Her blog became very popular, and Saveur named her Food Blogger of the Year in 2015. This is a recipe from a recent episode of Girl Meets Farm that sounded very interesting, and I had to try it. We have a group of friends that we regularly get together with on Saturday nights, and we were celebrating three birthdays. It was a perfect time to try Molly’s Chocolate Beet Cake recipe. When I served it I left out the part about the beets because we have anti-veg folks as well as people who just plain old don’t like beets. I have made a chocolate sauerkraut cake and a chocolate zucchini cake before, but using beets never occurred to me. Save for a couple of slices the cake was devoured. Chocolate meets beets for a delicious smash up! Full credit for this recipe goes to Molly Yeh! Thank you for sharing your food Molly.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup (100 grams) Dutch process cocoa powder

1 cup boiling water

8 oz beets (1 1/2 cups) raw, peeled, and coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups heavy cream at room temperature

3/4 cup full-fat sour cream at room temperature

4 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups (390 grams) all purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1 tsp instant espresso powder

1 3/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup unrefined coconut oil, soft but not melted

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

2 cups (400 grams) granulated sugar

zest of one orange

4 large eggs at room temperature

Preheat your oven to 350° and grease three 8” round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. In a high-speed blender whiz together the cocoa powder and boiling water. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes to bloom the cocoa and allow the mixture to cool a bit.

Add the beets and blend to a smooth purée.

Add the heavy cream, sour cream, and vanilla and blend until just combined. Do not over blend.

In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour and baking powder and lightly stir in the espresso powder and salt. Set aside. In a stand mixer cream together the butter, coconut oil, sugar, and orange zest on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Reduce the speed to low and add the dry mixture and heavy cream mixture in 2 or 3 alternating additions, mixing until mostly combined. Turn off the mixer and use a rubber spatula to finish up the mixing, making sure to evenly mix without over mixing.

Distribute the batter among the 3 pans, spreading it out evenly with the bottom of a spoon or offset spatula.

Bake until the centers are set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Begin checking for doneness at 40 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes in the pans, then loosen the edges with a butter knife, and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. If necessary level the tops of the cakes with a serrated knife. Once the cakes have cooled you’re ready to ice and assemble.

I used my standard cream cheese icing. Molly Yeh used a similar icing as well. If you prefer chocolate on chocolate that would be great too. Slice and enjoy.

NOTE: A great way to get vegetables into your kids, and even into non-veg adults.

I used melting chocolate and a piping bag to write the celebrants names, Patti, Chuck, and Chellie. I piped the names onto wax paper and kept them in the freezer until I was ready to serve the cake.

Caramel and Heath Bars

October 15, 2024 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

My husband loves sweets, and Heath Bars are one of his favorite candy bars. So I modified a bar cookie recipe to incorporate toffee pieces with caramel, and they were a big hit. Here’s a bit of Heath trivia for you. Heath Bars were born in the USA. They were first manufactured in 1928 in Robinson, Illinois by two brothers, Bayard and Everett Heath. Their confectionery business was called Heath & Sons Inc., and the chocolate bars were marketed as “America’s Finest” with people traveling from afar to get some. When the Heath family sold the confectionary business and started a dairy farm, the brothers brought their candy making equipment with them. The dairymen delivering milk and cheese added Heath Toffee to the list of items customers could order. The Heath Bar also made an appearance in the supplies of fighters during World War II. Hershey began manufacturing Heath Bars in 1996.

Ingredients

12 T butter, melted

1 cup AP flour

1 cup long cooking oats

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

11 oz bag baking caramels

1/4 cup heavy cream

8 oz bag of heath bar pieces

Preheat your oven to 350 and line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper sprayed with Pam. Pour the baking caramels into a microwave safe bowl along with the heavy cream, and microwave on high for 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Once the caramel is melted set it aside. You can also melt your caramel stovetop in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until all of the caramel pieces are melted and mixture is smooth.

In a medium size bowl combine melted butter with the flour, oats, brown sugar, soda, and salt.

Stir well to combine. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of a 8×8 pan using a spatula to even it out. Set the remaining mixture aside. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven.

Sprinkle the Heath Bar pieces over the base.

Pour the melted caramel on top of the Heath Bar pieces. Scatter the remaining oat mixture as evenly as possible over the top.

Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack. Allow the bars to cool completely before slicing.

Cut into bars and enjoy.

NOTE: You can substitute chocolate chips or chocolate candy pieces like KitKats, Snickers, or Reese Peanut Butter Cups to equal 1 cup. You can see in the picture that I tossed in a few random pieces of KitKats. If your kiddos get too much chocolate this Halloween you know what to do…chop it up and make a pan of bars!

One of the tricks I’ve learned after years of making bar cookies is to always line my pan with parchment paper with an overhang. This makes lifting the bars out of the pan, cutting them, and cleaning the pan, SO MUCH easier.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

October 4, 2024 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

A few weeks ago on a Friday evening I decided to make a treat to send with my husband to a meeting he was attending the next day. Because it was late-ish I decided bars would be less time consuming than cookies. I looked through several recipes and modified a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I thought would work in a 9×13 pan. Initially I thought it might be a fail because as the bars cooled the center sank a bit and the sides seemed extra tall. But everyone loved them and they were gobbled up in no time. The side pieces are perfect for the people that love the crispy edge pieces, and the center is still soft and chewy for the people who, like my daughter, prefer center bites…like the cinnamon roll in the middle of the pan. Today I made another pan of these cookie bars to share with friends. Still less time consuming than individual cookies. Still have sides that are taller and crispier than the center. Still just as delicious.

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups (405 g) all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 T cornstarch

18 T of butter melted

1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed

3 eggs

1 T vanilla

3 cups of chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli and combine milk and dark chocolate)

Preheat your oven to 350 and line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper allowing for overhang. The parchment paper makes for easy clean up, no sticking, and the bars lift out easily for cutting.

Combine all of the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Set aside. Whisk the brown sugar and granulated sugar together with the melted butter.

Whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Whisk in the vanilla.

Dump the dry ingredients into the butter and egg mixture. Stir until combined. Set aside 1/2 cup of chips and stir the remaining 2 1/2 cups into the batter.

Evenly distribute the batter into your prepared pan. Use a spatula to even out the batter. Sprinkle the chips you set aside over the top.

If you’re into sweet and salty sprinkle some salt flakes on top of the batter. Bake for approximately 35 minutes. The top should be a nice golden brown.

Allow them to cool completely before cutting. Enjoy!

NOTE: You can change up the chips based on personal preference…butterscotch, peanut butter, white chocolate, or any combination. This recipe would also be good with some chopped walnuts. I always freeze some individual bars and other desserts in case someone is looking for a midnight snack. These freeze nicely.

Fruit Tarts aka Individual Fruit Pizzas

October 11, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

I have made “fruit pizza” for desserts for years. It gives one the illusion or delusion of a “healthy” dessert, it looks pretty, and it’s easy to make. And, for me, it brings back fond memories of a dear friend who made this dessert for us with white peaches and blueberries. I decided this time around to make individual tarts rather than making the dessert in a pizza or jelly roll pan. The dessert has a sugar cookie base. You can make your own sugar cookie dough and cut out shapes or you can buy already prepared Pillsbury sugar cookie dough which is what I did. I baked the cookies the night before and baked them a little longer than recommended to help crisp them up so they wouldn’t get soggy. If you’re using a pizza or jelly roll pan, pat the dough (an 18 oz tube of sugar cookie dough) evenly into an ungreased pan and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Allow it to cool completely before moving on to the next step.

You can use whatever fruits you choose. I would recommend using fresh rather than previously frozen fruit. I used blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, and mandarine oranges. Or you can use white peaches and blueberries like my friend did. I liked the combination to be colorful.

Once the base has been baked and cooled prepare the next layer.

Ingredients:

8 oz package of cream cheese at room temperature

8 oz container of mascarpone cheese at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

8 oz container of coolwhip

1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all of the ingredients, cream together, and spread a generous spoonful on each cookie or distribute over the cookie base.

Next wash and pat your fruit dry. My blackberries and grapes were rather large so I cut those in half. Place the fruit on the cream filling.

Lastly I add a fruit juice glaze.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

3 T cornstarch

1 cup orange juice (I used orange mango)

1/4 cup pineapple juice

Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together in a small sauce pan. Add the juices and cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil and begins to thicken. Remove the glaze from the heat and allow it to cool completely before brushing it on the fruit. I use a little pastry brush. There you have it. A beautiful little sweet treat that you’d be proud to serve your guests.

The individual fruit tarts were a first for me but I think I will continue to make them this way in the future. While it’s a little fussier and more time consuming I think the presentation is best!

NOTE: If you are starting with 24 cookies half the cream filling and glaze are sufficient. You might just want to cut both recipes in half.

Rhubarb, Strawberry, Apple Crisp

June 28, 2015 / featherheadlady / 2 Comments

After making three batches of strawberry jam I had strawberries left and I decided to make a crisp with berries, rhubarb and apples. One of my dad’s and my daughter’s favorite pies is strawberry rhubarb so I know they have both loved this dessert. Easy to make and great served warm with some ice cream or fresh whipping cream.

Ingredients:

3 cups diced rhubarb

2 cups strawberries hulled and halved

1 cup peeled and diced apple

1 cup granulated sugar

3 T flour

zest of one lemon

1 tsp cinnamon

fresh grated nutmeg

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar packed

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large bowl combine fruit, granulated sugar, lemon zest and 3 T flour. Toss to combine and pour into an 8×10 baking dish.

In the same bowl you tossed the fruit around in add the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, and butter for the crisp and mix to combine.

Using your hands crumble the crisp ingredients over the fruit.

Bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes. The fruit should be bubbling and the crisp should be a golden brown.

No pictures of us enjoying this dessert. Shortly after it came out of the oven I covered it with foil, wrapped it in a bath towel and took it to a friend’s house for dessert. It was amazing if I do say so myself. My Dad and daughter would have been in dessert heaven. I whipped up some fresh cream and brought it along to top the crisp.

NOTE: I learned a simple and time saving tip for whipping cream from one of my many food magazines. If you have an immersion blender put the heavy cream and a little granulated sugar into a quart jar and after a few spins of the immersion blender you have perfect whipped cream. No cream splatter on the counter and easy to store in the fridge or transport to serve with dessert.