Showing posts with label Gifts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gifts. Show all posts
Our blackberries are coming fast and furious on our canes at the moment. They seem to be a bit earlier this year than before, but I say that every year. Blackberry Liqueur is something I have always wanted to try making and so this year I thought I would actually do it.
It was actually relatively easy to make. You simply mash a quantity of clean berries and then leave them to macerate for a couple of days with a bottle of wine.
It says to use a medium bodied wine. I looked that up and a medium bodied wine would be a Merlot, Shiraz, Tempranillo or Nebbiolo. I wouldn't really know one wine from another as we are not wine drinkers really, but I used a Shiraz.
I do know that in cooking they say you shouldn't use any wine that you would not drink, and so I used a moderately priced one. Not the most expensive, but not the cheapest either!
You clean your berries really well, removing and discarding any leaves or stems, etc. and then you mash them in a large non-reactive container. I used a large glass bowl. That's when you add the wine.
Give it all a good stir and then leave it to macerate for 48 hours. Cover it of course so nothing falls into it. I used a clean tea towel.
At the end of that time you strain the juice twice. Once through a fine mesh sieve to remove all the seeds, etc. and then again through a bit of cheesecloth to make sure absolutely no debris remains and you have a nice clear liquid. Any solids left behind might go mouldy, so you really need to be careful there are none left.
After that you heat it gently with a quantity of sugar, until the sugar melts . . . and then you add some alchohol. Vodka or gin. I used vodka.
At that point it is ready to decant into clean and sterile bottles, ready to seal and store in a dark place, ready for gifting, or keeping depending on your religious affinity.
As with most of these things, the longer they sit the better they get, or so I am told. I did share a bottle with my next door neighbor and she thought it was quite nice!
I call that a win!
I used Kilner clip top square bottles, and filled five of them.
Very pretty and jewel-like. Very festive. I suspect it will be really nice by the time Christmas rolls around.
Homemade Blackberry Liqueur
Yield: 1 scant litre (35 oz)
prep time: 48 hourcook time: 8 Mtotal time: 48 H & 8 M
This sweet and fruity liqueur is amazingly easy to make. It is also known as Creme d Mure. It would make the perfect gift for all your friends who drink alcohol this Christmas and is the perfect thing to make from some of that Blackberry Glut.
Ingredients:
- 5 cups blackberries, picked through, de-stemmed and washed (700g)
- 26 1/2 ounces of a medium bodied red wine (750cl bottle, I used Shiraz)
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (300g)
- 1/2 cup of vodka or gin (120ml)
Instructions:
- Measure your berries into a large glass or other non-reactive bowl. Mash them with a potato masher and then pour the bottle of wine over top. Cover with a clean towel and leave to macerate for 48 hours in a cool dark place. Give them a bit of a mash every now and then.
- When 48 hours is finished, strain everything through a mesh sieve to remove all of the berries and debris. Strain again through some cheese cloth to make sure you have a clean juice without anything extra in it.
- Pour the juice into a large saucepan. Add the sugar. Heat gently to a simmer and leave to warm over low heat for about 8 minutes, until all the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the alcohol.
- Leave to cool completely and then decant into clean sterile bottles. Store in a cool dark place. If your bottles are sterile it should keep for a very long time, if not then keep an eye on it and use it within a year.
I labeled my jars with the Innoveem Labels for Jars.
They worked really well. These are a nice size and perfect for this purpose. I have used these before and I can attest that you really can remove them without any sticky residue being left behind and they are very easy to write on. I think all of the shapes are quite attractive!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: theenglishkitchen@mail.com
Most of the year I am not much of a hot drink lover. I know lots of people can't live without their tea or coffee, or hot chocolate, but its just not something I crave every day. I used to own my own coffee shop when my kids were small, and I confess . . . . I did drink a lot of coffee back then.
But vanity caused me to stop drinking it about 30 years or so ago. I didn't like the way it stained the teeth, tea as well, and I couldn't afford to go to the Dentist very often, and so I just stopped drinking it. Then of course I joined the Church of Jesus Christ in the year 1999, and we have a health law called the Word of Wisdom and we don't drink tea or coffee as a part of that anyways.
Latter Day Saints do love their hot chocolate however, but as a person who has never liked chocolate milk or hot chocolate, that doesn't do it for me either! I have the occasional one, but its not something I go out of my way for.
Long about this time of year however, I start craving this Strawberry Hot Cocoa. It is a homemade mix . I got the recipe from a Gooseberry Patch book quite a number of years ago now called Autumn in the Country and is attributed to Tammy Moody from Thomasville, GA.
I just love the Gooseberry Patch Recipe books. Each one is like sitting down with an old friend. All the recipes in them are pretty good. I've never tried one I didn't fall in love with and this is one of those!
Its very easy to make and so delicious, using only 4 basic ingredients. Non-dairy coffee creamer, strawberry drink mix, powdered milk and sugar. It does make quite a bit, but that's no problem as we gobble it up during these colder months.
I like it so much more than not cocoa, firstly because its not chocolate, and secondly because it melts instantly into the boiling water in your mug. It doesn't clump or leave any powdery residue. In short its perfection!
Of course sometimes as an additional treat, and when I need an extra pick me up, I will top each serving with a small handful of pink and white mini marshmallows.
So lovely and indulgent . . . so simple . . . perfect for biscuit dunking!
I really do love it. It has a nice mild strawberry flavour and beautiful consistency.
It is also perfect for this time of year to make as gifts for friends and family. You can mix it up pronto and divide it into clean jars for giving.
Always adding of course a tag which give instructions on how to use it. You can make it a gift on it's own or you can pop it into a basket with a few other goodies for giving.
Perhaps a really festive Christmas mug, filled with a bag of marsh mallows, a cute tin of shortbread biscuits, a nice plaque that they can hang on the wall, etc. Anything festive goes. You can let your gift-giving imagination go wild here!
Strawberry Hot Cocoa Mix
Yield: About 6 cups of milk
This is my absolute favourite hot drink in the winter. I keep it in a tightly covered jar near my kettle so that it is ready to hand when I am craving something creamy and hot. It also makes a nice gift for the holidays, neighbours, hostess gift, etc.
ingredients:
- 725g powdered milk (25.6 oz pkg.)
- 455g powdered strawberry drink mix (16 oz pkg.)
- 170g powdered non-dairy coffee creamer (6 oz jar)
- 195g caster sugar (1 cup)
- mini marshmallows to serve (optional)
instructions:
How to cook Strawberry Hot Cocoa Mix
- Whisk all of the ingredients together until well combined. Store in a covered airtight container. To use place 240ml/1 cup of boiling water in a mug and stir in 3 to 4 heaped TBS of the mix. Delicious! Marshmallows on top are optional but very nice!
Oh I do so love this time of year when I can begin digging out all of my festive dishes and decorations!! Don't you? I confess to being especially fond of festive salt and pepper shakers! I have about 4 different sets!!
I wish you could all smell my house right now! It smells like heaven, all cinnamony and sweet! That's because I have been busy making a Hostess Gift today!
Whenever we are invited to someones house for a meal I like to bring a Hostess Gift along as a thank you! We are going to our friend's Tina and Tony's for lunch today and so I thought I would make something special for them to enjoy.
The last time we went I took along a loaf of my Irish Tea Brack. Oh, I know I could bring some After 8 Mints or some such, but I think a homemade gift is so much more personal!
I was going through my Big Blue Binder and this recipe for Pecan Crunch Snack Mix caught my eye and I happened to have everything in the house to make it. For those of you who don't know my Big Blue Binder is a recipe binder that I have been collecting recipes in throughout my life, since I was a small girl.
It is bulging with recipes gleaned from magazines, family and friends throughout the years and it has travelled all around the world with me. It is filled with the best of the best, and this is one of those recipes!
A few are clippings, but most are handwritten. I used to have beautiful handwriting. Not so much anymore. I have gotten out of practise. This is one of the hand written ones!
I have not noted the source of the recipe, but strongly suspect it was taken from an add for Shreddies breakfast cereal!
It makes for the perfect snack mixture and Hostess Gift. Sweet and salty . . .
Crisp and crunchy . . . with plenty of sugared pecans, toasted cereal and sweet stick dried cranberries . . .
And throughout the scent and flavour of cinnamon and honey . . . tantalisingly rich and wonderful . . .
It makes enough for two jars to give away and a small container to keep and is as easy as stirring together some cereal, nuts, cinnamon and cranberries . . .
and cooking a sweet concoction to toss them with, prior to spreading it all out on a baking sheet and toasting it in the oven for about half an hour. Easy Peasy!
Yield: 6 1/2 cups
Pecan Crunch Snack Mix
One from my big blue binder. I am sure I copied it from an ad in a magazine for Shreddies cereal. Delicious addictive! This makes great hostess gifts as well.
ingredients:
- 520g shreddies cereal (4 cups)
- 120g coarsely broken pecan nuts
- 50g dried cranberries (1/2 cup)
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 50g soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)
- 60g butter (1/4 cup)
- 60ml corn syrup, golden syrup or honey (1/4 cup)
- 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
instructions:
How to cook Pecan Crunch Snack Mix
- Preheat the oven to 120*C/250*F/ gas mark 2. Butter a large baking sheet with a rim really well. Measure the cereal, pecans and cinnamon into a bowl and toss together.
- Combine the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly over medium high heat. Once it comes to the boil. allow it to boil for 2 minutes without stirring. Take off heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda. It will foam up. Pour this over the cereal mixture in the bowl and toss to coat using a spoon. (The mixture will be very hot so don't touch it with your hands!!) Spread out on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, stirring it every 8 to 10 minutes until crisp and lightly coated. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
This is so good I am glad that I am giving most of it away. Its far too dangerous to have around for very long! I hope that Tina and Tony enjoy it!
Up Tomorrow: Maple & Spice Corn Bread
I wanted to make something special for the children of our Ministering brothers (father and son, church thing) for Christmas. They are always so good at visiting us.
They are a lovely family. Their dad was coming over yesterday to pick up our tropical fish which we have re-homed with them and so I thought I would make them some goodies to enjoy over the holidays as well.
I had seen melted snowmen bark all over the internet and so decided to make some for them. It was really simple to make. You just melt white chocolate and spread it out on a prepped pan . . .
I used Dr Oetker white chocolate for bakers, broken into squares. (Melted in the microwave according to the package directions.)
Add halved mini peanut butter cups for the hats . . . some googly eyes . . .
Black candy balls for the buttons. (I picked out the dark balls from the Dr Oetker Midnight magic cake decs)
Yellow and orange candy strands (Again I picked them out of a bottle of mixed candy strands from Dr Oetker) for the noses . . .
And broken pretzel sticks for the arms. In between I scattered white snowflake candies, then popped the tray in the fridge to chill.
For the Rudolf bark, I used Dr Oetker milk chocolate for bakers, broken up . . . which I melted in the microwave and spread out on the prepped pan.
Make sure you don't overheat your chocolate or it will seize. I do it for one minute, then let it sit, stir, and if it needs more then reheat at 10 second intervals. Just what the package says.
For the antlers I used white chocolate coated smallish pretzels. You can easily cut them in half without breaking them by using a sharp knife and carefully sawing down through the centres.
I put the googly candy eyes on first . . . and then I placed the antlers above, trying to place them with the cut edges outwards, rounded edges in the middle/bottom . . .
Don't look too closely as I messed up a few by putting them on backwards, lol
I used red smarties for the noses. I actually bought tube of "Rudolf noses" to use for this. They worked perfectly.
You could use any kind of red candy that you can find so long as it is size appropriate.
Once again, in between I scattered some candy snowflakes, which really added a lovely festive touch and a bit of contrast with the darkness of the chocolate.
Altogether they turned out really nicely. I think they did at any rate, and the children's father was oohing over them when he came to pick up the fish. I really think that the children will love them. I can't imagine any child not enjoying something like this!
Yield: 2 different kinds
Chocolate Christmas Bark
Children love this. Its fun to make together. There are two kinds. Melting snowman using white chocolate and Rudolf using milk chocolate. This also makes fabulous gifts!
ingredients:
For the Melting Snowmen:
300g white chocolate, created for bakers (26% cocoa butter) (10 1/2 ounces)
6 mini Reese's peanut butter cups, carefully cut in half
24 candy eyes
Orange or yellow sugar strands
(you will need to pick them out of a container of mixed strands)
36 small dark navy candy ball decs
Pretzel sticks
small candy snowflake decs
For the Rudolf:
300g milk chocolate for bakers ( with 35% cocoa solids) (10 1/2 ounces)
24 candy eyes
12 white chocolate covered pretzels, carefully cut in half through the middle
12 red smarties
small candy snowflake decs
instructions:
Line two separate baking trays with baking paper or
waxed paper or aluminium foil. I like to make one batch first and then
the other batch after.
waxed paper or aluminium foil. I like to make one batch first and then
the other batch after.
Melt the white chocolate
for the snowmen in the microwave according to the package directions,
in a microwave appropriate bowl. Pour onto one of the baking sheets and
spread out to a 1/3 inch thick layer. Place all of the snowman parts
onto the chocolate spreading them out and building one at a time. The
half peanut butter cup is the hat, then the candy eyes, a sugar strand
nose, navy candy ball buttons and broken pretzel sticks for the arms.
Repeat until you have used them all up. Scatter snowflakes in between.
Place in the refrigerator to chill while you make the other one.
for the snowmen in the microwave according to the package directions,
in a microwave appropriate bowl. Pour onto one of the baking sheets and
spread out to a 1/3 inch thick layer. Place all of the snowman parts
onto the chocolate spreading them out and building one at a time. The
half peanut butter cup is the hat, then the candy eyes, a sugar strand
nose, navy candy ball buttons and broken pretzel sticks for the arms.
Repeat until you have used them all up. Scatter snowflakes in between.
Place in the refrigerator to chill while you make the other one.
Melt
the milk chocolate for the reindeer in the microwave according to the
package directions, in a microwave appropriate bowl. Pour onto the
other prepared baking sheet and spread out to a 1/3 inch thick layer.
Build your Rudolf's as follows and one at a time. Put the googly eyes
on, followed by a red smarties nose just below. Place two pretzel halves
(rounded side in and loop towards the eyes) on top to resemble
antlers. Repeat until you have used all the ingredients. Scatter small
snowflakes in between. Place in the refrigerator to chill.
the milk chocolate for the reindeer in the microwave according to the
package directions, in a microwave appropriate bowl. Pour onto the
other prepared baking sheet and spread out to a 1/3 inch thick layer.
Build your Rudolf's as follows and one at a time. Put the googly eyes
on, followed by a red smarties nose just below. Place two pretzel halves
(rounded side in and loop towards the eyes) on top to resemble
antlers. Repeat until you have used all the ingredients. Scatter small
snowflakes in between. Place in the refrigerator to chill.
Carefully
break into pieces, using a knife to guide the breaks. If you are
giving as gifts, leave whole and present on a board wrapped in
cellophane and tied with a ribbon.
break into pieces, using a knife to guide the breaks. If you are
giving as gifts, leave whole and present on a board wrapped in
cellophane and tied with a ribbon.
Created using The Recipes Generator
If you are keeping this you can break it up. I find it best to mark lines with a sharp knife first and then break it on the lines. If you are gifting this, pop it onto a small cutting board, wrap in cellophane and tie up with some coloured ribbons. Very festive!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
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