Weekend Cooking: Jam Drops

We are big fans of Bake Off in this house, and it doesn't really matter if we are talking about the British version, the Australian version, the Celebrity Comic Relief version or even the professional baker version (Creme de la Creme)

There are many reasons to enjoy it. Unlike so many other reality TV shows there aren't any manufactured rivalries (I'm looking at you My Kitchen Rules) and there genuinely seems to be a great camaraderie between a whole group of people who have a common interest in baking.

Over the years, there have been countless occasions where I have watched an episode and thought I would like to try making that, but until this recipe, I have never actually had enough courage to actually give it a go.

I haven't made a lot of jam. I did make some a couple of years ago for this recipe, but other than that one exception, it isn't something I have done. this recipe also had a couple of other firsts for me. I have never ever purchased figs before, let alone cooked with them, and I don't think I have ever actually bought vanilla pods and scraped the beans out of them. Normally I would use vanilla extract instead.

The biscuits themselves were delicious, and I am totally going to use this recipe in future for other variations, and the fig jam was really good as well, although we did have a lot left over which never actually got eaten but never mind.

Jam Drops

Fig jam

300g fresh figs (about 7-8)
110g caster sugar
1 lemon, finely grated rind & 2 tbs juice

Dough

100g chilled unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
1 lemon, finely grated rind
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon baking powder
250g plain flour
Pinch Australian pink salt flakes

Decoration

Pure icing sugar, for dusting

1. Pre-heat oven to 160°C fan-forced.

2. For the fig jam: Remove and discard stem from the figs. Roughly chop figs and place into a small chopper attachment and blend with stick blender until smooth. Transfer mixture to a bowl and combine with sugar, lemon rind and juice. Cover with cling film and stand until ready to use (about 10 minutes).

3.For the biscuit dough: Combine butter, sugar, lemon rind and vanilla bean seeds in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until white and fluffy. Add egg and egg yolk, beating well and scrapping the bowl to make sure all is incorporated evenly.

4. Meanwhile, sift dry ingredients together twice. Turn the mixer to the lowest speed and add the dry mixture and beat until dough just comes together. Scrape dough onto bench and bring together, place in a bowl and rest, covered, in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

5. To make the jam:  Place fig mixture into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, cook, stirring continuously for 4-5 minutes on a medium-low heat until mixture thickens, being careful of mixture spitting (to at least 98°C). Remove from heat and push through a sieve placed over a bowl, let cool at room temperature, cover until needed.

6. To bake the jam drops:  Line 2 oven trays with baking paper. Divide dough into 24, roll into balls and place among prepared trays. Make a little well in the centre of the ball to make a hole (pressing down slightly with your finger or end of wooden spoon and making a 2cm hole). Fill hole with ¼-½ teaspoon jam.

7. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked.

8. Transfer cooked biscuits to cooling rack to cool slightly, top up with ¼ teaspoon of jam, sprinkle with icing sugar and place on a rectangle serving plate.


I will confess that I used Himalayan Pink salt and didn't put on a rectangle serving plate! Shocking I know!!

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.

Weekend Cooking: A Profusion of Peaches

We recently went for lunch at a family member's house and they were talking about how productive their fruit trees were. As inevitably happens in such circumstances we were offered some to take home. Now, when she said would you like some peaches and a zucchini to take home, I kind of expected to get half a dozen or so, but instead we ended up with two full shopping bags of peaches, and a giant zucchini. We decided pretty early on to do stuffed zucchini but it did mean that suddenly we needed to find things to do with so many peaches.

Thank goodness for the internet as I found a recipe that I wanted to try pretty much straight away, but then when I was talking to someone at work they said how about grilling peaches, so today I am posting both recipes!

In the end, the ideas themselves were great but the peaches, whilst heading towards overripe, weren't all that sweet, but I am keen to try both recipes again, especially the grilled peach one.



Peach Clafoutis 

2cups peeled peach slices (about 4 peaches)
2⁄3 cup milk
1egg
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla
1⁄ 4teaspoon nutmeg
1pinch salt
confectioners' sugar(optional)

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 9-inch pie plate. Arrange the peaches in a single layer.

Combine all other ingredients and mix well. Pour mixture over peaches.

Bake until puffed and golden, about 30 minutes.

Sprinkle with confectioners sugar if desired. Cut into wedges.

Serve with ice cream or frozen yogurt, or in our case, it will always be cream and lots of it!!

Grilled Peaches

1 peach per person
1 teaspoon neutral-flavoured cooking oil per peach
1 tablespoon brown sugar per peach, optional (approx measurement)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon per peach, optional (approx measurement)


Prepare a gas, barbecue or charcoal grill to medium heat.

Cut the peaches in half and pit them. If you want to add cinnamon and/or sugar, grill entire peach halves; otherwise, you can cut them into wedges, if you like. 

Lightly brush the the peaches with the oil, being particularly aware of coating the cut sides well.
Set the oiled peaches on the medium hot grill. 

Cook the peaches until grill marks form, turning as necessary to mark all cut sides for the best presentation. Turn the peach halves over, sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar, if using. Cook until the peaches are tender, but not falling apart, about 8 minutes total.

Serve grilled peaches hot, warm, or at room temperature.

I did also see a recipe where you mixed butter into the sugar and cinnamon and smeared that over the surface of the peach which could also have been good!
 

So, what would you have done with a profusion of peaches?

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.