Gingerbread apple butter

While produce shopping to make my ginger pear butter, I also picked up a peck of Cortland apples to make apple butter. I had some fresh ginger left from the pear butter, but I didn't just want to make the same recipe with apples. So I thought, what else can I incorporate into the butter? Add molasses to ginger and you have classic gingerbread flavors! Gingerbread apple butter is the perfect fruit butter for the winter holidays.

 Gingerbread apple butter

4 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/2" thick pieces
2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses

Combine all ingredients in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Cook over medium heat until the pears begin to break down, helping them along with a potato masher if you wish. After about 30 minutes, reduce the heat to low and cook for about another hour. Puree in the pot with an immersion blender, or transfer in batches to a blender. Return to heat and continue to cook, if necessary, to desired consistency, which should be thick enough to mound on a spoon. Transfer to sterilized jars and process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes to make butter shelf stable, or allow butter to cool in jars and store in the refrigerator, treating as a perishable.

Makes 5-6 half pints. 

Ginger pear butter

I learned how to can using a water bath back in the spring, and now I'm hooked. Making jams and preserves is fun and rewarding, and I know what I'm giving everyone for Christmas this year! If you want to try your hand at making preserves, fruit butter is a great place to start. When you make jam, you have to worry about getting it to set properly, using the correct amount of pectin and cooking it for the right amount of time. Making butter is simpler, no pectin needed, you just cook it until you reach the consistency you want. To keep your precious butter in your pantry, you'll need to ladle it into sterilized jars, knock out the air bubbles, process it in a boiling water bath canner. Want more information on water bath canning? I picked up a book on small batch canning called Tart and Sweet, which has a great step-by-step section on canning basics and some tasty recipes. Also check out Food in Jars, an amazing blog and canning resource.

 













Ginger Pear Butter 
4 pounds pears, washed, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 ground cloves
1/2 cup honey

Combine all ingredients in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Cook over medium heat until the pears begin to break down, helping them along with a potato masher if you wish. After about 30 minutes, reduce the heat to low and cook for about another hour. Puree in the pot with an immersion blender, or transfer in batches to a blender. Return to heat and continue to cook, if necessary, to desired consistency, which should be thick enough to mound on a spoon. Transfer to sterilized jars and process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes to make butter shelf stable, or allow butter to cool in jars and store in the refrigerator, treating as a perishable.

Makes 4-5 half pints.

Black Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

Black Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
low carb, sugar free, gluten free

2 1/2 cups almond flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/4 cup Swerve granulated erythritol
1 egg or 1/4 cup egg substitute
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons sugar free black raspberry jam (recipe follows)

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter with Swerve. Add agave, egg, and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Add almond flour and salt, mix just until combined. Put bowl in refrigerator for 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle.
Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop about 1 tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball with your hands. Place balls of dough on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Use your thumb to make an indentation in the dough. Fill indentations with about 1/4 teaspoon jam. Bake 12-16 minutes or until golden brown and set. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will firm up as they cool.
Makes about 28 cookies.

Black raspberry jam
sugar free, gluten free

3 pints black raspberries (or red raspberries for regular raspberry jam), picked over and rinsed
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon liquid stevia extract
2 teaspoons Pomona's pectin powder
2 teaspoons calcium water (calcium powder included in Pomona's pectin package, follow package directions to make calcium water)

In a large (4 cup) glass measure or other flat bottomed bowl, crush the berries with a potato masher.

Force about 1/2 of the crushed berries through fine sieve to remove the seeds. You may also strain all of the crushed berries through the sieve for seedless jam, but it will result in less finished jam. In a small glass measuring cup or small bowl, combine agave, stevia, and pectin powder and stir thoroughly. Set aside. Pour crushed berries into a 8 quart saucepan. Add calcium water and stir thoroughly. Heat over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until the berry mixture comes to a full boil. Add agave mixture to berry mixture, and bring back to a full boil. Remove from heat.
 Ladle into prepared, sterilized half pint jars and process in a water bath for 10 minutes to make jam shelf stable for up to 1 year until opening. For more information on water bath canning, visit the USDA's complete guide to home canning  If you do not want to water bath process your jam, you can keep it in the refrigerator and treat it as a perishable.
Makes 4 half pints (or 2 half pints of seedless jam)