Peach Vanilla Bean Jam

Vanilla Bean Peach Jam

I started making jam a couple years ago when my inlaws sent me a bunch of fruit. However I had always made jam using the pectin that you can buy in the store and the recipes they provided. This makes pretty good jam, but I have found that we end up with too much and it is a little sweet for me - tasting more like sugar sometimes than the fruit. So this year I decided to make jam without adding pectin. My first attempt (here) didn’t go so well and I ended up with fruit butter almost. But I kept going and ended up with this great jam from Smells like Home.


Ingredients:
3 lbs pealed, pitted and roughly chopped peaches
3 ½ cups sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved and seeded
1 lemon (juice of)

Directions:
1. In a large heavy bottomed pot combine all of the ingredients. If you don’t like chunks of fruit in your jam I suggest mashing the peaches a little.
2. Cook the jam on a slow simmer until the temperature reaches 120F (this could take a couple of hours depending on the sugar content and amount of juice in your peaches).
3. Remove the vanilla bean pods.
4. At this time I used an immersion blender to get rid of any chunks, but this is not necessary.
5. Ladle the jam into hot sterile jars and top with lid and ring.
6. Process if necessary by boiling for 10 - 15 min.
7. Check to insure jars sealed, if they didn’t just pop it into the fridge and eat it within the next few weeks.



Reviews:
Such pretty jam and it made the kitchen smell fantastic. It also tastes great, and you can really taste the peaches rather than just sugar that I find with most jams.

Mini Pie in a Jar!

Upon looking for things to do with my peaches, I came across and interesting idea on Eating Well Anywhere for Pie in a Jar and Crisp in a jar. While the crisp in a jar looked really easy, I know that the people in my house are bigger fans of pie, so I thought I would try those. I checked out the links and liked the instructions on Lloyd and Lauren.

I immediately went on the search for the right jar – we had some of the 4 oz jars kicking around, but those were not big enough the stomachs I feed, so it was off to the store. I managed to find some nice low, widemouth 8 oz jars that don’t narrow at the neck. Perfect!

I came back the house and proceeded to put O to work pealing and slicing peaches (I figure if he is going to enjoy all the pies, he could at least help a few of the 60lbs of peaches I ended up dealing with this year). As he was busy with the peaches I made pie crust. I happened to be at my parents house while trying to do this, and of course never thought to look and see if they had lard, or what they had for recipes. They had Crisco in the house and so I simply used the recipe off box. I don’t know that I will be using it again, as it wasn’t my favourite to work with – we will see how it turns out after baking.

Then I made the pie filling:

6 cups of sliced peaches
¼ cup brown sugar
2-3 tsp Cinnamon

Mix together, and place in Pie tin.

I put the bottom crust into the each of 6 jars, then filled the jars with pie filling.


Once the filling was in, I topped each pie with a circle of crust and crimped the edges. After putting the tops on the pies (and cutting a vent) I put the lids on the jars and into the freezer they went.

To bake:
Let me the pie thaw some before putting it in the oven – if the jars go from extreme cold to extreme heat, they could shatter. Remember to take the lid off before baking.

Bake the pie at 400F for 30 to 40 mintues (I am not sure how long with is going to be, as I haven’t baked one yet). The crust should be a lovely golden colour.


Reviews:
These were fun to make and turned out really cute. I am looking forward to seeing how well they bake. Due to the rearranging of the pantry and arrival of new freezers this week, it may be a while before I actually bake one.

Freezer Peach Pie Filling

Owen loves peach pie in all sorts of variety, he especially loves to have pies in the middle of winter. I know that you could just go out and buy a can of peaches or pie filling – but what fun is that when I have more than enough peaches at home right now? I love the ease of just taking something out of the freezer as well, so I often make a few pie fillings with the fruit I get in the summer and pop them in the freezer.

Ingredients/materials:
4 to 5 cups peeled, pitted and sliced peaches (This was the amount of fruit that looked good to me in the pie plate, you might want more or less, use how much you like)
½ cup sugar (if you have really sweet fruit you may want to decrease this)
¼ cup flour
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1.Place the peach slices in a bowl and sprinkle with the sugar, flour, cinnamon and lemon juice. Gently mix until everything is well mixed.
2.Place a Ziploc freezer back inside a pie plate and spoon the mixture into the bag, filling the plate.
3.Squeeze the air out of the bag and seal. Put the pie plate with the bag of fruit in the freezer. The pie plate can be removed after the filling has frozen.

When you want to bake the pie:
1.Remove the pie from the freezer, and place in an unbaked crust. Cover with the top crust and seal the edges. Cut vents in the top of the crust.
2.Bake at 375F about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours – the crust should be brown, and the filling bubbling in the center.

Note: A lot of recipes say to wrap the pie filling in tin/aluminum foil, I tried that last year, and while it kept the fillings fresh, it was a pain to peal off before baking. More than once, I had to sit with a fork and pick out pieces that had ripped off. So this year I am trying the bag route, I figure they work really well for all my freezer meals so hopefully they will keep my pie fillings tasty.

Peach Chipotle BBQ Sauce

I tried some of this at a craft fair last year and loved it, however the price was pretty steep for buying regularly (especially if I was going to have to get it shipped) so when I got this year's peaches I decided to try making my own. After a little surfing I found this Peach Chipotle BBQ Sauce recipe, and changed it a little for my own tastes. What I did is below.

Ingredients:
6 cups of chopped fresh peaches (pealed and pitted)
1 small to medium onion
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp Chili ketchup
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 chipotle chile in adobo
1 tbsp miniced garlic
1 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

How to:
1. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.
2. Transfer the mixture to a pot and simmer on low heat until thick (use your own judgment here, I like a thick sauce so I let it simmer for a while).
3. Enjoy!

This was great, sweet with a little kick at the end. We had it on steak that night and everyone loved it.

Peach Salsa

Every year I get a few pound of peaches (alright, it is a bit more than a few, whatever my mother in law feels like sending at the time, and that is usually 40 or more lbs) and I am always looking at ways to deal with them. This year I stumbled upon Peach Salsa on the kraft Canada website while looking for something completely unrelated. I thought it was an interesting idea, and upon talking to people who have tried some before, I decided it would be fun to make.

I have made some changes to the original (which can be viewed here) to suit my tastes a little better.

Ingredients:

4 cups finely chopped peeled peaches
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped red peppers
2 medium to large jalapeño peppers, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1/4 cup white vinegar
3-3/4 cups sugar, divided (1/4 and 3 ½)
1 box CERTO Light Pectin Crystals
8 1 cup (1/2 pint) jars with lids, sterilized.
Directions:
1.Combine the first 8 ingredients in a large saucepan, and set aside.
2.Combine ¼ cup of sugar and the box of pectin crystals. Add this to the peach mixture.
3.Make sure the mixture is well blended and bring to a full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly.
4.Add the remaining 3 ½ cups sugar, bring back to a full roiling boil (the boiling doesn’t stop when stirred) and boil for 1 minute. Remembering to stir constantly.
5.Remove from the heat and skim off any foam that may have formed. Let sit for 5 minutes to cool slightly (this will help prevent the fruit from floating to the top of the jar).
6.Pour into sterile jars (put them in the dishwasher/ boiling water), filling to 1/4” of the top. Seal with sterile 2 piece lids and let sit to come to room temperature.

Reviews:
This was delicious! It is sweet with a little bit of a kick. I haven’t tried eating it plain, but we tried it on grilled chicken and it was awesome. I am so happy that have a few jars of this, it will be like eating a little bit of summer this winter.

Peach Jam

I had tons of peaches, that were getting pretty soft. I didn’t feel like slicing all of them for canning or making pie fillings so I decided to try some peach jam. I used the recipe out of the certo pectin box that I had and away I went.

Ingredients:
4 cups chopped peaches
½ cup lemon juice
7 ½ cup granulated sugar
2 pouches of Certo Liquid pectin
8-9 1 cup (1/2 pint) sterile jars and lids

Directions:
1.Combine the fruit, lemon juice and sugar in a pot.
2.Bring the fruit to a hard boil and let boil for 1 minute while stirring.
3.Remove the pot from heat and stir in the liquid pectin. Stir and skim off the foam for about 5 mintues (this lets the jam cool a little and thicken so all the fruit doesn’t float to the top).
4.Pour the jam into sterilized warm jars, up to about ¼” from the rims. Place the lids on and leave sit at room temperature to cool and set.
5.Check the lids to insure they have sealed – press gently in the middle of the lid, if it moves up and down your jar is not sealed. It is still alright as long as you put it in the fridge and use it right away.

Reviews:
This jam is a lovely warm yellow and looks awesome. I haven’t tried it yet, as I have open jars of blueberry and cherry jelly and strawberry rhubarb jam already in the fridge. However the little “spills” while filling the jars tasted great!

Peach Tart

Upon flipping through Baking: From my home to yours, I found an easy looking tart (Parisian Apple Tartlet, pg 319), and decided to put my own twist on it. I did try it with the apple, and it was alright, but I wasn't a huge fan of the texture of the large chunks of apple and decided to try it with a softer fruit - peaches!


The following recipe will make 4 tarlets
Ingredients:
1/2 box of frozen puff pastry (I used tenderflake)
2 peaches pealed, with pit removed
Light brown sugar to taste
2 tsp butter
Cinnamon (optional)

Directions:
1. Thaw the puff pastry, and roll out to about 1/8th of an inch thick. Cut circles out of the dough, you want the circles to be about 4", this may need to be larger if you are using large peachs. You need to have the circles have at least 1/4" boarder around the peach (more is better).
2. Cut each peach half in quarters and place in the center of the pastry circle.
3. Sprinkle the peach with brown sugar (the riper the peaches, the less sugar should be needed), and place 1/2 tsp of butter on top. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired (I did this and it was great)
4. Bake on a lined baking sheet at 400F (center rack) for 25 mintues.

Reviews: These were really easy to make and very cute. Everyone enjoyed them.

Pie Donuts (Sorry for taking so long with this one)

Alright, so I am really late on putting this up, but by the amount of interest my simple mention of these delightful treat created, I thought I would still do the post.

I stumbled across these on CakeSpy one day, and decided I had to try making them. I don’t eat cooked fruit, but they looked like fun. Now they had made a banana filled Pie Donut and while that was great, I know my H has a soft spot for peaches, and seeing as how I still had some packets of frozen peaches from the large peach deliver summer 08, I decided to try peach donuts!

I used the same recipe for the pie dough as Cakespy, and it worked well (I did have to add a little more liquid to get a rollable consistency).

Filling:
1 can of peach slices drained (I used a packet of frozen peaches I had prepared myself, but it is the same)
Cinnamon to taste (I used about 1 tsp)

Cut the peaches into small cubes, this can be done with a fork and doing a rough mash of the slices. You still want some small chunks, not a puree.

Mix in the cinnamon, and leave sit while you roll out the dough.

Donuts:
The recipe can be found here.

I rolled out the dough, and then cut it into strips about 7cm wide for you Canadians (My ruler was in cm, but I think that is about 1.5 inches), and experimented with different lengths. I found the shorter ones worked best, as longer ones made donuts that were big in size, but floppy as they were a little skinny.

Next fill with you filling:

Don’t add too much or you won’t be able to close the dough around it.

Close the dough around the filling wetting the edges of the dough so it sticks together and pull around into a circle.



Next Deep fry the donut until brown and crispy. Drain on a paper towel.



I topped mine with a simple vanilla icing.



Mine don’t look as pretty as Cakespy’s, but everyone really like them and I am getting asked all the time when I am going to make more now, by people who have had them and people wanting to try them. They were less work than I thought going in and fun to do, but not something I am willing to do on a regular basis.

Peaches and Cream Pie

Well the actual recipe I found was "Award WinningPeaches and Cream Pie" by Debbi Borsick, but seeing as how I changed the recipe a little, and I have won no prizes, I didn't think it fair to keep the Award Winning.

Anyways, I had a ton of peaches to deal with (and still have a few more), so what is the first thing you think of when your peaches are getting ripe on you - Peach Pie! I wanted to do something fun with this one, I knew I would get sick of them soon, and who doesn't like peaches and cream. The recipe had some great review and looked easy enough, so I hauled my Hubs to the grocery store and then got cooking.

Now, this is not a traditional pie crust, but I have to say that it is pretty tasty. It isn't what you think of though when you think of traditional peach pie.

Peaches and Cream "Pie"

"Crust"
1 box (non instant) vanilla pudding mix
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp butter
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt

Filling:
~26 ounces of fresh peaches, pealed and sliced

Topping:
8 ounce block of cream cheese
1/2 cup white sugar
Any juice left from the peaches

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease the sides of a 10inch deep pie plate.
2. Mix together the pudding mix, flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in the egg, milk and butter. Beat at medium to high for 2 minutes before pouring into the pie plate.
3. Arrange the peaches over the batter.
4. Cream the cream cheese until fluffly, then add in the sugar and up to 3Tbsp of the peach juice. Spoon this mixture over the peaches.
5. Sprinkle the top with sugar and cinnamon ( I don't know the proportions I used or how much, as I have a premixed shaker in my cupboard I use to top stuff).
6. Bake in the oven for 30-35 mintues until the top is golden.
7. Allow to cool and chill in the fridge slightly before serving.

Review:
Hubs loves this, it is one of the few food that has been called "great" in a while (high praise from the man with no discriminating taste - he will eat pretty much anything). He has not gotten sick of it yet, even though last night he said "I never want to see another peach". When asked if that included this pie - he quickly said that the pie could stay!