Strawberry Jam

For the past two years, my breakfast has always been coffee, a pair of toast with butter and STRAWBERRY jam. Call it a habit, routine, obsession, compulsion, fascination, fixation, enjoyment, or whatever but that's my brekky. Of course, my youngest son, David, has followed me. 

So, I thought of making my strawberry jam. This recipe was created with two considerations. First, I only have a small amount of strawberries (because I devoured the rest, very sweet). Second, I want to see how this adventure turns out before I make big batches.

Strawberry Jam

(Enough to fill a recycled bottle with 370g capacity)

Ingredients

330 g (about 1 1/4 pint baskets) fresh strawberries, leaves removed and sliced

1 Cup of sugar

2 Tbsp of fresh lemon juice

Zest of 1 lemon 

Procedure

Using a wide  10-12 inch skillet, put all the ingredients together. Bring the mixture to boil.

Lower the heat to medium for 15-20 minutes or until it thickens. 

Testing for the set (ref. Preserving by Oded Schwartz)
Wrinkle test: Pour a little hot jam on to a cold saucer and leave it for a few minutes to cool. Push the jam with a finger; if it wrinkles it has reached the setting point. 


There are two other methods namely using a sugar thermometer and doing a flake test. For my recipe, I used the wrinkle test. 

I like this recipe because it's not too sweet and there's a bit of tart taste from the lemon. I recommend to adjust the amount of lemon juice according to your preference. You can also omit the lemon zest.

Cultural Trivia: Brekky - means breakfast for our Aussie friends

Apple Pie

It was a stormy winter morning, I was so tempted to stay on the bed (drink my freshly brewed coffee and toast while reading). But I had so much energy waiting to burst and a promise to fulfill. I promised Carlos that I would bake Apple Pie for dessert tonight. 

I tried several Apple Pie recipes so far this is the family favorite.

Apple Pie 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/apple-pie-by-grandma-ople/detail.aspx

Ingredients

Original recipe makes 1 - 9 inch pie

 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie

 1/2 cup unsalted butter

 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

 1/4 cup water

 1/2 cup white sugar

 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer. 

2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.

3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Note: My oven has a fan so I dropped the temperature to 180 degrees C for the first 15 minutes then reduced it to 150 degrees C for another 25 minutes.

Recommendations:

• Toss the apples with about a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg
• Brush the bottom crust with egg whites to prevent having a soggy crust
• Mix the syrup with the apples instead of pouring it over the crust, but save enough to glaze it over the top crust