Browsing Tag

fruits-and-berries

Breakfast/Brunch, General Reference/Tutorial, Sweet Snacks

2026 Strawberry Jam Varieties: Strawberry Vanilla Paste Jam and Strawberry Honey Plum Jam

As long time followers will know, every year (even through the pandemic) I go strawberry picking. I’ve actually been going strawberry picking every year since I was a little girl — my first real “commercial endeavor” so to speak, and my sister and I would always sell them from a stand on the end of the road and that would be our spending money for the rest of the summer. In the intervening decades, both my sister and I started making our own varieties of jams from the strawberry harvest and this year is no different. I made one variation that I make many of the years — a strawberry vanilla (very popular) and this year, also tried a Strawberry Honey Plum Jam, which is also delicious…. a little earthier but still very vibrant.

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Breakfast/Brunch, Sweet Snacks

Strawberry Almond Muffins with Strawberry Glaze

Heya! So, it’s been almost a month since I posted anything and I could give you all sorts of excuses on why, but we’ll leave it as “I needed a break”. While I am generally a hater of the month of January, the end of May to the end of June comes is a close second as bad in the mental health department. Suffice it to say, I AM BACK! I went strawberry picking so here is the first of the Strawberry recipes: Strawberry Almond Muffins with Strawberry Glaze. They are light and delicious and very strawberry-y. Just be careful not to add too many berries, lest the muffins get all mushy!

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Cookies, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Lingonberry Rhubarb Crumble Bars

As many of you know, food is my “language”. For the good times and the bad, happy and sad, I often use food to remember things. And these crumble bars are no different really. Yes, just crumble bars but they are lingonberry and rhubarb. You see, a couple of weeks ago, another dear friend passed away. She was from Sweden, so that is the lingonberry connection. Rhubarb had been an inside joke of our for many years — she had once had a dream in February, that I had an over-abundance of rhubarb (in February? In New England?) so ever since then, I would make her rhubarb treats and learned to keep some in my freezer. This recipe, anything with cardamom and the Marabou brand of Swedish chocolate will forever remind me of her. She will be missed.

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Appetizers/Starters, Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Sweet Snacks

Apricot Chocolate Hot Cross Buns

Happy Easter Weekend! I’ve got company this weekend (my mum is visiting!) which makes finding time for posting a little more complicated, but here are some delicious Apricot Chocolate Hot Cross Buns. Every year, I try to do something a little different with them, so this year, they were apricot and mini-chocolate chips, but add in your mix-ins of choice (cranberries, nuts, raisins, etc). I made them yesterday for Good Friday.

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Candy, Sweet Snacks

Easter Fudge Combo: Strawberry White Chocolate and Lemon White Chocolate Fudge

As you know, I tend to experiment a bit with flavors (no kidding, really?) and one thing that I have been experimenting with lately with freeze-dried fruit powders… in other words, freeze dry lemon or orange peel, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, or even peaches, and then make a powder out of them. I don’t actually go through all that work — I buy the already made powders. They are often marketed as a way to am up the flavors of smoothies or as an ice cream ingredient. They are very flavor packed and I like them. Stay tuned this summer as I play with some in drinks.

For Easter this year, I decided to try adding powders to white chocolate to make fudge. I also added technicolor sprinkles, which is so not like me, but you know, the strawberry looked a little “Pepto Bismol” flavored (it’s not!) so I had to do something. These are good, not great, but I’ll let you be the judge.

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