Slooowly moving our way to autumn flavours. In this case, that means cranberries, chocolate and pistachios. OK, so maybe those aren’t all that autumny, but they sure are delicious.
fruits-and-berries
Last of the summer fruit, so I thought I would make a final round of jam, this time Peach with Ginger. Turned out great, even though the peaches were still a little hard but the final result is great. It even set well (I think peaches have a fair bit of natural pectin and I used the low-sugar sort just to make sure).
Pluots, apriums, apriplums, and plumcots … all these “new fangled” fruits that are hybrids of plums and apricots. Or something like that. I have to say that many of them are yummy just as eating fruit, but even better when baked as they are juicy and tart — which I really like in a pie. The variety that I used here are “Honeybunch Pluots”, which were very much like firm, dark red all the way through plums, but with a bit of a fuzzy exterior like an apricot. I added sugar and cinnamon, and then more sugar on the crust to make it a little crunchy — textural variety! This same pie can be make with any plum or hybrid variety, and if you make one with apricots, lower your sugar level somewhat. Overall, a nice little pie, if I do say so myself!
Headed out on a road trip tomorrow, so I am prepping a few things to take with us that are easy to store, easy to eat. That includes these Black Currant Almond Streusel Bars. As with all of my crumble and struesel bars, these are super-easy to make, really versatile to swap out flavors and pack up really nicely. Also perfect to take along as a picnic or biergarten snack or dessert.
So while I am on my red currant kick, and because we have soooooo many of them right now, I decided to make something else with currants …. an upside down cake. I also had found some smallish apricots at the farm last week, so it made the perfect combination.Super sweet apricots, wicked tart red currants. The perfect balance.














