Baking with jam: chocolate-mulberry buns and mulberry-thyme (GF) biscuits

After the mulberry harvest I did a couple of weeks ago, I ended up with more mulberry jam than I could possibly use (some that I made myself, and some that came to me as my share from the larger quantity the others jammed). I decided this was an opportunity for baking with jam: jam tarts were a childhood favourite, and I used to make a jammy gingerbread to use up odds and ends of abandoned jam when clearing out the fridge in shared houses. I was thinking of making jam tarts, but then I remembered a recipe for thumbprint cookies I saw recently, and decided they might be a less faffy equivalent (++I have some beautiful thyme growing on my roof that I am not using enough). Also, they were gluten-free, so I could share them with A. I came across Nigella's choc-cherry cupcake recipe while thinking about jam baking, so decided to test-veganise that as well.

Mulberry, rose and thyme biscuits
(makes ~12)

100g olive oil
1/4 cup / 50g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tsp chopped, fresh thyme leaves
1 cup TJs GF flour mix
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup almond meal
approx 1/4 cup (60ml) mulberry jam, mixed with rosewater (1/2-1 tsp) and honey to taste*

Heat oven to 180C/350F. Grease 1 large baking tray. Mix flour, cornstarch, baking powder and almond meal in a medium bowl with a fork. Beat oil, sugar, vanilla and thyme in a separate bowl. Add wet to dry, and mix / knead until well combined. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough between your hands to make flattened balls, then make an indentation in each with your thumb and place on the prepared baking tray. Fill each with some of the jam mixture and bake for 10-12 min, or until slightly golden. Leave to cool on the tray.

*Added sweetness will depend on the jam used: traditionally-made jam like the stuff I make is plenty sweet already and needs no extra sweetening. But if the jam has been made with less reduction of the fruit and less sugar / more added pectin it may be less sweet (like the one made by the LUrC crew) and, in my opinion, need a little more sugar.

Chocolate-mulberry muffins
(makes 12)

6 tbsp / 90 ml refined coconut oil (liquid state)
4 oz dark chocolate (broken into pieces)
1 ¼ cups mulberry jam
1/2 cup sugar
1 pinch of salt
2 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 5 tbsp boiling water
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Heat the oven to 180C / 350F. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin. Heat the coconut oil in a medium pan. When hot, turn off the heat and add the chocolate. Leave for a moment, then stir with a wooden spoon until smooth and melted. Add the jam, sugar, salt, linseed mixture and vinegar. Mix, then stir in the flour, baking powder and bicarb. Fill the muffin cups and bake for 25 min. Cool in the tin for 10 min before removing and leaving to cool on a rack.


These were both experiments. I thought the choc-jam muffins were the successes at first: they rose surprisingly well, with a good consistency. While I thought the biscuits were disasters: many of them split while baking, and the dough was very crumbly (might need to add more oil or some milk?). But people seemed to love the taste of the biscuits despite their appearance (I fed some to S, and took some to a brunch - where en route they got even more bashed up riding around on the potholes aka streets of Greater Boston on the back of my bike), while the muffins were fine but not as well-received.

Turkish delight

I'd got it into my head I wanted to make Turkish delight a while ago, which spurred a quest to find cream of tartar (which was quite difficult, in the end I bought it online). Then I had the cream of tartar, but it took me a long time to get around to making the Turkish delight. This weekend seemed to be the time: perhaps because it is a surprisingly vegan food (happy days, I always liked it and hoped it wasn't made with gelatine) and we were invited to a vegan party on Saturday evening... But we ended up taking pretzels there and I took the Turkish delight to a non vegan brunch on Sunday morning instead. It didn't really seem like conventional brunch food but I figured anything goes for brunch... right?

I followed this recipe, almost exactly, with the addition of some red food colouring to make it pink.

2 cups granulated sugar
5/8 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2 1/8 cups water
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 tbsp rosewater
2-3 drops red food colouring
1/2 cup icing sugar
Vegetable oil

Grease the inside of an approx 8 in square / 2 in deep baking pan (or similar) with vegetable oil. Line with baking paper and grease the paper.

In a saucepan, combine the lemon juice, granulated sugar and 3/4 cup water on medium heat. Stir constantly until sugar dissolves. Allow mixture to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the mixture reaches 240F, or firm ball stage (when tested by dropping a tsp into water). Remove from heat and set aside.

Combine cream of tartar, 1/2 cup cornstarch and remaining 1 3/8 cups water in a second saucepan over medium heat. Stir until all lumps are gone and the mixture begins to boil. Stop stirring when the mixture has a glue like consistency. Stir in the lemon juice, water and sugar mixture. Stir constantly for about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, and allow to simmer for 1 hour, stirring frequently. Once the mixture has become a golden colour, stir in rosewater and food colouring. Pour mixture into paper-lined pan. Spread evenly and allow to cool overnight.

The following day, lift the Turkish delight out of the pan onto a clean surface using the edges of the paper. Cut with a sharp, oiled knife into approx 1 inch squares. Mix the icing sugar and remaining 1/8 cup cornstarch in a bowl. Roll the Turkish delight pieces in the icing sugar mixture until they are well covered. Eat right away, or keep in an airtight container in layers separated with baking paper.


This worked surprisingly well, although not perfectly. The end result was a very pleasant, pink Turkish delight with a subtle rose flavour. It was tricky but not impossible judging the sugar stage (I don't have a sugar thermometer). The finished result was slightly wet: after the sugar coating it wetted most of the covering sugar so I had to re-coat it before taking it out. Not really a problem, but it looks much prettier when freshly dusted. Not sure why it happened: perhaps the initial sugar solution should have been boiled for longer? or perhaps I should have let it sit longer before coating it with icing sugar? or perhaps it was just to do with the humid weather? Could have increased the rosewater to 1 tbsp: it was maybe a little too subtle. And the colour was slightly pinker than I wanted: two drops of colouring would probably be enough.

Note: an idea from the original recipe's comments to help with the sweating: cut it into pieces and let air dry while turning frequently for another 2 days before sugar coating - perhaps leave in the switched-off oven overnight?

Valentines Biscuits III: Cardamom and rose hearts

I made these once before, before I started this. They are, to my mind, the quintessential kitschy Valentines baked goods: cute, tiny, tasty, flowery, and very, very pink (it takes very little beetroot juice to make a really pink icing: you don't taste the beetroot at all but oh my word you can see it). I think cardamom and rose go great together, and a box of tiny biscuits makes a great friend-Valentine.

Biscuits:
4 oz plain flour
small pinch salt
1/2 tsp powdered cardamom
2 1/2 oz margarine
1 oz sugar
1/4 tbsp rose water
1/4 tbsp water

Icing:
1 tsp finely grated raw beetroot
1/2 tsp water
1/2 tsp rose water
4 tbsp icing sugar

Finishing:
petals from 1 dried rosebud
seeds from 2 green cardamom pods

Heat oven to 350F / 180C. Mix flour, salt and cardamom in a bowl with a fork. Rub in butter until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in sugar, then add rose water and water and knead to a smooth dough.

Roll out thinly on a floured surface, cut into hearts (I happen to have three different sizes of heart cutters nowadays, but previously I have freehanded heart shapes with a knife) and place on greased baking sheets. Bake for 15-20 min and cool on a wire rack.

For the icing, mix the beetroot and water, leave for a minute or two, then squeeze all the liquid out of the beetroot and transfer to a fresh bowl. Add rose water and icing sugar to the beetroot water, check it is a good spreading consistency, then use to ice the cooled biscuits. Finally, grind the rose petals and cardamom seeds together and sprinkle a little on top of each biscuit.


Notes: this basic recipe (based on one from the WI Book of Biscuits - same source as this recipe) is the best I've tried so far for cutting shapes, and it has plenty of scope for varying the spices, shapes and flavourings. It rolls thin so you get a lot of biscuits out of this amount - I must have got about 30 tiny hearts and about 10 bigger ones out of this quantity.

Watermelon rind preserves with ginger, rose and cardamom

While preparing our watermelon salad last weekend I looked at the rind I was removing and remembered reading about watermelon rind preserves.  I think it is an idea from the American South but I might be wrong, I don't think watermelons are native there?*  Anyway, I've never eaten it or seen it in real life but making it seemed like a good idea.  It obviously appeals to my dislike of throwing things away...

Makes approx 2 small jars.

5 cups diced watermelon rind
2.5 cups sugar
3/4 cup lemon juice
~7 strips of lemon rind
1 in piece of ginger, cut into thin slices
1-2 tbsp dried rose petals
1 tsp rose water
8 whole green cardamom pods
1 small cinnamon stick

To prepare the rind, cut off the outer green peel and the inner red flesh (if you haven't already eaten the watermelon - I had just saved all the pieces left from eating the flesh - don't worry about removing all the red), then dice the white rind into 0.5-1 cm cubes.  Our watermelon was one of the 'mini' ones, with fairly thick rind (I think the rind is thicker if the watermelon is a bit underripe), and I prepped the rind from 3/4 of the watermelon to make 5 cups.

In a large pan, mix the diced rind with the sugar (use half as many cups of sugar as rind).  Cover and leave overnight in the fridge, or for at least 2 hours, until a lot of liquid has come out of the rind and the rind pieces are effectively sitting in syrup.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan and simmer covered for 2 hours.  It will go golden-brown, and the rind pieces will become transparent.  After 2 hours, remove the lid and boil fast for 15 minutes.  Leave it for 10 minutes to cool slightly, then put in sterilised jars while still hot (I didn't bother removing the cardamom pods etc, you could try but it'd be a fiddle getting them out of the burning hot jam, and they look quite pretty - will just need to make sure people are aware of their presence and don't eat them by accident).


This worked really well, I was surprised - I thought it was going to be just an exercise in using stuff I'd usually throw away, and was kind of worried I'd end up with something runny and not very appealing.  When I'd finished boiling it it looked really liquid and I didn't think it was going to set, but it set beautifully.  It reminds me of apple or marrow jam, in that the rind is a fairly bland-tasting, textural background for whatever spices or flavours you may add.  The end result looks really pretty and tastes fairly subtle but pleasantly fragrant.

*OK, I've figured it out: watermelon rind preserving IS a thing in the South, but they make a vinegary pickle, not a jam.

Mango rose 'lassi'

I seem to be on a mango tip right now - yesterday I found myself in TJs randomly buying dried mango (now I am going to have to eat some of that) and mango butter (is vegan - the jamlike stuff - in fact only had mango, sugar, pectin and lime juice in it - sounded too good to miss).  The other day I bought a packet of frozen mango chunks, and today I was in the mood for frozen mango - straight out of the packet, and made into smoothie type things...  This one was pudding after the black pepper tofu and yellow split pea fest.

5 large chunks frozen mango
1 large chunk (~1/4) frozen banana
1 cup rice milk
1/2 tsp rose water

Put all in a blender and whizz.  Makes a fairly thin consistency.  Drink through a big fat straw.

Pretty much exactly what I wanted.  Combines two of my favourite lassi flavours - mango and rose.  Why didn't I think of putting them together before?

Ginger sweet potato cake / pink rose and cardamom valentines cakes

Ginger sweet potato cake

I saw this recipe for ginger hemp cake at the Guardian and fancied it:  I am a sucker for ginger and vegetables in cakes.  So I veganised it (and otherwise adapted it).

150g dark soft brown sugar
50g black treacle or molasses
3 tbsp ground flax seed beaten with 6 tbsp boiling water (3 med eggs)
125ml sunflower oil
125g chopped glacé ginger
175g grated sweet potato
150g plain flour
75g hemp flour (or wholewheat)
3 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp baking powder

For the icing:
200g full-fat cream cheese, cold
100g unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra
125g sifted icing sugar
About 50g of coconut oil, beaten with icing sugar and cinnamon and a touch of lemon juice to a good taste and consistency.

Line the base of two 18cm round layer cake tins with discs of nonstick baking paper, and heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4. Beat the sugar, treacle and flax until smooth and light, then beat in the oil and stir in the glacé ginger and sweet potato. Sift in the flours, ground ginger and baking powder, and fold through evenly.

Spoon the mixture into the tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins. Make the icing. Layer and top the cake with icing, and sprinkle with more cinnamon to serve.


I made a half quantity and just put it in a loaf tin, and iced with a wee bit of leftover icing from the rose buns.  Was lovely and dense and dark and spicy.  Realised it's basically the same as the ginger root cake also by Dan Lepard that I made a few times a while back.  The veganising was pretty successful.


Rose and cardamom valentines cakes

cake mix:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cardamom
1 cup fake milk
1/3 cup veg oil
~ 2 tsp rose water
2 drops red food colouring
1 tsp white vinegar

icing:
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 cups icing sugar
2 tsp rose water
couple of drops of red food colouring

decoration:
jelly stars
powdered rose petals
icing sugar hearts

Mix the dry ingredients with a fork.  Add the wet ingredients and mix til just combined (add vinegar last).  Put into muffin cups and bake at 350F for 20-25 min.

When cool, ice and decorate with kitsch valentines decorations.





The rose was quite intense - I was afraid it wouldn't taste so kept adding more...  But I think they were pretty good.  Certainly looked very kitsch and valentines-y.  Think vegan cupcakes work best with something to give them texture (in this case coconut).  Could have done with beetroot juice as colour.