Onion Jam Recipe

4 cups prepared onions (you can used diced or slice into strings and then sauteed until browned)
1/4 cup butter (to sautee the onions in)
1 box Sure-Jell Pectin
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons of fresh herb (or garlic) of your choice **
6 cups sugar (you can sub in brown sugar for up to 2 cups of the 6 for a sweeter jam)


1) saute onions in butter
2) add vinegar and pectin, wait for it to boil
3) add your herb (or garlic) and then 6 cups of sugar
4) when this mix boils so that you can not stir it down, time it at this level for 1 minute stirring constantly (so as not to burn the bottom of your pot)
5) turn off heat fill jars (I get 6+ 8oz jars most of the time)
6) finish via your canning method as found in your canning book or on your supplies.


**(recently I used Thyme in one batch, Sage in another and white pepper in a third batch)

For all those wondering "what do I do with it now?"  here are a few examples of how you can use onion jam, because you are not limited to toast anymore.  I've also included links where I found the photos and in some cases they have their own recipes you may like better than mine.

http://saltandsmokefood.com/caramelized-onion-jam/

http://dinnerwithjulie.com/2012/10/02/bangers-mash-onion-jam/

http://paninihappy.com/turkey-gruyere-panini-with-roasted-garlic-onion-jam/

http://cake-o-cake.blogspot.com/2012/04/morel-brioche-with-onion-jam-swirl.html

Recipe Review - Maple Bourbon Bacon Doughnut

Okay folks, here's a great little cake doughnut that has a hint of cinnamon in it. What makes the cake.... the glaze and topping!


I found the recipe here:
http://blog.whiskeydisks.com/maple-bourbon-bacon-doughnut-one-hell-of-a-doughnut/

Dough:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup melted butter, cooled briefly (I did this first, then gathered the rest of my ingredients)
1 cup sour cream


Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
5 tablespoons bourbon ( I had Fireball on hand and used that)

BACON!


Mixing the dough:

 Whisked first 5 ingredients together set a side in my dry ingredient bowl.  In my electric stand mixer, I beat the sugar and eggs for 4 minutes, and added the vanilla.  Gradually I poured in the melted butter, and beat in the sour cream in two parts.    I added the dry ingredients in four batches to the mixer. Then I put this dough aside for about an hour (plus 15 minutes)

 Next I fried the bacon :)  and I'll admit I ate a little bit too!

 Mixing the glaze:

  In a medium bowl that I thought I could later dip the doughnuts in for glazing... I added the powdered sugar and maple syrup. Then I added the bourbon one teaspoon at a time until I had a medium thick but smooth glaze.  Cover this and set aside.  Crumble up the bacon and set very near the glaze.

 Back to the dough-nuts:

 I had my sweetheart roll out the dough for me. We don't have fancy doughnut cutters (yet) so we used what we had around the house.  Just the right size bowl and a cap off the empty rum bottle.  He must have rolled it to about a 1/2 inch thickness, the thicker ones fried up nice but they closed up the hole, and I don't really know how I feel about that yet.

 We filled a frying pan with fry oil and heated it up on medium flame until a doughnut hole cooked through in about a minute.  The holes are a great way to test your hole through out the process too!
 I fried 2- 3 at a time taking about a minute per side until I cooked all of them, maybe 20 in all. (plus the holes)  I had a cookie sheet lined with paper towels, and a baking rack on top of that.   As each cooked doughnut cooled to the touch I dipped it in the glaze, then the crumbled bacon and put back on my pan to let the glaze run until it stopped.  Eventually I piled up the best ones, used the last of the bacon for garnish.... and it's breakfast!  at 130pm in the afternoon...

Strawberry Mango Banana Daiquiri - THE JAM

Believe it or not there is still a haul of mango in my kitchen, even after the mango jam and the mango-jalapeno jam.  I was lucky enough to grab a nice flat of strawberries at the farmer's market and ideas starting going.  I saw this recipe with balsamic vinegar and while I liked that idea, it gave me another idea too...
http://ahawker.blogspot.com/2013/04/strawberry-mango-balsamic-jam.html

Recall my string of cocktail inspired jam recipes?  Yep, that is inspiring!  So I mixed and matched and came up with this baby.

4 1/2 cups smashed or fine diced fruit (strawberries and mango)
3 tablespoons banana rum
juice of one lemon
1 box of pectin
5 1/2 cups sugar
and a pat or so of butter in case of foaming!

Into the pot add the fruit, rum, lemon juice, and pectin.
Watch until it comes to a boil you can not stir down.
add the sugar all at once, stir until it comes to a boil
once it hits the stage that the boil can not be stirred down, this time you time it (continue to stir) for one minute.
Turn the heat off after your minute and start filling your jars and complete with your canning process, see the instructions on your canning equipment.
I got 6  of the 8 oz jars in my first batch!