Month: March 2017

Stock clearance

| Too busy to make

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In order to make space for new chutneys and other preserves, I am having a stock clearance sale . All items are available on a first come first served basis, so if there is something you particularly want, please contact me as soon as possible.

Stock available : 300g jars

1 x Apple and sultana chutney  £2.50

1 x Pumpkin and raisin chutney  £2.50

1 x Apricot apple and hazelnut chutney  £2.50

5 x Victoria plum jam  £2.00 each

5 x Raspberry jam  £2.00 each

7 x Luxury apricot and brandy mincemeat  £2.00 each

4 x Seville orange marmalade  £2.00 each

8 x Dark Seville orange marmalade  £2.00 each

 

Stock available : 200g/190g jars

18 x Spiced Damson chutney  £1.50 each

12 x Blackberry jelly  £1.50 each

4 x Cranberry and orange compôte  £2.00 each

1 x Spiced redcurrant jelly  £1.50

Please email me at toobusytomake@btinternet.com or message me via my Facebook page Too busy to make

 

 

 

 

Biscuits for cheese

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Each Christmas, I make savoury biscuits for hampers sold by South Downs Cellars. Initially, I made oatcakes flavoured with fresh thyme or rosemary. Last year, I tried a different recipe for oat and walnut biscuits. These contain a small amount of sugar but are not sweet and go well with soft blue cheeses like Gorgonzola or Dolcelatte as well as other rinded soft cheeses like Brie or Taleggio.

As another experiment, I made a batch replacing the wheat flour with buckwheat flour. They are gluten free and taste delicious. The oats and chopped walnuts give them an interesting texture.

I will be adding these to my list of products available to buy – either with buckwheat or wheat flour, depending on your preference.

Other uses for marmalade

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The Seville orange season is short, so in January or February when they make their brief appearance in our shops, I buy some to make marmalade and a couple of family favourite puddings.

However, like many, I don’t usually eat toast in the mornings so jars of marmalade accumulate! This year, I decided to try using marmalade in other recipes to see whether they would taste good.

First, I made a bread and butter pudding by spreading marmalade on panettone that was left over from Christmas, and baking with a mixture of eggs and cream. It was so delicious that it was eaten before I could photograph it! I made a second and the same thing happened. The fruit in the panettone meant I didn’t add any extra but I chopped the strips of orange peel in the marmalade into small pieces before adding them to the pudding.

Second, I tried a marmalade drizzle cake, using my normal lemon drizzle cake recipe and replacing the lemon zest in the sponge with Seville orange zest and spreading a mixture of marmalade and Seville orange juice over the top of the cake as soon as it came out of the oven. I think the cake works very well – the bitter orange tang comes through the sponge making a delicious variation on drizzle cakes.

I usually freeze the zest and juice of Seville oranges to use later in the year and will report back on future experiments with marmalade and the zest and juice.