Overdose of sweet from coconut honey

When I take home a can of coconut milk, it's almost always with the thought 'I have no idea where it's going to take me this time'. Sorry if I'm making it sound like an adventure story, but guessing where the canful will eventually end up is like guessing where Indiana Jones will find himself after climbing down a suspicious ladder.

Poor coconut milk found itself in a jar this time, stuck in there together with some sticky good honey and vanilla seeds.

Never seen Indiana Jones in a sweet situation like that after climbing down any ladder, that's for sure...


Coconut honey with vanilla

3 dl coconut milk
1 dl honey
half a vanilla pod
1 tbsp butter

1. Measure coconut milk and honey into a saucepan. Cut the vanilla pod in half and add.
2. Boil the mixture without a lid over low heat until it turns thicker, about 15 minutes.
3. Add butter.
4. Pour the mixture into a jar, close it and leave to cool at room temperature. Store in the fridge.

So what does it taste like? Imagine the word pair 'coconut honey' melting on your tongue, sweet and gooey, girly from the touch of vanilla.

I had my first taste on a chocolate dessert with bilberries, but I imagine it being syrupy good on ice cream or just plain yoghurt. And I'd like to drizzle it onto a bowlful of fresh strawberries. How's that for adventurously good?

This recipe will also take part in the A Fruit A Month event hosted by Tasty Palettes, themed Coconut. Coconut's a fruit, my friends, a fruit:)

Pineapple and lime curd with apricots

Warm weather magically disappeared with a 'puff', leaving behind rain and wind and bad mood.

Hey, khm, with no sun here the least I'm worth is a good long TROPICAL VACATION, right?

But with none coming around...I'm gonna have to do with some tropical curd instead, dreaming of ripe (preferrably peeled and sliced) pineapples falling right into my hands from up above while I myself am sunbathing in my new pretty blue bikinis. (Yes, that would totally fix my mood)

So...

Pineapple and lime curd with dried apricots

5 dl pineapple juice
10 dried apricots
3 eggs
100 g butter
2 1/2 dl sugar
vanilla
1/2 dl lime juice

1. In a saucepan, combine pineapple juice and dried apricots. Boil vigorously without lid until the apricots are soft and the juice is reduced to about 1/2 dl, 20-30 minutes.
2. Measure out 1/2 of reduced juice and dice the apricots into little pieces.
3. Melt butter in a saucepan, add sugar and slightly beaten eggs, whisk until combined. Then add reduced pineapple juice and lime juice. Whisk at moderate heat until the mixture thickens.
4. Flavour with vanilla and add apricot pieces, making sure they do not stick to each other.
5. Pour the curd into jars, close them and leave to cool to room temperature, then store in the fridge.

The curd has really got a nice pineapple flavour to it, with a huge hint to lime. The apricot pieces are soft and full of taste when stumbled upon with your teeth! It's gorgeous like the classical lemon curd, only better;)
Good with cookies, ice cream, between cakes, pancakes, good to dunk a spoon into to enjoy the sensation of a whole mouthful. Just good.

And this good curd will also take part in the brand new event Putting up hosted by Rosie of Rosie bakes a peace of cake and Pixie of You say tomato...I say tomato that is all about preserves!

Lime marmalade

A friend gave me four limes that she had but knew she wouldn't use, making me responsible of preparing something mouthwatering out of them that she'd love too. It's not easy to find recipes JUST for limes, but when I found a recipe for lime marmalade, I was Yes yes yes yes I'm going to make it.


To reduce bitterness, I planned to leave the white rim out of the marmalade. Doing this took more time, but was worth the effort. I didn't reboil the jars in a water bath, but if you want to preserve the marmalade for a longer period (let's say you already want to make Christmas gifts), do it. As it has a heap of sugar in it, I believe well-sealed jars should keep well without doing it too.

Lime marmalade
(adjusted from Food down under)

4 limes
3/4 l water water
about 8 1/2 dl sugar

1. Wash limes very carefully. Remove the green zest (make sure you only remove the green part) and cut into thin strips.
2. Remove the white layer and slice pulp into thin slices, discarding seeds.
3. Place the slices and zest in a bowl, cover with the water and let the mixture soak overnight.
4. Next day pour the mixture into a large pot and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.
5. Measure the cooked mixture and add the same amount of sugar. I had 8 1/2 dl of the mixture, so I added 8 1/2 dl sugar to it.
6. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves.
7. Boil rapidly, stirring frequently, until the mixture reaches the jell point. (I think that took me up to 40 minutes)
8. Remove from heat and skim off foam.
9. Pour into clean jars (I had enough for 3 little ones) and seal. (If you want to boil them in a water bath, leave a 2 cm space between the marmalade and the lid)
10. Process in a water bath: place the jars into a big pot so that water covers them and boil for 10 minutes.

Although I left out the white layer under the zest, the marmalade is still a bit bitter, but that's not a bad thing as it's got the bitter taste of the zest itself. Even on a slice of bread the marmalade creates the effect of a lime bursting in the mouth. In a clean and nice way, of course. It's filled with strips of zest and looks good.

How to use it? Some of my marmalade is for sure waiting for a decent cake to crawl between its layers. Glazing some meat with it could be a good idea, too.

And my friend? She began screaming when she received a jar. And today she spent almost 5 minutes telling me how good the marmalade is and how her parents wanted her to call me and say thank you.
Oh, thank you:)

Quince jam with cinnamon

What should I do with my first quince?

Quinces are usually cooked before serving. As they're high in pectin, quince jam and paste are its common uses. Or maybe quince jelly? These fruits also make a good substitution for apples in almost any kind of recipes or give them a little twist by adding some into a cake or whatever dish made with apples.


My first quince wanted to become jam.

Quince jam with cinnamon

250 g quince
250 g sugar
1/2 dl water
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stir until sugar dissolves.
2. Peel quince and cut out the core. Puree it.
3. Add pureed quince and cinnamon to the syrup and boil for about 5 minutes
4. Pour the mixture into a small jar and let it cool - first at room temperature, then in the fridge.

I'm not really a jam-person. But I guess the cinnamon got me fooled, because this was good! Cinnamon gives quite much taste in here. We ate it on cookies, bread, stirred it into yoghurt and jabbed onto porridge. Mixing the jam with some cream cheese makes a delicious spread.

Now what should I do with my second quince?

P.S. I'm leaving for Georgia today and will be away for a week. So get ready for Georgian cheese, because I'm getting ready for Georgian SPA!

Bitter onions into a sweetish marmalade

Onions are sly. I tend to mark down all onion recipes and if a found a book of onion recipes at the store, I'd probably begin searching for money without further hesitations. No, crunching raw onions doesn't appeal to me, as it doesn't to most of the people, but baking them gives the onions a mild, sweetish and enjoyable taste. I'd never waste time on peeling one and crying over it, just to use half of it for cooking, even if I cook only for myself. Yes, I tend to make dishes oniony, but that might not even be a problem.

I have a bunch of recipes for onion jams and -marmalades, today I tried one of them. I only used one fifth of the quantity this recipe demands for and nimbly made the marmalade of only three small onions. It wouldn't even have needed checking for a half an hour and by lunch the marmalade had cooled and was ready for using. So simple and yet so delicious. Adding a little thyme to this recipe would be nice, as well as spicing it up a bit with chili.


Onion marmalade with balsamico

500 g onions (advisably red ones)
2 dl brown sugar
2 tbsp balsamico
50 g butter

1. Peel and slice the onions
2. Put all the ingredients into a pot and heat, constantly stirring, until sugar dissolves, then reduce heat to low and cook the mixture, covered for 30 minutes (I removed it from heat after about 20 minutes and pureed it a bit, but so that there were still tiny bits in the mixture, then cooked on).
3. Put the marmalade into jars, close them and cool.

I served the marmalade over a simple curd and cheese omelette with smoked venison sausage, a glass of cold milk alongside. I'm sure it would also match with meat or a cheese sandwich. Yes, onions are sly.