Brandy Fruit Sauce & Feed the Jar

Brandy Fruit Sauce
Time honored recipe to create and cultivate your own authentic brandy sauce.

Approximately 3 cups of Starter Sauce

1 can (approximately 20 oz.) pineapple chunks, drained
1 can (14-16 oz.) peach slices, drained
1 can (14-16 oz.) apricot halves, drained & quartered
1 jar (approximately 10 oz.) maraschino cherries, drained, no stems
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups brandy (regular or fruit flavored)
1. Combine all ingredients in a large, clean jar with a loose fitting lid. Stir gently with a wooden or plastic spoon.

2. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 3 weeks, stirring at least twice a week. Do not cover tightly. Safety note: As the fermentation process produces gas, it needs to escape or jar will explode.

3. At this point, you can serve the sauce over ice cream, sherbet, pound cake or angel food cake for a regal dessert, or “feed” the jar as shown below. To keep the starter jar going, maintain at least 3 cups of it in jar at all times. Store at room temperature. Do not refrigerate.

Feed the Jar: Once every 2 weeks, stir in 1 cup sugar and one 14-16 oz. can of pineapple chunks, sliced peaches, sliced and quartered apricots OR maraschino cherries (10 oz. jar), well drained*. Stir gently. Cover and let stand for at least 3 days before using. Stir daily.

*Add a different fruit every two weeks to maintain a balanced mix. You should not have to add more brandy. You can delay feeding for a day or two, but you should not feed more often than every two weeks.

Share the Jar: Whenever you have more than 6 cups of fermented fruit, you may divide it into two portions of at least 3 cups each into 2 large clean jars. Do this just before a normal feeding, then go ahead and feed each portion. Give one portion to a friend with feeding instructions and keep the other.

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Cream Puff Tuna Bites (or Crab)

Cream Puff Tuna Bites (or Crab)
(Makes 30-40 puffs)

30 – 40 Mini Cream Puffs**

2-3 cups of Tuna Salad** or your favorite Crab Salad (no recipe provided)

1. Slice tops of cream puffs almost all the way through. Lift top and fill each with 1-2 teaspoons of salad.

Note: Keep cream puffs and tuna salad separate until shortly before serving. This keeps cream puffs from becoming soggy.

** See Cream Puff recipe below.

Cream Puffs
(Makes 30-40 mini puffs)

1/2 cup of butter
1 cup water
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
4 eggs

1. In a medium saucepan melt butter. Add water and bring to a boil. Add flour and salt all at once; stir vigorously.

2. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball that doesn’t separate. (It will pull away from the side.)

3. Remove from heat and cool slightly, about 5 minutes.

4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating with a wooden spoon after each addition until smooth and glossy, 1-2 minutes. (The batter gets more glossy with each egg you add. Just make sure egg is completely beat into the flour mixture. Even if your arm gets tired, don’t rush this step. Beating the eggs is what makes the cream puffs rise so don’t try to beat them in all at once.)

4. Drop batter by teaspoonfuls (about the size of a quarter) onto a greased baking sheet, approximately 1 inch apart. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Puffs will be golden brown, dry and sound hollow when tapped. Store in an airtight container for 2 days until ready to use or freeze up to 2 weeks.

Tuna Salad
(Makes 3-4 cups)

3 cans of tuna, drained (6 ounce)
3-4 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
Mayonnaise to moisten (1/2 -1 cup)

1. Mix together drained tuna, lemon juice, relish, onion and celery.

2. Add mayonnaise one large tablespoon at a time until tuna is moist and creamy. Refrigerate until ready to use.

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The World’s Best Scones

The World’s Best Scones
(makes 10-12 scones, 2″ or 8-12 wedges)

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup of cream or milk
1 teaspoon grated orange peel, if desired
1/2 cup of one or two of the following if desired:
currants, raisins, dried cranberries, dried chopped cherries,
mini chocolate chips, dried chopped apricots, chopped nuts,
peeled and diced apple, etc

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift together first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Cut butter into dry ingredients until the size of peas.

2. Add one of the above dried fruits/chocolate chips or leave plain.

3. In a separate bowl, mix egg, cream and orange peel. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients just until moistened.

4. Pull dough together and knead in bowl 5-10 times until dough holds together reasonably well. Turn onto a floured cutting board and pat out at approximately 1/2″ thickness with hand.

5. Cut into desired shapes and place on a lightly greased baking sheet, 1/2″ apart. Brush with milk or cream and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon if making plain scones.

6. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Best served warm with butter or clotted cream and jam. Store in airtight container if serving later in the day.

Tips for great scones: Scones are like biscuits. To get a tender, flaky scone, the dough should be handled as
little as possible and you should always use cold butter and cold milk or cream.

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Clotted Cream aka Devonshire Cream

Clotted Cream aka Devonshire Cream
(makes approximately 1 cup)

1 quart milk with the cream, preferably not pasteurized
1 pint heavy cream (at least 48% milk fat)

1. Combine milk and cream. Put in shallow cooking pot and set in cool place. Leave undisturbed for 48 hours. (Yes, you read that right!)

2. Carefully set pan over low heat. Heat slowly until top crinkles. Remove from stove, cool and set in refrigerator to chill.

3. Skim off cream, which will be of consistency of soft cream cheese.

Note: This is not an easy recipe. The outcome can be effected by variables such as altitude or using an electric stove instead of gas (which allows you to keep the heat at a constant temperature more easily). The experienced cook may wish to try this recipe for fun. However, we do not recommend it for beginners. Instead use a recipe for Mock Clotted Cream* or buy the real thing.

*There are several good recipes available on the internet. Search Google for Mock Clotted Cream.

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