Christmas and Holiday Gift Idea: Homemade Mulling Spices

Homemade mulling spices make a wonderful gift with either a bottle of wine or a jug of apple cider.

Super easy to make, you'll impress your friends with this warm, spicy homemade gift.

Homemade Mulling Spices

Step 1: Gather the ingredients

• Rinds of 3 oranges
• 8 ounces whole cloves
• 6 cinnamon sticks, crushed
• 3 tablespoons allspice
• 3 tablespoons candied ginger, diced into small bits

To remove the pith:

• Cut the oranges into quarters, just deep enough to remove the skin from the fruit.
• Peel the skin off the fruit. Turn it pith side up and using a serrated knife (or better yet, a grapefruit spoon)  scrape the skin clean. Be careful not to cut through the skin with the knife.

Dry The Orange Rinds:

• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
• Cut the cleaned orange rinds into strips.
• Place the strips on a parchment paper lined baking tray.
• Dry in the oven for up to an hour (make sure to keep an eye on them, so they don't become too brittle).

Combine all of the ingredients, package and share!

• Sterilize 4 4 ounce jars (see here for instructions).
• Spoon mixture into jars and seal. Use a decorative ribbon to finish the jar.
• Wrap your favorite red wine or apple cider in tulle or colorful fabric, tied with a decorative ribbon
• Warm 4 cups of wine or cider over a medium flame. Add mulling spices and warm again for five minutes, or until you smell the aroma of the oranges, spices and ginger being released from the mixture.
• Strain the mixture, keep warm over low flame and serve.

It's as Easy as Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. Three words I never would have put together on my own. You see, I don't love cooked strawberries, except in a jam-like state. And, rhubarb and I have previously been unacquainted. Pie is not something I make as a regular event.

My friend had a birthday and she loves fruit pies. So I thought I'd try my hand at making one for her. My CSA box contained both strawberries and rhubarb this particular week. I took a chance, asked a few friends some questions and concocted this lovely pie.

To be honest, I only had a small bit of it (I used regular flour pie crust instead of gluten-free) and I was wary of all that cooked fruit goodness in one place. I was pleasantly surprised by the resulting pie: not too juicy, nor overly sweet with a nice crunch from the rhubarb. I did read later on that there should be no crunch from the rhubarb but my friend said she preferred it this way (maybe only to be nice?!).

I think I also understand the saying "It's as simple as pie" now. I diced a few things, measured out some sugar, vanilla and lemon juice and plopped it all in a pie crust (yes, I used pre-made, we've already discussed that I am not much in the way of pastry doughs). Ina bout an hour, I had a pie that was cooling on a rack awaiting some frozen treat to be served alongside of it.

Pies are going to be featured a little bit more in my summer cooking. It's still quite warm here in San Francisco (which is not the weather we normally have in June) which is inspiring me to experiment with some more pie combinations soon. I'm thinking a plum variety, maybe with some apricot thrown in there, with a gluten-free piecrust so I can fully enjoy myself.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients:

• 3 stalks rhubarb, cleaned and diced
• 1.5 pounds strawberries, cleaned, hulled and cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsps real vanilla extract
• 2 prepared pie crusts (gluten-free pastry dough mix can be found here)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl place the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla.
3. Using a large spoon (or I use my hands) thoroughly coat the rhubarb and strawberries in the sugar and liquids.
4. Let sit for ten minutes, to get the juice flowing out of the fruit.
5. While the mixture rests, take one of your pie crusts, flatten it out and cut it into strips to form the lattice for the top of the pie.
6. After ten minutes has passed, put the fruit mixture into the remaining piecrust, making sure all of the juice get into the pie as well.
7. Cover with strips of piecrust, making a criss-cross (or whatever pattern you like if you have a favorite style, as long as there are air holes of the steam to escape while baking).
8. Crimp the edge of the top lattice to the bottom edge of the piecrust.
9. Place the pie pan on a baking dish or put some aluminum foil underneath the pan to catch any drips.
10. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F.
11. Turn the oven down to 375 degrees F and bake for another 40 to 45 minutes.
12. If the crust is browning too quickly, tent the pie with foil.
13. Once the pie is out of the oven, rest it on a cooling rack for an hour (or if you want it to be warm, 40 minutes) before cutting and serving.
14. Serve alongside ice cream or sorbet.

Granola? Yes, Thanks.

Granola.

Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. I kind of left it behind awhile back. There were the variety of store-bought granola-type bars that my daughter favored when she was young, which were too coyingly sweet. And, the lack of good things to mix it with (no dairy, and I don't like "replacement milks" for anything but baking), made it possible for me to forget about granola.

Recently, I saw this recipe on Food52 and knew I hd to try it. For one thing, it has Olive Oil in it, how great is that for someone (me) who loves to mix sweet and savory flavors? And, it offered an easy way to mix in as many nuts as I wanted, which, I realized, was lacking in your standard issued granola. I happened to have most everything the recipe called for in the house, so I set to making it.

I adjusted the type of nuts (instead of pecans, I used walnuts and almonds), and forgot to add the salt (which I now regret and will do next time), extended the baking time (because I love crispy, crunchy and toasty stuff) and ended up with the best tasting granola I've ever had.

The big bonus of the day, aside from cups and cups of great tasting granola? Our upstairs neighbor came down the a few hours after I had baked the granola and said he had to come see what I was making because it smelled so good in their apartment. He took a batch with him and was very happy with the offering.

On my next round, I'm going to reduce the amout of brown sugar and maple syrup, because, I guess, in my old age, my sweet tooth is diminishing. Other than that, this makes a huge batch of delicious granola that I will make again and again.

Granola with Nuts, Coconut Maple Syrup and Olive Oil

Original recipe appears here, on the Food52 website, thanks Nekasia Davis

Makes about 7 cups

• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, hulled
• 1 cup raw sunflower seeds, hulled
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut chips
• 1 1/4 cup raw pecans, left whole or coarsely chopped (I used half walnuts and half almonds instead of the pecans)
• 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• Coarse salt

• Heat oven to 300 degrees.
• Place oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut, pecans, syrup, olive oil, sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt in a large bowl and mix until well combined. Spread granola mixture in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Transfer to oven and bake, stirring every 10-15 minutes, until granola is toasted, about 45 minutes.
• Remove granola from oven and season with more salt to taste. Let cool completely before serving or storing in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

How to Make the Chutney

On a warm San Francisco Sunday we decided it was necessary to get some of our nice late Summer fruits canned up for the coming Fall. The chutney I ended up with is sweet and tangy, with a nice hint of sage, which is perfect with roast, especially pork.

It's a very simple recipe, and the way I did it, required little more than measuring (sort of), chopping and boiling down the fruits.

Herewith, the recipe.

Hope you enjoy it.

Orange, Fig and Sage Chutney

3 to 4 pounds Oranges, sliced into 8 pieces each

1 lb granulated Sugar

1 basket Figs (about 14 figs), sliced in half

3 sprigs Sage, minced1/4 cup Lemon juiceRind of 1/2 Orange

2 cups water, or enough to cover

Make the Chutney:

Put all the ingredients into a large, heavy bottomed pan, making sure there is enough water to cover the fruit.

Set over a medium heat and bring to a boil.

Once the mixture boils, lower the heat to a simmer and stir regularly to keep it from sticking to the pan.

While you are stirring, press down on the orange pieces to release the juice.

As soon as you are satisfied with the texture of yo

ur chutney (meaning it will be chunky, good for spreading on meats!), turn off the heat making sure that your jars/lids are ready to be filled.

Boil your jars and lids while the fruit is bubbling away in the other pan

 .

Take a large wide pan, fill with water, enough to submerge the jars and lids, and place on the heat to boil.

Once the water has boiled, lower to a simmer and keep the jars in the water for five minutes.

When the chutney is ready, remove each jar and lid one by one onto a

clean cloth, right side up, to keep them as sterile as possible.

Fill your jars and  seal them:

Ladle chutney into each jar, filling up to the bottom of the neck of the jar, leaving headspace for the sealing to go well.

Wipe down the top of the jar to make sure nothing is sticky on the outside, so that you can seal the jars, and they can be opened again.

Put the lid on and close it as tightly as you can.

Turn the jars upside down and leave to cool. This will seal the jars.

some people re-boil the filled jars, but I opt not to. if you want to, this is the time to do it!