Jammy Rolls

Thoughts:

Continuing my seasonal trend of all things Concord Grapes, I had the sudden idea to make these awesome jammy rolls with some leftover jam. Which, of course, means I’ll have to make more jam. They’re basically made the same way as cinnamon rolls, but are filled with concord grape jam instead of cinnamon sugar. Topped with a little drizzle of lemon icing, and they’re pretty much amazeballs.

Soft, dense dough holds in the gooey grape filling. The lemon icing, which couldn’t be easier to make, perfectly accentuates the flavors of the Concord Grapes, adding a little zing! to their sweetness. Granted, they could be made with any jam you happen to have on hand, but I think the flavor of the grape is robust enough to hold its own against that amount of dough.

So go get yourselves some of the last grapes of the season, and make this recipe for a wonderful weekend breakfast treat!

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Concord Grape Jam

Thoughts:

Concord grapes are such a fundamental element of my autumns that I simply cannot get enough of them. Perhaps because it is one of those increasingly few foods that is still seasonal, and briefly so, at that. I tend to compulsively buy boxes of them whenever I come across them in the store, because I never know if those might be the last of the season.

This is one of the easiest things to make with Concord grapes, and possibly one of the most delicious. It’s essentially the same grape pie filling I’ve used in other recipes, but reduced down to a thicker, jammier consistency. I’ve dispatched it with great effect on crumpets, biscuits, cheesy crackers, and definitely straight from a spoon. It also freezes well, so you can enjoy it during the rest of the year, too.

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Butter Biscuits – 1798

Thoughts:

True to their name, these are quite buttery. More what we might think of as modern rolls rather than biscuits, they are simple and wholesome, stopping just shy of fluffy. Because they are so simple, they are a perfect vehicle for your choice of condiments, including jam, clotted cream, or honey on the comb.

Colonial Butter Biscuits Recipe

Quarter Recipe Yield: 10 small biscuits

Sponge: overnight Prep: 10 minutes Baking: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

Full Batch Half Batch Quarter Batch

1 pint milk 1 cup milk 1/2 cup milk
1 pint emptins 1 cup emptins 1/2 cup emptins (or sourdough starter)
flour flour 1/2 cup flour
1 lb. butter 2 sticks butter 1 stick butter
another pint milk 1 cup milk 1/2 cup milk
more flour flour 2 cups flour, plus a bit more

Mix the half cup milk with the half cup emptins, along with a 1/2 cup flour to make a sponge. Cover loosely with a dish towel and let sit out overnight. In the morning, your sponge will be larger, bubbly, and, well… spongy.

Melt 1 stick of butter into another half cup of milk, and let cool until it’s just warm; if too hot, it will kill the yeast in the sponge. Add to the sponge, and gradually mix in 2 cups flour. At this point, you should have a thick batter. Gently knead in additional flour until the whole mixture comes together into one cohesive mass that is soft but not sticky.

Tear off 8 pieces of equal size, and gently form into small rounds. You may either place these directly onto a baking sheet, or into the cups of a muffin pan.

Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes, until the tops are just slightly golden, and the biscuits feel firm to the touch.

They are best served with jam, honey, or clotted cream.

Blackberry Preserves

“There was much more than she’d asked for: hot bread, butter and honey and blackberry preserves, a rasher of bacon and a soft-boiled egg, a wedge of cheese, a pot of mint tea. And with it came Maester Luwin.” (I: 113)

Blackberry Preserves

Our Thoughts:

These preserves are bursting with the intensity and vibrancy of spring! Slathered over a buttered scone, the tanginess of the blackberries is balanced wonderfully by the relatively meager sugar content (as compared to commercial jams). A perfect destination for berries that are either fresh off the plant, or at the end of their life, this recipe can be followed using other berries as well, or even mixing berries. If pectin is added and proper canning technique used, these preserves could be saved to brighten up a dreary winter morning.

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