Berry jellies: the recipe with pectin

But now, let’s get back to fruit pastes or jellies. It is with much of joy that I announce that I finally squared the circle! More precisely, I manage to find a type of pectin that is easy to handle and gives reproducible results. The beauty of fruit pastes is that they can be prepared from juice. The purists might turn up their nose, but it is an option, in particular if the fruit you are looking for is not in season (and well, now, it is definitely not the right time for berries, and those you find in the grocery taste nothing :P).

Read More

Fruit jams: quick preparation with the aid of pectin

If you never used pectins for preparing your jams, give them a chance: they will make your life so much easier. Not that making a jam is such a complex task, but, doubtlessly, you have to stay home for half a day, at least. On the other hand, you can get your jam ready in a couple of minutes by using pectins. Not to mention that color and flavour of the fruit will be preserved.

Read More

Canestrelli: the recipe and the role of sugars in cookies

A while ago, I tried some “healthy” cookies that I bought in a pastry shop. They were made with whole wheat flour and honey. The taste was decent, but the texture terrible: hard as a brick. I thought that maybe they didn’t contain any baking powder, but the list of ingredients proved me wrong: backing powder was there. Moreover, the shortcrust pastry I usually make doesn’t contain any baking powder and, despite that, it is nice and friable. Maybe it was because of the low content of fats? Who knows. I soon stopped breaking my neck on that riddle. The thought of those cookies started to fade, until this week.

Read More