I created this recipe when my daughter was a baby and was starting to eat solid food. This was something she and everyone else could have at Thanksgiving. It has since been required at every Thanksgiving with the men especially requesting it. It’s a very simple recipe – and you get two different dishes from it, which is why I always triple the recipe.
It used to be 4th of July when I would make apricot jam – starting back in the 70’s. With the drought in California, the fruit has ripened earlier in the last few years. Now it’s the beginning of June for ripe apricots.
If you haven’t heard of Yotam Ottolenghi, you’ve missed the last 6 years of news and the many cookbooks he has put out inspired by his restaurants in London –
This pie was required eating at Thanksgiving and Christmas when I grew up. Here’s the recipe to make the pie. I made a gluten free crust.
After making candied citron twice, I found making candied orange and lemon peel easier. (I’ll share the recipe for candied citron in another post.) It’s not hard, it just takes some time. I made the candied orange peel and lemon peel in an afternoon. It needs to dry overnight and then it ready for use the next day.
My brother, Hunter, and I decided it was time to make a batch of mincemeat for mincemeat pies – after repeated requests from friends wanting mincemeat pies. We grew up with our paternal grandmother, aunt and father making a batch every Thanksgiving, so it would meld in the canning jars and be ready by Christmas for pies. My brother and I had never made the recipe, although we certainly had observed the process. Two other interested friends, Rob and Christine, joined us to mix up a batch of 16 to 20 quarts. That’s how much mincemeat my great grandmother’s recipe from her 1883 cookbook makes.