David Lebovitz's No-Recipe Cherry Jam

Part of the fun of having a food blog is that you get to make things you wouldn't ordinarily think of. 

Like .. cherry jam. My inability to find cherry jam at my local grocery store was all the inspiration I needed to make it from scratch for the BWD challenge  two weeks ago  (Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte).

An online search for a simple recipe that wouldn't require preservatives led me to DL's no-recipe cherry jam . And that's what it was - not a recipe,  but step-by-step instructions on how to make the jam. It seemed simple enough, not much unlike my previous attempts at making strawberry jam.

I wanted a thick jam - almost like cherry preserves. So, here is what I did:

from David Lebovitz's recipe for no-recipe Cherry Jam

2 pounds cherries (half sour, fresh ones + half dark, sweet & pitted frozen)

2.5 cups sugar (roughly - since I had just under 4 cups of cooked cherries)

zest and juice of 2 whole lemons

a few drops of pure almond extract

Rinse cherries, remove pits and stems. Chop them roughly into small pieces - but leave some whole or simply halved to get texture. 

Add the cherries to a large stockpot. Add  just enough water to cover & mix in the lemon juice and zest. 

Cook the cherries over medium heat until they are wilted and completely soft. This took me about 25 minutes. Once they are cooked, measure how much of the cherry & juice mixture you have and add in 3/4 of the amount of sugar. I somewhat under 4 cups so I added roughly 2.5 cups of sugar. 

Stir the sugar and cherries and cook over moderate to high heat. While you are cooking the jam, place a small plate in the freezer. 

Keep stirring the jam and scraping the bottom as you go so that you don't end up burning the mixture. If you use a thermometer - you'll see that the jam will jel at around 220 - 230F. 

If you don't have a thermometer - use the frozen plate to test the doneness of your jam. Once it begins to look thicker & seems to be gelling, take it off the heat and spoon out a small amount onto the plate and return it to the freezer. Remove after a few minutes and test by nudging with your finger. If it wrinkles, it means it's done. If it seems runny, cook the jam a little longer and test again. 

Once it's done, take it off the heat and add a few drops of almond extract. Ladle into jars, seal and let cool at room temperature before putting it in the fridge to cool.

According to DL, the jam keeps for a few months. In my case, it has lasted barely two weeks and I was able to save only a few tablespoons of jam in order to take these photos. 

Here, I smothered it on the Tender Shortcakes I made this week. And what a blend of flavors this was: slightly sour cherry from the jam and the hint of ginger in the shortcakes. 

One word: yum.

Baking With Dorie: Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte

Dorie Greenspan: where were you my entire life? 

My husband and I love a good cheesecake & so I've attempted to make it a couple of times in past years and always found it to be one of those elusive things that I just can't quite get right. Either I would burn the crust, under-bake the filling or the filling would split in the middle - making a very messy looking cake. In fact, I've never been able to make a cheesecake with a filling that didn't crack. And I've always found the recipes I've tried to be too sweet, too heavy.

When Elizabeth of Gluten Free Baking 101 chose this recipe for this weeks' Baking With Dorie challenge, I was prepared for cheesecake-fail. But then I thought: so far Dorie hasn't let me down & so maybe this time I would finally succeed in making a good & smooth-looking cheesecake!

The ingredient list called for cottage cheese which isn't available locally where I live & Ricotta is prohibitively expensive, so I told my baking partners Susi and Elizabeth that I would be making my own cottage cheese. 

That is easy enough. But then I couldn't come up with cherry jam and decided to make my own jam as well. I used David Lebovitz's directions for making cherry jam using two pounds of cherries; half fresh sour cherries and half frozen, dark & sweet ones. The directions are available here. Since I wanted a very thick jam, I used only enough water to cover the cherries, added the zest of two whole lemons and followed the rest of David's directions. The jam was ready in around half an hour & I've had a very, very hard time restraining myself from eating any of it before I could use it for the baking challenge today. It is so good & I like it even better than my homemade strawberry jam. 

Susi joked that I've turned this week's challenge into a Daring Bakers challenge by making all the ingredients by scratch. It's been a bit of work in that sense & I've stretched it over a couple of days like I did with the lemon tart we made for the last challenge, but I enjoyed it so much. 

I finally got around to baking the torte this morning. Dorie's instructions are easy to follow, and I thought I got everything right. . . 

But: my cake split again :( 

I got past my disappointment, waited for the cake to cool slightly and dusted with icing sugar. 

I released the sides of the pan but didn't try to remove the base of the spring-form pan that I baked in - just in case I broke the bottom of the crust and I didn't want to deal with that kind of disaster at this point.

Then I cut myself a slice of not quite-as-yet-cold-cheesecake. Pure heaven. I can only imagine how much better it will taste when completely chilled.

I think I finally succeeded in making the perfect cheesecake: perfect crust, smooth filling (except for the cracks) that wasn't too sweet. or too heavy Simple to make. Thank you Dorie! I've gotta tell you: I really love you!

For the recipe, check out Susi's page & do go over to Elizabeth's blog and see how she made a Gluten-Free version of this torte. 

Our next challenge is Tender Shortcakes on Pages 423-424, picked by Susi. If you would like to join the challenge, please drop me an email.

Super Easy Strawberry Jam

Love Strawberries? I do. 

In my part of the world, we get fresh, locally grown strawberries only between November and February. Right about now, strawberries start going on sale all over the place and I buy large amounts with the best of intentions.

The possibilities are endless. 

But most of the time, I never get to the ice creams and sorbets I was planning to make. We just simply end up eating through them all - with breakfast, or as snacks. But one thing I never fail to make each year is strawberry jam.  

I make jam just as the strawberry season is ending each year, so that we can savor the last of the berries for the next several weeks to come. 



Love Strawberry Jam? 

Want to try making your own? It's easy. 

Here's how :