Plum Crazy

My aunt Lori, the one who owns and runs the beautiful Stage Coach Farm, gave me a bunch of purple plums. So I thought, how could I make something for Christmas with this? Hmm… plums, plums. Sugar plums! So I look up a recipe for sugarplums and it turns out not only are they a candy that would go bad before Christmas. They are not even made with plums. Most recipes call for apricots or dates. So I made spiced plum preserves. I call it preserves because like the strawberry syrup I’m not sure what the consistency will be. That’s what happens when you experiment. Here are the ingredients.

30 plums or 5 cups peeled and chopped (Tip: cut them in half and scoop out the innards with a melon scoop)

3 cups sugar

4 TBSP corn starch

dash nutmeg

dash cloves

big dash cinnamon

little dash ground coriander seed

Mix the sugar and cornstarch and set aside. Boil the plums till it is all juicy. Add sugar mixture and stir occasionally. When it starts bubbling, stir constantly. You’ll want to keep the temp at like 6 or 7. Do this for like 5 minute. Have 3, one pint jars and lids ready and add the spices. Once it’s all goopy it’s done. I suppose if you want it thicker you could cook it for longer but I have never tried it. Now put it in your jars, wipe the edges and seal in boiling water for 30 minutes. For details on sealing, read my older post Looks Like Syrup.

Officially I call it Sugarplum Butter because it has the consistency of apple butter and oh my gosh it is so good. I think it goes best on biscuits. Try it for thanksgiving dinner. Your family will love it.

Cinnamon Awesome

I don’t know if you have ever seen those little cans of pillsbury rolls, biscuits or cinnamon rolls with just four or five in each tube but if you have a very small family, like me, you may want to try them. Now, if you have, one thing you might have noticed with the cinnamon rolls is the difficulty in finding a pan that five rolls will fit snuggly in to. Oh sure you can bake them on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart like the package directs. If you don’t care for ooie gooie sticky sweet cinnamon rolls. So, through trial and err I came up with this cheaters recipe for the Cinnamon Blossom, or as my three-year-old calls it, the Cinnamon Awesome.

Put 5 pillsbury cinnamon rolls into a round greased 16 oz baking dish in a circle like a pinwheel (see photo 1).

 

Bake at 325 for 25 minutes or until golden brown ( see photo 2).

Ice and serve ( see photo 3).

So, give it a try. I hope your family likes it as much as mine does. And don’t be afraid to experiment to find something that works for your family. It took me three or four times to get this one right. Good luck and have fun creating something.