Charcaroons

Success! Sort of.

This evening I made Clementine Curd.. it's so funny making these things from scratch.. I remember my trauma at figuring out that mayo is essentially whipped oil. Gross. Well, most fruit curd recipes call for a POUND of sugar and a CUP of butter. Eep.

Technically you can preserve citrus curd with a water bath canning method, and keep in on the shelf for three months, but that seems like too much responsibility on myself and gift recipients, given the heightened risk of spoilage. Most curd recipes not meant for canning say you can keep in in the fridge for three months or in the freezer for up to a year. That's more like it..

It was a time intensive recipe, and involved half an hour of stirring the pot at the stove. Next time I will be sure to have a thermometer on hand, as it was hard to tell if it was thick enough. Right now it's in the fridge setting, fingers crossed.

Also in the photo; macaroons I made with the left over egg whites. A google of 'what to do with extra egg whites' took me to David Lebovitz's recipe. It was easy and very tasty (hard not to eat the dough before it got on the baking tray..) but I managed to burn them despite following directions. I suspect my oven is out of whack, I'll have to check on that. Luckily I only baked half of the dough up, you can freeze it for up to two months. Not that it will last that long. Also lucky; because they are burnt on the bottom we will be forced to eat them all and not give any away.

I also made some cranberry juice this week; it's great with sparkling water. I'm loving cranberries these days. The acidity of the berries feels very tonifying, at a time when everyone's immune systems are low. I stewed some up with as little sweetener as I could get away with and have been eating it on rye toast with chevre. Amazing.