Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Welcome Autumn Tea Recipe

Apple butter is a real treat for the Fall. It takes a little time to
make, but it is so worthwhile! Not only can you serve it for tea and
breakfast, but you will have extra for gifts or for making Apple Butter Tartlets. This recipe takes about 2 hours from start to finish, which is much shorter than the cooking time called for in most apple butter recipes. I think you’ll be very happy with the delicious result.


Apple Butter
3 and 1/2 pounds apples, mixed sweet and tart apples
2 cups apple juice
2 and 1/2 to 3 cups dark brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
zest and juice of 1 lemon
6 half pint canning jars, lids, and a water processor, if preserving

Peel, core and quarter the apples. Place them in a large dutch oven with the apple juice. Bring to a boil and simmer until the apples are soft and can be pierced with a fork. Since you are using a mixture of apples, some may cook faster than others, so you may need to remove them to keep them from disintegrating into the juice.
Remove the apples with a slotted spoon and discard the juice. Process the apples in two batches in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, until the apples are thick and smooth.
Before returning the apple puree to the pan, measure it into a liquid
cup measure. For each cup of puree, add 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar to the pan. You should have 5 to 6 cups of apple puree. Add the vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg* to the pan, along with the lemon zest and juice. Be sure the zest is very finely grated.
Cook over the lowest heat setting for about 45 minutes, stirring now
and then to prevent sticking. The heat is too high if the butter is
bubbling. The butter is ready when it looks dark and is thick enough to mound up on a spoon.
Pour the butter into clean, hot jars and process in a water bath for
10 minutes. Refrigerate after opening or if not canning.
*Quality ingredients can make a big difference in this recipe. If you
can use a whole vanilla bean sliced in half and grate a whole nutmeg,
the flavor will be more intense. The Vietnamese Cinnamon
is also wonderful.

Copyright 2000-2010 by Invisible Loom and Craft, Renee Van Hoy. All Rights Reserved. Personal use only.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Tea on Tuesday; September Looming


We are still in love with "Paris" tea from Harney & Sons, with "Vanilla Comoro" and "Peach" coming in for close second choices. Our summer has been cool, so we have been drinking our teas hot, and have had only a few iced tea days.
September is already half over, and it seems time to plan for holiday gift giving. The Loom Class group at Yahoo has a wonderful "Lily Dolly" this week that would make a lovely gift, and the Loom-a-Long group at Ravelry is working on a "Snake Hat" that would make any child very happy. The Snake Hat is a good way to learn to knit cables as well. The Loom Dude continues to amaze me with his creativity, and has absolutely wonderful "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Little Bo Peep" dolls. Perfect holiday toys! Finally, the Markman Farms group at Yahoo has a wonderful stitch sampler class, and more great class scheduled for the rest of the year.
Happy looming!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

The Poppy Neckerchief Pattern


The Poppy Neckerchief pattern is available as a Ravelry download. Please email me with any questions or if you need a plain text version of the pattern.   $4.00 US  


Errata: Add line 10 for the start of the pattern, before the lace repeats begin:

Row 10: s1/p3/s1
pdf has been updated to reflect the correction.

I've also tested the pattern on a large gauge Knifty Knitter (red hat loom) after several requests. The pattern can be used on the large gauge loom with about 250 yards of Worsted Weight yarn (a smooth yarn recommended) as written. The larger loom gives a longer, looser scarf, but all the details of the stitch pattern and design are preserved. Enjoy!
Copyright 2010 by Invisible Loom and Craft, Renee Van Hoy. All Rights Reserved. Personal Use Only.