Homemade Cumquat Marmalade

There is this very cute 90 years old lady selling jam and homegrown fruit for the church every week.  The fruit of the jam is donated by local farmers and made by volunteers with lots of love and kindness.  Their specialities are rosella jam in March, strawberry jam and cumquat marmalade in August, mango chutney in December. The day I went to visit her, her little store was full with bottles of cumquat marmalade and she was saying delightfully, "there is cumquat everywhere!"

I bought a bottle of marmalade and 1 kg of cumquat from her.  I didn't expect there would so many seeds in cumquat so it took me a while to cut up the fruit.  But it really worth the effort because the jam is tasty (as good as the one I bought) and I am pleased that I finally make jam without using the bread machine. And now, I have jam everywhere in my fridge and pantry!

Cumquat Marmalade
(make about 5x500g bottles)

Ingredients:
1 kg cumquats
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1.25L water
6 cups raw sugar
1 tablespoon jam setta (optional)

Method:

1. Wash cumquats, drain.  Quarter cumquats with knife but not cutting all the way through. Remove seeds and cut off the hard pitt from the centre if needed.  Don't worry if you do not remove all the seeds, it would float out later. 
2. Process cumquats in a blender then combine the cumquats mixture, lemon juice and water in a large saucepan.  Stand for at least 2 hours.
3. Bring the mixture to the boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Spoon out any seeds if you see them floating at the surface.
4. Add sugar to the mixture and boil for another 30 minutes. Skim scum with a metal spoon if necessary. 
5. The jam should turn thick and bubbling. Test the jam if it is set by dropping 1 tablespoon of hot jam onto a chilled plate, move it with finger after 40 seconds.  If it crinkles and thicken, its done.  If not, add 1 tablespoon jam setta and boil for another 5-10 minutes and repeat the test until the jam is set. 
6. Pour hot jam into sterilised jars, covered with transparent papers that have been dashed with lemon juice then tighten the jars with lids and rubber bands.

Adopted and modified from the cookbook "Classic Preserves Jams Chutneys Relishes" from the Australian Women's Weekly.

White Chocolate & Raspberry Blondies

After my guest post of white chocolate & raspberries muffins, it reminds me that this blondies recipe has been bookmarked for a long time and it's about time to review it.

Blondies is the white version of brownies, my favourite is the nutella chocolate brownies. Unlike a lot of people, I prefer my brownies using less oil and well cooked rather than the fudgy one.

This blondies is rich in butter taste and I like the raspberries puree which is much better than just putting in whole raspberries into the mixture so the blondies don't get too soggy.

What's your favourite brownies or blondies?

White Chocolate & Raspberry Blondies

60g raspberries
1/2 cup caster sugar
150g butter, chopped
250g white chocolate, chopped
3 eggs, beaten
1 2/3 cup plain flour ( I use 1 cup plain flour and 2/3 cup self raising)
1 teaspoon baking powder

Method:

1. Pre heat oven at 180c. Combine raspberries with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a saucepan over low heat. Leave cool a little and blend till puree formed.
2. Place butter and 200g chocolate and melt in a double boiler. Leave cool.
3. Whisk eggs and remaining sugar into a mixing bowl. Sift in flour and baking powder.  Stir in chocolate mixture and 50g white chocolate. Spoon into a lamington pan (I put into a square pan)
4. Drizzle over the puree and make a swirl with a skewer or knife.
5. I bake it for 35 minutes.  The recipe stated for 20 minutes and cool in fridge, please check the source from down below if required.
6. Cool in pan before cutting into pieces.

Source: adopted and modified from Delicious magazine through taste.com http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/28629/raspberry+white+chocolate+blondies