Beautiful and Festive Crabapple Preserves or Candied Crabapples

Crab apple Preserves

or

Candied Crab apples 

My Mom always made everything a celebration.  Our birthdays were not just a regular day.  On our birthdays we didn't have to do any chores.  Nothing! That by itself was a perfect day!  First thing in the morning, I couldn't come downstairs until Mom or Dad called for me. 

Walking down the stairs, I couldn't help but smile knowing how special everything was going to be.  As I stepped down each step I could see the lights had been dimmed, and I could smell my favorite breakfast, anything bacon! After the last step I would look up and see my family standing around a beautifully decorated table, arranged with flowers, a chocolate iced cake (my favorite) decorated beautifully, presents sitting on my plate and my family smiling and singing Happy Birthday to me.  I can't tell you how much those memories mean to me.  Like I said, my Mom always makes everything a celebration!  Thankfully some of my Mom's creativity has rubbed off on me. My best friend, Angie, calls me Rosie Jr.  I love it.  

Thanksgiving and Christmas were fantastic events, full of German customs mingled with American tradition.  We had advent wreaths, sugar cookies with smiling icing faces, Gingerbread houses iced with white sugar and covered in candies.  We wrote letters to Santa and awaited a visit from St. Nikolaus on Christmas eve while we remembered Jesus' birth at Christmas Eve service.  With nervous anticipation we would come into the house, to see if St. Nikolaus left us sticks with coal, or brightly covered pieces of chocolate.  We had to dress up in our best clothes for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.  Mom laid out her best china, linens and festive tablecloths.  Fresh pine fronds were cheerfully nestled among the silver serving dishes filled with steaming and home cooked foods.  Perfectly cooked turkeys with crisp golden skin, ham covered in pineapples, cloves and bright red cherries.  Gravy, stuffing, veggies, bread, casseroles, and salad laid out in abundance.  Right beside the ham, served in it's own silver bowl were the candied crab apples, covered in a bright red syrup.  In my mind I can still see those crab apples, served over a slice of ham. In the bowl they looked like Christmas tree decorations that should be sparkling on the tree, not shimmering at me under a spicy, sweet syrup.  With each slice of ham or turkey, Mom would carefully ladle the festive apples and syrup over each one. Absolutely delicious.

Last year I decided that I would find some crab apples and try my hand at making my childhood memory come to life again.  I mentioned to a lady at church and she told me that she has a crab apple tree in her yard.  She would check to see if they were still OK, then let me know.  Next time I saw here she told me that her apples had turned bad, but her daughter also had a tree and she would check, but that would turn out to be a bust as well.  It was too late in the season for the crab apples.  I was very disappointed.  I would just have to wait until next year.  

This summer, as I was walking around my neighborhood, I decided to go down a street I never walk on.  As I made my way along I noticed a tree with cherries on it.  As I neared the tree I realized they were crab apples!!  I was so excited I couldn't believe my eyes!   There they were, red, small round apples on a gorgeous green tree! Anyone who knows me, is shocked by what I did next, I marched right up to the front door of someone I don't know and knocked.  My heart was pounding and I was thinking, what am I doing! No one answered.  Unbelievable!  I got up the nerve to knock on a strangers door and no one is home.  Great.  I didn't think I'd ever get the nerve up again, but the memories flooded in and I

knew what I had to do.  The next day, I walked down that street again and knocked on the door.  No one answered.  This must be a cruel joke.  As I was walking away a man with a dog came toward me, he asked if he could help me.  I told him yes while proceeding to tell him I'd like to get some of the crab apples, but no one is home for me to ask permission.  He looked at me in an almost disgusted way, mingled with surprise and asked, "what in the world do you want with those nasty old crab apples?"  His mouth curled in distaste as he said it.  I told him my reasons and he advised me that the couple that lived there would not have a problem with me collecting as many apples as I could carry.  He explained that they despise the tree and are planning to chop it down.  He then went on to invite me to harvest white and purple concord grapes from his backyard.  He and his wife had planted grape vines along their fence line and there was an abundance of them.  I thanked him heartily promising to bring him a sample to try, and finished my walk as quickly as I could in order to prepare for an afternoon of harvesting fruit from my neighbors yards!  

I called Mom to inquire about the recipe, she informed me it is from a very old Kerr Canning Cookbook, which she would type out and e-mail to me.  I then took the boys to help me gather the crab apples and grapes.  We got a lot of fruit! I wasn't sure what to do with the grapes but thought I'd make jelly.  That's a story for another day though.  I knew I needed canning jars and lids, even though I don't know how to can.  I do know how to freeze, so I wasn't too concerned about preserving the crab apples.  The recipe seemed easy, but I didn't believe it, no way it could be so easy.  Let me tell you, it was easy.  It didn't take a lot of time.  I also added my own touches to the recipe. 

When I had cooked up the apples, they tasted just as I remembered and they were amazing!!!  I was so happy with how they turned out.  I took a jar for the the people who let me harvest the apples from their tree, a jar to the neighbor that let me harvest grapes and to a couple other people I told about and they all reacted negatively to the crab apples.  I also put a couple in a baggie, so they could taste them and decide if they wanted to keep the canned jar for the Holidays, or give it back to me if they didn't like them.   Everyone that tried them, loved them.  I had to go get more crab apples and make another batch.  I cleaned the tree of them.  After the second batch, I shared a jar with my friend Kimberly and she loved them.  I brought her a jar when we all met to eat lunch with two other families.  Everyone at table tasted them, and loved them.  The owner of the restaurant came over and tasted them and he wanted some too.  I have found more crab apples, but they are green.  I'm going to try them as well, but I am told they are a little more tart.  I have also been told of another family with a red crab apple tree in their yard!!!! I'm so excited.  

The most labor intensive thing was cleaning the apples and sorting through them.  I filled a sink with warm soapy water and poured some white vinegar in to kill any germs on the apples.  I left them in the sink for a few minutes and then rinsed them really well.  I then sorted through the crab apples taking out any with holes and placing them in a separate bowl to use later.  After the apples were sorted and ready I moved on to the next step, cooking them.  Here is the recipe for Crab Apple Preserves.  I call them Candied Crab Apples, but the Kerr Recipe names them Crab Apple Preserves.  

Crab Apple Preserves

Inspired by Kerr Canning Recipe Book

Select good sound apples, wash and remove the blossom end.  Leave stems on and do not peel.

Syrup:

3 Cups Water

6 Cups Organic Sugar

2 Fresh Cinnamon Sticks

1 Tsp cloves

1 1/2 Tsp Red Hots Cinnamon candy

Boil the syrup for 5 minutes

Add the crab apples to the syrup and boil until they are tender and transparent (my crab apples didn't become transparent, but the skin did split a little. I took that as the indication they were done.)

Work rapidly and Pack cooked apples into *sterilized canning jars, cover with boiling syrup and seal each jar as filled.  

Make sure to wipe the top rim of each jar, to make sure that there is nothing that will cause the seal to fail, before adding the lids.    

Two options:

1) Let the jars "heat seal".  With this method the apples should be eaten within a few months of preparing.  Making sure the jars are hot, as well as the lids, will help with this method.  Also make sure you are filling the jars with the boiling liquid and apples. Fill to "neck" of jar and try not to leave too much air space.  You can turn the jars upside down it you want, I left mine upright. As the contents cool, the lids contract and "pop" shut, sealing them.  

2) Place your filled jars on rack of large lidded canning kettle.  The jars have to be a least 1/2 inch above the kettle bottom so water can circulate and the water has to be at least 1 inch about the top of the jars.  Process in boiling water bath, at a rolling boil for 25 minutes.  Use canning tongs to remove the jars from the canner, put them on several thicknesses of cloth to cool. 

You should hear the lids "pop" indicating they have sealed.  

*Sterilizing Your jars:

Wash them in hot soapy water, rinse and then boil them in clear water for at least 15 minutes.  Turn upside down on a clean kitchen towel until ready to fill.  (or you could wash them in the dish washer under sanitize) 

Important for canning. 

To keep the jars warm,  you could place them in an oven set at the lowest heat setting.  

Scald the lids by placing them in a pan and pouring boiling water over them.  Do NOT boil the lids, but keep them warm until you are ready to use.  

NOTE: Without the Red Hot Candies, The syrup was a brown color, and didn't look very good.  That was a problem.  Everyone that heard about my desire to find crab apples, asked the same question; "why on earth do you want those nasty crab apples?"

I didn't want to use the Red Hots because of the artificial color and I suspect they are made with High Fructose Corn syrup which means it's probably made with GMO corn.  I try to stay away from anything that is GMO or GE.  In this case, I really had three choices.  

1. leave them out and have a muddy looking syrup no one would want to taste
2. add food coloring and get a strong dose of red 40 (which has been shown to cause a lot of problems in kids and adults.)
3. add the minimum amount of red hots, just to turn the syrup red and add more cinnamon flavor

I went with option number 3.  Sometimes you just have to go with it.  

The Kerr recipe only calls for the sugar, water and red hots. I added the cinnamon sticks and cloves.  

Cornstarch Salt Clay Christmas Ornaments

Cornstarch Salt Clay Christmas Ornaments

This is another project I have wanted to do with my son.  I have such nice memories of creating ornaments with my family.  Since I am addicted to Pinterest, I looked there first.  I found a wonderful recipe that also uses cornstarch.  I copied it down to use the next day.   I even tagged a friend of mine, so she could see the recipe and how their creations were decorated.  My friend Martha asked me for the recipe, so I tried to tag her on Pinterest,  I now, can't find the recipe.  I can find the pictures, but the link is to something unrelated.  So I am going to give the recipe, but I can not give the credit to whom deserves it.  To the right, is the picture, but no link to the author.  When I was a kid, my mom fixed us some salt dough. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I had so much fun making salt dough ornaments. In fact, the picture to the left are some of those ornaments.  Notice the round ornament in the upper left, that was my contribution.  

The next day I cooked up this recipe and it worked beautifully.  The first batch of dough turned out kind of whitish, but the second batch yellowed.  I don't know if this was because I used the same pot I used the first time, or if maybe I used too much salt?  No matter, they baked up beautifully and we had a wonderful time making these ornaments.  My friend, John, came over to help us make some very creative creations. He even made a pacman!  My son wants to make some more, he really enjoyed himself.    

Cornstarch Salt Clay:

2/3 cup salt

1/3 cup baking soda

1/2 cup corn starch

How to: 

Mix salt and soda with 1/3 cup water and bring to boil

In a small bowl combine cornstarch and 1/4 cup water stir well (use a fork)

When the salt and soda reach boiling, remove from heat 

Add the cornstarch mixture and stir vigorously for 1/2 minutes until a ball forms

Put ball of dough on wax paper to cool

Knead well once it's cool enough to handle.  DO NOT STORE USE IMMEDIATELY

I didn't try it, but you could try adding food coloring to make colored creations. 

I baked at 195 for 4 hours, 2 the night we made them, then left them in the heated oven overnight.  The next morning, the tops were hard but the bottoms were not, so I turned them over and baked the for 2 more hours. 

 Decorations:

Buttons
Strings of beads
Bedazzler crystals
Screws
Pipe Cleaners
Any left over beads, buttons, Christmas lights, screws, nuts bolts and whatever your imagination comes up with.

We used the pipe cleaner as hangers for some of the ornaments.  Press into dough before it dries
Some of our buttons came off, so I "gorilla" glued them back on.

Christmas Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Craft with Cinnamon Broom.

Christmas Reindeer Craft with Cinnamon Broom. 

 I don't usually post crafts, but this is one I've wanted to do for years.  After I got out of college, I moved to the beach.  I didn't care for living on the beach during Christmas, because there is no snow.  After growing up in the mountains, I usually had a white Christmas. To combat my homesickness, I decided to go to festivals and craft shows.  I thought that would put me in the Christmas spirit.  One stop was at an assisted living facility that had a craft and bake sale.  I found a Reindeer Broom, and had to have it.  It became a treasured Christmas decoration for years. Then it disappeared.  Every year, I would see a cinnamon broom and think, "I can make a reindeer broom."  I never did.  I've actually had these brooms for a couple of years, just waiting on me to turn them into Rudolph the Reindeer, or more appropriately, Rudolph the red nosed broom-deer.
I purchased everything I needed to make the broom-deer, but never got around to it.  I even had the googly eyes, but had misplaced them, so I purchased another pack.

 Then, misplaced them as well.  A couple of nights ago, my son and I went to the craft store and I told him we needed googly eyes.  He reminded me that we had two packs, and if I wouldn't lose them, I wouldn't have to buy new ones.  Smarty pants.  I purchased the third pack of googly eyes, thinking I should actually buy two packs instead of just one. That way, I could throw one pack in the trash, and then I'd always know where it was.  
I didn't want to lose any more googly eyes, so the brooms were brought out and I went to work.
It was a lot of fun, and not that hard.

I think they are really cute, and the craft was not very time consuming.  That's good, because I don't like to spend all day on a tedious craft, or anything for that matter.  Oh, and I found the other two missing packs of googly eyes.  Well, at least I won't have to buy anymore for a long, long, long, time.











Materials you'll need for:
Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer Broom-deer:

Cinnamon brooms
Pipe Cleaners
Red pom pom balls
Large googly eyes
Large jingle bells
String of small, colored jingle bells
Floral wire
Scissors
Glue

Split the brooms in half and tie each side with a pipe cleaner.  Attach a pine bough, or bells or pom poms to the pipe cleaner.
Glue on the googly eyes and the red nose
Take floral wire and cut to length, then put a pine bough at the base of the head and decorate with bells, pine boughs, or whatever you would like to make him look festive.

Wrap a length of floral wire around the base, under the pine bough, to make a hanger. Twist it tight, then make a loop with the remaining length, to hang on a door or wall.