Hello world!

Welcome to PieHeartYou! One of my passions is creating beautiful and delicious treats, sweets and other kitchen delights. Over a span of 40 years, I have collected and created hundreds of awesome birthday cakes, pies, cookies, International desserts and a variety of other show-stopping culinary delights. My grandfather was a baker, and I like to think that I inherited my love of all things BAKED from him. The purpose of this blog is to take my readers on a world wide journey from their kitchen. I hope to introduce you to my wonderfully talented friends who also share my love of baking! Let’s get started!

January in Arizona

This is one of the best times of the year in Arizona. The weather is wonderful and all of the citrus trees are full of delicious ripe fruit. We have the greatest neighbors who share their plentiful crop with us each year. I have a laundry basket full of fresh grapefruit, lemons, and oranges. As the New England Patriot vs. Chargers football game was beginning, I thought I would make a batch of Grapefruit, lemon, and orange Marmalade. By the end of the game, I had 16 jelly jars full of delicious marmalade. Last year I made a batch of Limoncello and Lemon Marmalade. I still have some of the Limoncello that I keep in the freezer so today I also made a nice Limoncello Bundt Cake. I hope you try both of these recipes whether you have the citrus trees in your yard or find yours at your local grocery store- both well worth the effort.

Limoncello Bundt Cake

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Grapefruit, Lemon, & Orange Marmalade

Ingredients:

5 lbs. of ripe fruit. (I used 4 oranges, 3 grapefruit and 3 lemons.

6 cups of sugar

Directions:

Wash and sterilize in boiling water 16 4-oz. Jelly jars, including the lids and rings. Dry thoroughly and set aside until ready to fill.

1. Weigh your fruit to measure 5 lbs. Wash and dry the fruit.
2. Using a zester, remove all of the outer bright skin from the fruit into a bowl. Do not use the deeper white layers. If you do not have a zester, you can use a peeler or sharp paring knife.
3. Cut each fruit in half and using a grapefruit knife (or sharp paring knife), cut each section of fruit out and place in a large pot. This is a slow, tedious process to make sure you remove all seeds and the membranes from the fruit.
4. Using a small electric juicer, get all of the remaining juice from the sectioned fruit halves. Pour this juice in the large pot with the fruit sections. Place all membranes and seeds in a small little bowl for later use.
5. Combine zest, fruit, juice, 4 Cups of water, and 6 cups of sugar in the large heavy pot. Bring to a boil.
6. Meanwhile, cut 4 squares of cheesecloth about 8 x 8 inches. Stack the pieces of cheesecloth, and place all seeds and pulp membranes in the middle of the square. Pull the corners up and tie it with string to make a small sack. Place this secured sack into the heavy pot with the soon to be boiling juice/fruit/sugar/zest/water mixture. (This is important to release more natural pectin into the marmalade- so it will set up nicely when cooled)
7. While this mixture is coming to a boil, put a canning kettle full of water on the stove to heat to boiling. When the marmalade is ready to pour into jars, you will give the closed jars a “water bath” for 10 minutes to sterilize the marmalade.
8. Bring the Marmalade to a boil to 220 degrees for a full 10 minutes. (This takes awhile). I used a candy thermometer to make sure I had the right temperature. Then remove from heat for 5 minutes.
9. I pour the hot liquid into a clean 2 cup glass measuring cup and fill the 4-oz. jars from that. Place lid on each jar and then screw the ring on to where it is “finger-tight”.
10. Then load the jars in the boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and set out to completely cool. You will hear the “pinging” sound as the jars seal. If a jar top does not seal, you will need to refrigerate it. (You can tell because when the lid is pressed in the center, it pops)
11. The sealed marmalade should keep for 6-12 months in a dry, cool place.

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