a very cranberry time of year
Wednesday, November 20th, 2013
Recipe: cranberry pâte de fruits
A few weeks ago, I was picking up product from Robin Chocolates for a shoot. Whenever I go into the production room, Robin offers me samples of her latest masterpiece confections and I usually decline or ask to cut a tiny corner to taste. She always gives me this grin and announces to everyone, “Oh yeah, Jen doesn’t like chocolate!” I’m pretty sure Robin finds this both confounding and mildly amusing, but then she’ll grab a little bag and fill it with goodies for me to take to Jeremy (who is a chocolate fiend). This time, I tried the cranberry pâte de fruit with vodka-and-lime-soaked cranberry ganache, because I’m a sucker for fruit. “Robin, this is amazing,” I muttered into the air while I tried to spread all of the flavors out in my mouth to taste each and every one. I made a mental note that I needed to get in on that cranberry pâte de fruit action.
sugar, cranberries, water, lemon, liquid pectin
line a square pan with parchment paper
then line with another piece of parchment perpendicular to the first to cover the edges
The recipe I used looked so easy… too easy. A short list of ingredients and a few minutes of bubble time on the stove was most of the work. Sadly, my first batch never set and wound up becoming a sort of cranberry spread to distribute among willing recipients. It tasted great, but it was too runny to hold a shape. I really hate when a recipe doesn’t work – especially when I drop a pretty penny on something like organic cranberries. A little research on other pâte de fruits recipes identified the problem.
slice lemon and remove seeds
place cranberries and lemon in a food processor
add water
**Jump for more butter**
