Since Fall is in full swing, I added a little autumn-goodness to my Daring Baker challenge this month... Fresh Cranberry Jam. About this time last year I had wanted to make some things with fresh cranberries and found that in early fall you can only find those little guys tucked away in the corner of a gourmet market's freezer section for $5.99 a bag. Lesson learned, I purchased several bags of the fresh variety last November to store in my freezer for cranberrying all year long.
Never having preserved anything, I took the plunge, bought the little jars, looked up the directions in my canning cookbook and I was good to go. This recipe made 2 cups... perfect in case of screw-up. No problem- all was wonderful. Though a bit more chunky than I expected, the jam is delicious... sweet and tasty, and it has fall written all over it.
What better to go with that cranberry jam than pepitas! I topped some of my crackers with raw pepitas, and they roasted up nicely with the baking of the crackers.
It was a delicious combination and a great fall snack.
While the avocado dip looks like guacamole, it's actually rather different. There are white cannellini beans mashed within, and there is a *mint* component added to the flavor. It was a nice change from our usual guac., and we enjoyed it with our long and fancy Lavash Crackers!
As far as the challenge goes, I enjoyed the simplicity of it. Although my dough never quite reached that *windowpane* description of easy-to-pull-apart-without-tearing, it rolled out perfectly and baked up as crisp as crackers should be. I did think that they were rather good crackers too. And they were easy enough to make again for something more exciting than a Presidential debate!Labels: cocktail hour, Hungry Mornings