Marmalade! Marmalade! Cumquat Marmalade!

Whenever blood orange is in season, I felt the need to make the blood orange/cumquat/leek fish that we love so much.  However, the thing with cumquat is... you must buy a container of it when you only need 4.  There are people whom will insist on HOW sweet & great cumquats are, but I just simply hate them.  I blame it on my mother, I was forever scarred from my childhood memories of being forced to eat it every Chinese New Year!  After 4 days on the counter, I decided to make marmalade.  It's a very simple formula where you can easily substitute the cumquat with orange or even blood orange (great color for marmalade).

In this recipe, it's 1:1:1 ration with fruit, sugar, and water by WEIGHT.  Yes, by weight!  I know it's a hassle to break out your scale even if you do have one, but trust me.. you don't want to wing it as you go with jam/jelly/marmalade!  Since we are keeping the rind (contains pectin), I would recommend organic fruits if you can find them, so you don't have to worry about funky chemicals.


Cumquat Marmalade

100 g    Cumquat
100 g    Sugar
100 g    Water

• Wash & thinly slice the cumquat.  Pick out seeds
• Place cumquat, sugar, and water into a pot.  Bring to a boil, stir constantly so it doesn't burn
• Turn the heat down so it is just simmering for another 1/2 hour or so, until the rind is soft and the liquid is thin.  
• To check for "gel-ness" by place a small drop on a plate & place in the fridge for a couple minutes.  If the marmalade is ready, it will "gel" like soft jam.
• Can & lid.  Let cool on the counter top then store in the freezer up to 12 months!

Tea Time...

I love tea! Mainly because it relaxes me & make me feel civilized. For me, nothing is better than a pot of good Earl Grey & cucumber sandwiches at the tea time, maybe a couple truffles. I guess I will have to settle for a pot of Rooibos Lemon Chiffon & Matcha shortbread cookies, since I am currently out of EG.

Shortbread cookies are basically buttery cookies that can be either cut or mold to shape (just like Speculaas). Dough can be make ahead of time either refrigerated up to 1 week or freeze it up to 2 months time. If frozen, be sure to thaw out in the fridge over night before using.


Matcha Shortbread

2 C Flour
2 T Matcha
1/2 t Salt

1/2 C Butter, soften, unsalted (2 sticks)
1 C Sugar

• Cream butter and sugar for at least 5 minutes on high speed
• Mix all dry ingredients together and add slow to the creamed butter & sugar. Only mix until the dough comes together.
  
• Wrap dough & refrigerated for at least 30 minutes.
• Roll dough out to about 1/8" thick, cut and bake at 375 F for about 10 minutes, until the edge is lightly browned.
  

Note: if you don't have a mixer, you may sub sugar with powered sugar & just mix it well w/ butter and proceed w/ the next step.