8 Ways to Use Toe Jam

T.O.E. Jam - Tangerine, Orange & Elderberry Jam

If you're looking for something a little out-of-the-ordinary, our Toe Jam can't be beat.  After all, it's not everyday you hear someone say, "Man, I really wish I had some Toe Jam to go with these Ritz Crackers."  But once you try our best-selling T.O.E. Jam, you'll feel the need to buy a jar, and maybe one for each of your friends.  Toe Jam combines tangerines, oranges and elderberry into a tangy, citrus-flavored jam that blends wonderfully into sweet and savory dishes in addition to being a fruit spread on breads, pastries, and meats. 

Spread it, Glaze it & Top it Off

The beauty of Toe Jam is that it's more than just a jar of jam you'll reach for every morning when you make your English muffin,  it's a jar of epicurean pleasures and possibilities.  You can use T.O.E. Jam as a spread for sandwiches, use it to create a glaze for pork, lamb or chicken, or use it as a topping over fruit crumble or my favorite, the fruit center of jamwich cookies.  In fact, there are so many ways to use Toe Jam, we've decided to make you a helpful list.

8 Ways to Use Toe Jam

Toe Jam Appetizers or Hors d'oeuvres

Add T.O.E Jam to crackers with cream cheese for an easy appetizer.

Great recipe from Julie's Eats & Treats Cream Cheese Dip

Use T.O.E. Jam with goat cheese, smoked cheddar or brie along with caramelized onion to top crostini for an impressive appetizer. 

Find this great recipe for Onion and Jam Crostinis at Cooks with Cocktails 

Toe Jam as a Condiment 

Add Toe Jam as a condiment to spice up dishes and cheese plates.

Your Southern Peach's beautiful Cheese Plate

Toe Jam Pancakes

Just pour gourmet TOE jam over fresh hot pancakes and add a dollop of whipped cream!

Sour Cream & Jam Stacked Pancakes from The Novice Chef

Toe Jam filled Baked Goods

Make a Toe Jam Fruit Crisp by Pouring a layer of homemade toe jam in a glass pan over a mixture of oatmeal, butter, brown sugar, and almonds.

Oatmeal Crumble Bars by Averie Cooks

Toe Jam Ice Cream

Make an easy Fruit Sundae: Just pour old fashioned toe jam over ice cream or add a layer of Toe Jam to Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Easy Cookies and Jam Ice Cream Sandwiches from Framed Cooks

Make Toe Jam Turnovers:

Cut puff pastry into squares, fill with toe jam, crimp the edges with a fork and bake until golden brown. The combination of Tangerines, Oranges, and elderberry juice make a delicious turnover.

Raspberry Cream Turnovers by Well Floured

Toe Jam Glaze for Meat or Vegetables:

Use toe jam as a delicious glaze on meats such as fish, lamb, pork chops, or as a glaze on vegetables.

Glazed Tenderloin by Skinny Taste

So there you have it, 8 ways to use Toe Jam.  Whenever you want to change things up a bit, and add the wonderful Tangerine, Orange and Elderberry flavor combination to something, make sure you have a jar of Dennis Port General Store T.O.E. Jam on hand.  

Brigham's Hot Fudge Sauce Recipe

One of the best things about running a cook shop is learning about great recipes.  This usually happens when asking a customer for what purpose they'll be using the item they wish to buy.  Today, Theresa came in to buy a double-boiler insert.  When I asked her what she was making, I received the most heavenly edible gift recipe ever, the iconic recipe for Brigham's Hot Fudge.  My eyes probably bulged out of my head and my hands flew to my mouth to muffle a gasp of joy when she uttered the words, Brigham's Hot Fudge.  My love affair with Brigham's Ice Cream began in the womb, it's embedded into my family's DNA, and I admit as a child I fantasized about a bedroom-sized ice cream freezer full of Brigham's Vanilla Ice Cream.  And right after my love for ice cream sits my love for all things chocolate, especially hot fudge.  According to Theresa, who grew up in West Roxbury (and realized she knew my grandmother, a Bernadine, during the course of our conversation), she gives out mason jar gifts full of this decadent sauce every year at Christmas to the joy of her friends and family.

Boston's Classic Hot Fudge 

I was incredibly overjoyed when Theresa kindly offered to write down the recipe for Boston's classic hot fudge sauce, because I was prepared to beg.  And the fact that she knew the recipe by heart attests to the commitment she has to making it as often as possible.  So without further ado, let's get down to making the most delicious recipe for hot fudge that is so good, you may become like some of Theresa's hot fudge gift recipients, who forgo the ice cream and just eat it straight from the jar.

PRINT:

For a printable version of Boston's Best Hot Fudge recipe click the "print" button.  What do you think?  Is this hot fudge sauce recipe not the best, most heavenly edible gift ever?

*Update

Home Made Boston's Best Hot Fudge Labels

I made labels for my ball jar lids using Avery Design & Print Online.  They almost look a little too professional, so much so that my dad didn't realize I had slaved over the stove to make him his beloved hot fudge sauce for Christmas.  I'd be happy to share these labels I made with you.  Just click HERE to print my Home Made Boston's Best Hot Fudge labels for your own canning jar lids.

The best thing about printing these from the Avery website is they let you choose how many you want to print.  This recipe makes about 4 1/2 regular sized ball jars, so I only wanted to print 4 labels and save my printer ink.  I was so happy that I was able to print just the 4 labels I needed.

Tips to Make Chocolate Cake Dog-Gone Delicious

I love to slather Ganache on top of Bundt cake, especially, Chocolate Bundt Cake.  And I also love creamy filling.  That's what lead to this creation, our Ganache Topped Devil Dog Cake.  The addition of ganache makes it dog-gone delicious!

Watch as we turn an every day Chocolate Bundt Cake into a Devil Dog Bundt Cake and kick it up a notch with the addition of the most delicious Ganache Chocolate:

Get the recipe for LaBelle's Chocolate Ganache we used on our Devil Dog cake HERE.

Cake Baking Essentials

It's always important to have the right tools for the job, and for making a Bundt Cake, it couldn't get more essential than using the right pan.  Nordic Ware's Platinum Bundt Pan is top rated and as our video shows, it makes the perfect, most amazing Bundt Cake.

And where would I be without this Wire Cooling Rack?  So versatile, we use it for everything from baking chicken to cooling off cakes and cookies.  Since we usually have a lot going on in our kitchen, we have about 4 of these excellent racks.

This cake looks great, doesn't it?  But it could be better.  Frosting it would take away from the beautiful edge created by the NordicWare Bundt Pan.  The only worthwhile alternative it to slice it in half and spread across some incredible cream filling.  Buttercream is always a nice choice. 

Another great tool to have in your arsenal is a long serrated knife and it was absolutely necessary in order to cut this Bundt in half in order to 'devil dog' it.  This 12" Slicer from Dexter is made in Massachusetts and most often used to slice bread and roasts, but it's also perfect for slicing cake.

And never skimp on chocolate chips!  Love those little devils.

It's important to use your favorite chocolate for your Ganache.  And spread it on thick!

Stay tuned for our Devil Dog Cake recipe!

Chocolate Strawberry Shots with Ganache Filling

Turn Strawberries into Shot Glasses

Here's a great way to take Chocolate Dipped Strawberries to a whole new level:  Ganache-filled Strawberry Shots!  You can turn a strawberry into a shot glass with just a few flicks of the wrist.  First, hollow out your strawberries with either a paring knife or a strawberry huller to make room for a shot full of ganache chocolate.  Then slice off the pointed tip of the strawberry to make it possible to stand the strawberry up after it's been dipped in melted chocolate.  I love how it looks like a footed edible shot glass when it's all done!  Yum!

Chocolate Strawberry Shots with Ganache Filling                    Print

Ingredients:

• 1 pint of strawberries
• 8 oz Chocolate Flavored Candy Wafers
• 4 ounces heavy cream
• Sheet pan lined with a baking mat or parchment paper
• Strawberry Huller and Paring Knife

Directions:

1. Slice off the pointed end of the strawberry, just enough to form a flat surface
2. Slice off the top of the strawberry, and carefully hollow out a cavity.
3. Melt 4 ounces of Chocolate Candy Wafers according to package instructions
4.  Create the footed bottom of your strawberry shot by dipping the sliced end of strawberry into melted wafers. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet and chill for 5 minutes. You may have to hold the strawberry in place for a moment so that it does not fall over.
5. Melt 4 ounces of candy wafers according to package instructions. Microwave 4 ounces of heavy cream until hot. Stir melted wafers and hot heavy cream together to make ganache.
6. Fill strawberry cups with ganache. You can add whipped cream as a garnish.
7. Enjoy!

Here's a few of the kitchen essentials we used in today's recipe preparation:

Victorinox Bird's Beak Paring Knife

Our favorite Baking Liner

Delicious Chocolate

Sheet Pan

Chef'n Strawberry Huller

Ganache Chocolate Recipe

Ganache chocolate is a luxuriously decadent topping and filling that makes everyday cakes, cookies, and pastries boldly and extravagantly gourmet.  Ganache chocolate comes from the French culinary tradition, and since we're also of French decent, it is our duty to honor our forefathers by promoting the use of ganache whenever possible.  I like to call our chocolate ganache recipe, Ganache with Panache.

Traditional ganache is made from just cream and chocolate, but since we have a hard time doing just about anything the traditional way, we use 4 ingredients: semi-sweet chocolate, heavy cream, confectioners sugar, and instant coffee.  We've found that by adding the confectioners sugar, the ganache has less of the bitter taste found in traditional ganache and in addition, it gives it more body allowing it to 'hug' cake better.  We all want to hug cake, don't we?  It also makes ganache that is incredibly shiny and lip-smackingly de-luscious.  The instant coffee kicks the chocolate up a notch...and fyi, it may also potentially keep you awake a little longer if you're enjoying at night.

Speaking of 'enjoying the night', after watching the amazing half-time performance of Bruno Mars during the Superbowl, we decided our Ganache video would be another great showcase for his unparalleled talent:

Ganache with Panache                                    Print

Ingredients

8 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 tsp instant coffee

Directions

1.  Chop chocolate into small pieces to ensure even melting.

2.  Create a double boiler by placing a heat-proof bowl over pot with a few inches of simmering water.

3.  Pour chocolate into bowl and add cream, sugar, and instant coffee while stirring.

4.  Once chocolate has melted, and it looks creamy and de-luscious, it's done.

If you're using this ganache as a cake topper, and you can't wait for it to cool because you are in dire need of sweetness, we suggest wearing an oven glove to hold the bowl while using a ladle to 'bathe' the cake.  If you haven't started drooling at this point, you are a stronger person than I.

Savourer!

Making Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Bars with Teddie Peanut Butter

For chocolate and peanut butter lovers, this recipe is the end-all-be-all. We really don't need anything more. Just peanut butter and chocolate.  Keep it simple, as I always say...

Creamy Peanut Butter and Rich Milk Chocolate:  Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together

My husband doesn't buy me flowers--too often--he buys me Buckie's---our favorite local bakery---Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars.  If you saw us playing hooky the other day On the Slopes with Fox 25 at Mount Sunapee, you may have noticed we won two jars of Teddie Peanut Butter--made in Massachusetts!  You can watch the video here:  On the Slopes at Mount Sunapee with the peanut gallery! We really were thrilled to win Teddie Peanut Butter because I am a peanut butter purist, a holy-roller for buying ONLY peanut butter without added sugar, and Teddie Peanut Butter fits the bill.  Teddie has just two ingredients: Roasted Peanuts and Salt.  Amen.



We made a decision, as a family, that we had no other choice but to dedicate one of the jars of Teddie Peanut Butter to a batch of our beloved Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars.  I was planning on using my favorite Ghiradelli Chocolate Chips, but upon further inspection of my pantry, I noticed a bag brimming with Milk Chocolate Candy Melts, the ones you use for fondue or in chocolate fountains.   It was a choice we've come to rejoice.  Hallelujah.

 

You can make this recipe without an oven in sight.  Just crush 2 packs of graham crackers, melt 2 sticks of butter, sift in 2 cups of confectioner's sugar, blend in 1 cup of peanut butter, and away you go.

It's helpful to make a sling out of parchment paper to line your 9 x 13 pan before pressing your peanut butter mixture into the bottom.  Later, you can just grab the sling and lift the bars out of the pan.  Melt your chocolate using a double boiler or microwave it in 30 second intervals.  I used a stainless steel bowl over a simmering pot of water- worked like a dream.  Once your chocolate is melted to perfection, gracefully spread it across the peanut butter.  :)
*Do not attempt to operate heavy machinery after enjoying one of these bars.  ;)

Click to Print

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients

1 cup butter, melted

2 packages (a little more than 2 cups) Graham Cracker crumbs

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1 cup old fashioned peanut butter (and a bit more to add to the chocolate)

2 - 3 cups chocolate chips or melts

Directions

1.  In a large bowl-I used my KitchenAid for this recipe, combine melted butter and crushed Graham Crackers.

2.  Sift in confectioner's sugar and blend well.  Mix in peanut butter.

3.  Using parchment paper, create a 'sling' by lining a 9x13 pan so that the paper hangs out over the sides a few inches.

4.  Press mixture into bottom of pan.

5.  Melt chocolates in a stainless steel bowl over a sauce pan filled with simmering water.

6.  If you're using chocolate chips, add a heaping scoop of peanut butter to the melting chocolate.

7.  Spread chocolate across the peanut butter mixture.

8.  Cover and refrigerate for at least a half hour, then cut into squares. 

Pie Contest this Weekend!

Put our Pie Contest on your calendar for this Saturday, November 9th at 11am! 

What's the very best part about our pie contest?  Free pie for all!

Register to enter here.