Raspberry Fig Newtons

Raspberry Fig Newtons

They may not look real pretty, but they sure do taste yummy!

1 cup butter flavored Crisco + 2 tbsp water

1½ cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp cardamom

2¾ cups all purpose flour

2½ cups fig preserves

1 3 oz. pkg. raspberry flavored Jell-O

In a large mixing bowl beat sugar and Crisco together until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, baking soda, cream of tartar, vanilla, salt and cardamom and mix until combined. Beat in flour a little at a time until well combined.

Preheat oven to 375°.

In small bowl combine jell-o and preserves together and mix until jell-o is dissolved.

In batches spread cookie dough along the long edges of a cookie sheet making two rows on either side about 2½ -3 inches wide (cookie sheet will allow you to do two rows at a time).  Spread preserves along the edges of the dough one inch wide.  Bake 375° for nine minutes; remove from oven and gently fold over the dough side without the preserves on it.  Gently press down with spatula and bake an additional 5 minutes, remove and cut into bars.  Cool completely on wire racks.

© Crackerberries 2012

Muscadine Wine

Muscadine Wine

1 peck Muscadine grapes

3½ gallons water

15 lbs sugar

2½ tbsp yeast

Process grapes in blender so that they are almost liquefied; should yield about 8 quarts.  Fill blender with ½ cup water to each batch of grapes processed.  Place all ingredients in large vat (I use a cooler) and sprinkle yeast on top, cover and let stand 24 hours. 

Stir well at the same time every day, for the next ten days.  On the eleventh day, strain wine with mesh strainer into glass gallon jugs.  Seal as tight as possible and place in cool dark area without moving for six weeks. 

(There is no place cool in South Carolina so, we placed them on the porch under a table).  One jug exploded on the second day.  It is wise to place jugs in plastic bags or some sort of covering so that if you should have an explosion, the mess is minimal.  Otherwise, purple grape juice stains.

Four days prior to the end of the sixth week, loosen the covers on the jugs.  This will stop the fermenting process. 

 Strain the wine through cheese cloth into sterilized wine bottles, cork and process with wax.  There are no sulfites in this homemade wine.  The wine will start to turn to vinegar in about 18 months so when making this recipe, keep that in mind. 

The second batch I used the same recipe and infused 10 hot Chile peppers, seeds and all.  It has quite a bite to the flavor.  There is nothing quite like the flavor of a homemade batch of wine.

© Crackerberries 2012