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queencallipygos
2008-04-03 06:23 pm UTC (link)

I sometimes work in theater, and so sometimes I have need for "opening night gifts" for casts -- and jam works GREAT for "need large quantity of some random gift for little money and little effort." A standard batch of jam makes enough for 16 of those cute little half-a-cup size jars, which is about right for a gift, and that's enough to take care of a standard cast, the crew, and all the designers and the director; it only takes about an hour, especially if you use pectin; and you look amazingly impressive when you hand people these jars and they all go, "holy shit you MADE this???"

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	shaysdays 2008-04-03 09:20 pm UTC (link)
	http://www.recipezaar.com/13921 nod nod nod Not quite 'homemade' but also a good 'crowd' present- I always have a bunch on hand around Xmas for people who fall through the cracks or give me something I wasn't expecting. Dollar store Xmas mugs FTW, btw. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	queencallipygos 2008-04-03 09:29 pm UTC (link)
	I actually did a cranberry-walnut conserve this year -- the best part is, all my friends give me back the empty jars, and my family is a supplier to Ocean Spray so I also get all the cranberries free -- so the only thing I had to buy were the walnuts. So I ended up making three Christmas presents for only about three bucks. :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

shaysdays
2008-04-03 09:38 pm UTC (link)

Sweet. I usually make cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving for everyone... I make mine with a bag of cranberries, half a blood orange (seeded and the skin cut into fine strips) and a half cup of sugar, with a pinch each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add enough water to cover, and simmer the helluva it until it gets nice and gooey. (For one person I also add a pinch of white pepper because he likes his a little fiery.) Feel free to steal- the strips of orange peel aren't to everyone's taste... until they taste them!

I have two kinds, the cooked and the blendered...ed. Same ingredients. but I don't like the blender kind as much because the crans don't mellow, so I add a little OJ instead of water to balance out the tartness a bit.

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	queencallipygos 2008-04-04 05:52 pm UTC (link)
	I've tried a couple different recipes. There's a family recipe that I've tried to get out of one of my aunts, but both times I've sent the request I think she's decided to pretend she never got my email, so we'll see... (Reply to this)(Parent)

magic_lilybean
2008-04-03 10:51 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, I haven't done the jam/jelly thing yet, but at Christmas time I made honey butter (it's honey + butter, but people are weirdly impressed by this) and homemade bread for everyone because we were really strapped. People raved. Success!

(I never cared for honey butter, but this recipe called for some orange zest and that was just what it needed to push it into PURE WIN. 1/3 cup honey + 1/2 cup butter + 1 teaspoon orange zest = WIN.)

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	risha 2008-04-03 11:53 pm UTC (link)
	Mmmm! You just mix them together, right? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	magic_lilybean 2008-04-04 12:43 am UTC (link)
	Well, soften the butter, of course. And use a mixer; the honey and the butter stay separate otherwise. And refrigerate right after you put them in their containers, or they separate again, too. Good on cold bread as well as melty on fresh bread. It's really the orange peel that makes it so yummeh. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	risha 2008-04-04 01:21 am UTC (link)
	I will definitely be trying this out this weekend. Maybe I'll make biscuits. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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