Budget Gourmet: Raspberry Pretzel

Rebeca Kipp from Pink Pineapple Bakery in Surfside Beach stopped by to make their Raspberry Pretzel.

How to Assemble a Raspberry Pretzel

This is a super fun small pastry that you can fill with anything. Peanut butter, Nutella, jams, etc. We recommend you stay away from anything chunky because it will give you a hard time when twisting.

You will need Puff Pastry sheets (these can be purchased at your local grocery store brands like Pillsbury and Pepperidge Farm make puff pastry) Follow the following directions to make your very own Raspberry pretzels.

·         Set your two sheets of puff pastry side to side

·         Spread you desired filling evenly and thinly on one of the sheets

·         Place the second sheet on the frosted sheet

·         Placing the puff sheet vertically cut with a pizza cutter or a sharp knife strips about 1” thin

·         Take a strip of dough. Stretch it for a little bit, by bouncing it up and down a couple of time.

·         Proceed to twist it

·         Place the twisted strip of dough in a horse shoe shape in front of you.

·         Take each end of the twisted dough: cross, twist and bring the ends up and finish the pretzel shape.

·         Place on banking sheet with paper.

·         Bake in a 350 oven for about 30 to 40 minutes or till golden brown.

How to make the Jam:

·         4 cups (1 liter) granulated sugar

·         4 cups (1 liter) raspberries

PREPARATION OF JAM

1. Place sugar in an ovenproof shallow pan and warm in a 250°F (120°C) oven for 15 minutes. (Warm sugar dissolves better.)

2. Place berries in a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring to a full boil over high heat, mashing berries with a potato masher as they heat. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

3. Add warm sugar, return to a boil, and boil until mixture will form a gel (see tips, below), about 5 minutes.

4. Ladle into sterilized jars and process as directed:

PREPARATION OF Jars

20 Minutes Before Processing
Partially fill a boiling-water canner with hot water. Place the number of clean canning jars needed to hold the quantity of finished food prepared in the recipe into the canner. Have a kettle with boiling water handy to top up the water level in the canner after you have put in the jars. Cover and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Boil for at least 10 minutes to sterilize jars. This step generally requires 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of your canner.

5 Minutes Before Processing
Approximately 5 minutes before you are ready to fill the jars, place lids in hot or boiling water according to manufacturer’s directions.

Filling Jars
Remove jars from canner and pour or ladle the foods into hot jars to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of top rim (head space). If the food is in large pieces, remove trapped air bubbles by sliding a clean small wooden or plastic spatula between glass and food; readjust the head space to 1/2 inch (1 cm). Wipe jar rim to remove any stickiness. Center lid on jar; apply screw band just until fingertip tight.

Processing Jars
Place jars in canner and adjust water level to cover jars by 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm). Cover canner and return water to boil. Begin timing when water returns to a boil. Process for 5 minutes.

Remove jars from canner to a surface covered with newspapers or with several layers of paper towels and cool for 24 hours. Check jar seals (sealed lids turn downward). Label jars with contents and date and store in a cool, dark place. .

Tip: To make a small boiling-water canner, tie several screw bands together with string or use a small round cake rack in the bottom of a large covered Dutch oven. Be sure the pan is high enough for 2 inches (5 cm) of water to cover the jars when they are sitting on the rack.

kitchen tips:

• To determine when the mixture will form a gel, use the spoon test: Dip a cool metal spoon into the hot fruit. Immediately lift it out and away from the steam and turn it horizontally. At the beginning of the cooking process, the liquid will drip off in light, syrupy drops. Try again a minute or two later — the drops will be heavier. The jam is done when the drops are very thick and two run together before falling off the spoon.

• “The intensity of this jam is due to the fact that it has no added fruit pectin,” says Topp. Adding pectin helps the jam jell, but necessitates more sugar, which dilutes the natural flavor of the fruit. Making jam without added pectin requires more careful cooking (see notes about the spoon test, above), but the extra effort pays off in a deliciously old-fashioned, fruity product.