Hear ye, hear ye: Longtime Food52er MrsWheelbarrow has come out with a beautiful new cookbook! All week long, she will be sharing recipes from Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry and giving us new ways to use up the preserves in our cupboards. And we're giving away a copy each day -- so you can finally get over your fear of preserving.
Today: An almost-instant snack that will bring you nothing but joy -- plus, a way to use up all of those half-empty jam jars.
For an almost-instant snack, I like to bundle my beautiful preserves into flaky phyllo pastry. You can also add a nugget of cheese for a special kind of deliciousness. These two-bite charmers are welcome snacks at any time of day.
More: Learn more from Mrs. Wheelbarrow about the taxonomy of jams, preserves, and confitures.
Whenever the refrigerator is being overrun with jars of tiny amounts of preserves, I settle in to make some Bundles of Joy. This recipe makes a lot -- freeze the extras to be popped into the oven and ready in minutes. Phyllo is available in boxes of full-size or half-size sheets. The half sheets make 6 bundles per every 4 sheets; the full size will make 12 bundles from 4 sheets.
Makes 24 bundles
4 ounces unsalted butter, melted
One 1-pound box of phyllo sheets, defrosted in the refrigerator if frozen (at least 6 hours)
8 ounces preserves (I love to use tart cherry)
8 ounces fresh goat cheese
See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.
Photo by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton
Every day this week, we're giving away a copy of Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry! To win today's copy, tell us in the comments: What do you keep in the freezer for last-minute entertaining (or snacking)? We'll choose winners this Friday, November 7th. (U.S. entrants only, please!)
Update: Nogaga, pamelalee, littleknitter, lizzaljoelle, and Matteo Cavelier are our winners! We hope you enjoy your copies of Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry.
Written by: MrsWheelbarrow
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52 Comments
Genius (Ottolenghi and Tamimi) hummus (I make triple batches and divvy it up into small and medium deli containers, to be freshened up after thawing with lemon juice, olive oil, dukkah, etc.) Artisanal boules, baguettes, batards and sandwich rolls using Tartine Bread and Wm Alexander starter/methods.
Logs of frozen dough for Fig and Blue Cheese Savouries.
Herb butters for slathering on crostini using the baguettes referred to above (and to plop onto grilled and pan-seared meats and fish).
Pound cake, cut into thirds. (Useful for so many things!) Scones. Almond butter oatmeal cookies.
This time of year, I start stockpiling 5-6 different holiday cookie doughs.
And in the not-snacking category: about a dozen "pump primers" - time-saver homemade convenience ingredients, e.g., tamarind sauce, homemade curry pastes, herb + aromatics pastes, in silicone cube trays.
And pie crusts, of course. ;o)
See what other Food52 readers are saying.