Rosehip & apple marmalade

Every autumn along with the golden leaves the red little jewelry of rose hips come on stage. I've never paid attention to them until a month ago.
During a family trip in the country I was bored and started picking them to help the time pass by. Without realizing I got my hands full with a bag of rose hips and no idea what to do with them. My mother helped out - "Let's dry them for tea." I said no and then my associative memory took the lead. I remembered when I was little girl we ate a thick type of marmalade, so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Seeing this picture in my head the decision was made. I will make my first marmalade!

Actually, making a marmalade is a pretty big challenge, not because the technology of the process is very complicated, but because filtering the rose hip puree is a tough job. What you need to do is boil the rose hips for a hour, make them into a puree, filter it and then boil the remained substance with sugar in order to thick it. If you want you can add apples for a richer taste and more quantity. That's what I did. The procedure with the apples is the same. Then you just mix the two filtered purees with sugar, boil them in a pot and pour them in mason jars for cozy winter morning pancakes.

One kilogram of rose hips and one kilogram of apples transform into approximately ten mason jars (400ml.) of marmalade.

The usual weekend sweetness

For the last few months this beauty is a usual guest in our kitchen. Actually, it happened by accident and everybody loved it so much, that now is it's becoming a tradition. It's relatively easy, quick and cheap dessert, so even a I've-never-cooked-anything-in-my-life type of person can do it.

 Here's what you need:
3 large eggs
half a cup of sugar
half a cup of oil
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup flour
vanilla/ rum/ coffee for aroma

Preparation:


The 3 eggs and half a cup of sugar are mixed very well, until the sugar is almost dissolved.
Then you add half of the same cup of oil and mix, then you add the full cup (the same one again) of flour, the baking powder and your chosen aroma. Mix this again very well and pour it into a baking dish, lined with a sheet of baking paper.
Now is the time to decorate - I usually use fruit, but you can add nuts, chocolate, etc.
Bake it in the middle of the oven for 40 minutes on 180 C/ 350 F degrees.

Also, this mixture is a basic one, so it's pretty good for experiments - you can add coconut flakes, raisins, cocoa, jam or anything else you can think of.

The perfect company for this beautiful lady is your afternoon cup of coffee / tea and a favorite book or friend. 

Enjoy and share your recommendation!