2 pounds pitted black cherries
2 pounds blueberries
1 pound blackberries
2 packets of liquid pectin
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
5 cups sugar
pinch of glass from 1 broken candy thermometer

mash fruit with clean potato masher

hard boil ingredients for 1 minute (220 degrees)

jar in sterilized jars and process in boiling water canner for 10 minutes depending on altitude

throw entire batch away after discovering broken thermometer

Apparently, this happened with $40 worth of hand-picked organic fruits.

Gibbs, you will be missed, but your legacy will live on forever.

Some helpful advice: Jacques Pepin often discusses proper knife technique on his various PBS cooking shows.  I’m not sure he ever goes over “don’t touch a hot pan while holding a knife stupidly” thing, though, so, don’t touch a hot pan while holding a knife stupidly.

I enjoy all sorts of cooking, but I really enjoy making decadent desserts. I mentioned my Peach Cheese Cake last time, so I’ll go with something my Mother in law requests every time she visits.

Chocolate Almond Butterscotch Lasagna

This is a creation that I came up with after eating a chocolate mousse cannelloni at an Italian Ristorante. It wasn’t very good, the noodle was starchy and tough, the mousse was bitter, but after eating it I thought of the things I could do to make it better, and my friend told me of a pasta dessert that she had once and loved. So that was all the inspiration that I needed.

Basically it’s made just like lasagna, except with chocolatey, butterscotchy, almondy goodness.

The Noodles - After boiling and rinsing the lasagna noodles, I soak them in Creme De Menthe for about 20 minutes.

The filling - I beat together about 2 or 3 pounds of ricotta cheese, cocoa, powdered sugar, vanilla, almond extract and 2 eggs. (I add 3 tablespoons of instant coffee if I’m feeling mochaish)

The layers - start with the ricotta, then about a half cup each of semi-sweet chocolate chips, coarsely crushed toasted almond, then a layer of the soaked lasagna noodles. Continue layering except every other layer use butterscotch chips in place of the chocolate chips. I try to get at least 4 layers, preferably 5 and end with a layer of the ricotta, chocolate chips and almonds.

Bake - 350 oven for about 45 minutes, or until it has fully risen. Remove and let cool. I like it both warm or cold, but my Mother in law loves it warm and melty.

Serve - I mix up just regular cool hhhwhip, a little bit of the Creme De Menthe and some cocoa powder. Makes a great topping. Then after I add a big dollop of the cool whip, I shave either white chocolate because the contrast looks cool, or just regular chocolate. Serving sizes should be the same size that you would serve lasagna.

She always tells me I should enter it in a contest because it’s so unique. Then one day I was looking at a desserts cook book at Bed Bath and Beyond and there were like ten different Lasagna dessert recipes, lol. So much for being unique.

(Link via POE-News.)