I love beets. Especially ones fresh from the garden then roasted. Then there's Harvard Beets and pickled beets. I've been craving roasted brussels sprouts, but neither husband nor dd like them...dd used to, but now she's so anti-mom she's sworn off lots of stuff she used to like. Grits I learned to like when I was in Grad school in Billsburg, VA. I liked to go to the Chickahominy House to have a Virginian breakfast: eggs over easy, a slice of Virginia ham and grits, with a buttermilk biscuit. You could have redeye gravy, but I preferred to smush my eggs into the grits. Then there's egg/cheese/grits casserole. Cornbread is best slathered with butter, or drizzled with honey. I rarely do both anymore, but I used to. I brought rolls for the trip to MI to have Thanksgiving. I was up until 2:00 am on Thursday making them. I intended to make whole wheat "brown and serve" rolls, but I didn't hear the timer ding, and so in a panic, I baked them completely so I could taste test and make sure they were edible (they were, although some were big enough to be hamburger buns). For the young fry I made PIllsbury crescent rolls...as I know that dd and others prefer those. On the way home today she was munching on one and said "Oh, what is is that makes crescent rolls so yummy." "in a word," I said, "lots of fat." I have to say that driving up to Hastings, MI on Thursday morning was wonderful. A typical Michigan Thanksgiving day--misc. flurries and the sun breaking through glowering clouds over golden and russet fields which had been lightly frosted with a diamond dust. Breathtaking.

I have made jam cake, though it's been a while. AFAIK, it's an old Southern recipe, almost a pioneer recipe. It's one of my "go-to's" for excess jams or jam's that have been on the shelf a little longer than I like. My Southern Heritage Cakes cookbook has a Heritage Jam Cake, which uses grape jam and a fruit filling between the layers; a Blackberry Jam Cake with a powdered sugar glaze over a 10" bundt; and a Church Jam Cake with strawberry jam and an Eggnog Icing with 1/4 cup of bourbon (rather funny for a "church" cake - someone had a sense of humor). There are tons of jam cake recipes out there. You don't have to use the one I've linked to. You might want to do a search and see what else is out there. Some are akin to fruitcakes. In fact, my mother's old dark fruitcake calls for plum butter as one of the ingredients (along with a good amount of whiskey). Honestly, I've never had a problem with boiling over as the previous poster described. But we may have used different recipes or it may be a difference of ovens or pans. I see it as basically a moist spice cake which falls into the carrot cake or applesauce cake class. It only has 1 tsp. soda as the leavening, so I'm not seeing where the boiling up would come from as long as the pan has sufficient capacity to allow for a reasonable rise. A 10" springform is 12 cups, so again, that's the same as two 9-inch pans. But you could certainly use less batter to be more conservative and then bake the excess as cupcakes. Or do one 9" pan to frost for company and the remainder as cupcakes. I have to admit you have me on the pectin. I don't normally use it except for pepper jelly. If I were to guess, I'd speculate that pectin, like lecithin, will inhibit aging and staleness (which is not a bad thing). It may change the texture slightly, but since this is a heavier moister type of cake anyway, I doubt it will be an issue. I do think, though, that unless your plum jam is quite tart, you could cut back the sugar by 1/2 cup or so. (If you like the recipe you might try cutting more on a future baking try, but for now that could be a good start.) I wouldn't thin with more brandy. I'd just use water to get the plum jam to a "normal" texture. It's cheaper, it will do the job and have no additional effect on the flavor. In fact, you might be able to salvage that jam for other uses by stirring in a warm Tablespoon of water per 8 oz. jar or by gently warming the jam in the microwave on low and stirring in water, however much is needed. It can't do any harm and may counteract some of the rubberiness. [Not that I've ever had to salvage a jam experiment gone wrong, LOL.] Carol

How about rum balls made with oreo cookies (found at Chowhound): Midnight Rum Balls 1 small package (8.5 oz.) Oreo cookies 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar 1 cup finely chopped nuts (optional - I leave 'em out) 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (sweetened cocoa is fine, too) 2 Tbsp corn syrup 1/3 cup rum (don't use more!) granulated sugar Put whole cookies in food processor and whiz until finely crushed. In medium bowl, combine crumbs, powdered sugar, nuts, and cocoa. Blend in corn syrup and rum. Wet hands and shape mixture into one-inch balls; roll in granulated sugar. Store covered, in a cool place. (Rum balls are better after they have "mellowed" for a day or two.) Variation: Prepare marinated cherries: soak a jar of sour cherries in rum or kirsch for a week or two. When ready to use, drain cherries well, then pat dry. Wrap mixture around a cherry and roll in sugar as above. I've also made these cookies with a different alcohol - Chambord (black raspberry liqueur) is really nice. I'll bet an orange liqueur would be good, too.

carolb, I don't think it would work in a cookie press at all. I just finished making Pepperjack Crackers using my cookie press, so their consistency is fresh in my mind. I looked at the Taste of Home recipe yesterday. It has more booze, but it also has fewer eggs, no sour cream, and confectioner's sugar instead of granulated which means a modicum of cornstarch, too. This carp is going in the trash. It was a poorly constructed recipe. It is not something I ever would have chosen to bake. I only attempted it because in a moment of idiocy, I signed up for a Cookie Challenge. The people who did make the recipe, say the cookies are tasteless and the texture is not pleasing. LindaC, I think this is exactly one of those cases you propose - someone came up with a recipe and either didn't test it or if they did, there are steps and ingredients that didn't make it into print.