Just open it already.

So...I'm a little obsessed with the apple butter. I made two jars of it last November, as you may recall. I gave away one and it was, I'm told, eaten promptly with no complaints. (Yay!) The other one I've kept in the cabinet. I decided to wait a full year before cracking it open to see if I canned it properly.

Every time I open the cabinet, though, I have to pick up that jar. I peer at it intently, looking for any suspicious formations that would indicate a failure in canning. I turn it upside down and watch the contents slide back down the sides of the jar. I'm convinced it's not thick enough. And is there a coating of apple butter that's adhering to the inside of the lid? That can't be right.

I am horrified at the thought of opening it to see some primeval colony of mold sitting atop what appears to be sweet, luscious applesauce. All that waiting for nothing! But the end is nigh, only about six weeks left to go. For the grand opening, I think I'll try my hand at a loaf of homemade bread (oatmeal, I think) for slathering. That way, if the butter is bad, at least I'll have something good to eat. This is assuming, of course, that the bread turns out.

In other news, I enjoyed some new recipes earlier this week cooking with a friend in anticipation of her potluck feast for Yom Kippur. We made sweet kugel (I didn't get to sample the finished product, but starch+sweet custard=how can you go wrong?) and an apricot honey cake that might be the best quick bread I've ever tasted. That's a big claim for me, having grown up making loaf after loaf of different kinds of these dense, fruity breads. None of them compare in taste or texture to this honey bread. The batter for it is very wet, with two cups of honey, at least that much lemon and orange juice, and rum, plus eggs and oil and apricot preserves (no butter). The batter is also surprisingly thin, even after incorporating the flours, but it bakes into a rich, loamy, fragrant cake. The texture is velvety without being heavy (the beauty of no butter and a good dose of baking soda) and with the citrus, honey, and rum you get these waves of flavor. So, so, lovely. Once I get my kitchen in full working order (cookbooks have yet to be unpacked), I hope to revisit some of my old quick-breads and try adapting them with this honey base.