Of Pears and Twinky Cakes

So yesterday was pear canning day. As is so often the case, the first thing that happens is we realize that we should have been getting going on this a few days ago. Well actually a few weeks ago would have been even better because then we could have harvested my neighbor's pears (instead of allowing them to rot on the tree and then bomb my husband's tomatoes). But that ship had already sailed, so we were out shopping for pears. First we hit the Ballard Sunday market, which had lots of pears, but no ripe pears. Then we stopped at Top Banana which had some ripe pears, but not enough, and so it went before 5 stops and 2 hours later we were finally ready to get started.



While the pear shopping expedition had not furthered the cause of getting going on the canning early it had given us the opportunity to discuss pears with lots of grocers. Produce sellers can be a passionate group when it comes to pears and after too much discussion with lots of people we decided to can red pears, which are ready when the top is slightly soft. They seemed to have a sweet good flavor yet a somewhat firmer texture, which is important because pears have to process (can-speak for cook) for a half hour which can easily lead to extremely soft canned pears. In fact that is why I hate canned pears, they are too mushy.



But Adrienne and Sue want to can pears and I hate to miss a party, so pretty soon we are all up to our eyeballs in peeled pears and jars and syrup. Ever mindful of calories we choose a very thin syrup which is made by mixing 1 cup of sugar with 4 cups of water and bringing it to a boil. While the syrup is cooking fill the canner at least half way with water so it can be heating too. Then get to peeling and coring and halving those pears. As soon as the pears are prepared rinse them off and start filling jars (to about 1 inch from the top) as they will begin to deteriorate soon after they are peeled. I think it is easiest to use wide mouth jars because you have more room to manipulate the fruit inside the jars. After the pears are in the jars add the hot syrup, up to one half inch from the top. Make sure the lip of the jar is clean, put on a lid that has been softening in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes, put on the screw band hand tight, then set it in the rack which is resting at the half way point in the canner. When the rack is full, usually 7 jars, gently lower it into the hot water, bring to a boil, cover and process for 30 minutes. The gently boiling water must continue to cover the tops of the jars throughout the processing, and you may end up having to add some, so it is best to have another pot of boiling water on the stove. If you end up having to add water which is not boiling, do not count the time when the canner is not boiling as part of the 30 minutes. When they are done lift the rack out of the canner and place the jars on a towel on the counter to cool and listen for the totally satisfying 'pop' as they seal.



However, this is not all that is going on. Even though my kitchen has pear goo and syrup from one end to the other, I still have to make a Twinky Cake. It is Jeff's birthday and for my birthday he gave me (incredibly) a Twinky Cookbook. It was a sweet idea, but frankly I haven't quite known what to do with it. If anybody ever gets married it has a rather unique Twinky Wedding Cake recipe, but so far that hasn't been needed. So his birthday was really the perfect opportunity to use the cookbook and maybe somebody who buys a Twinky Cookbook would actually like something made from it. Of course it requires a bundt cake pan, which I don't have, so like all projects this one starts at the tool store. But beyond that it is easy as pie.



You buy a box chocolate cake mix and 6 twinkies. Make the cake according to package instructions, and pour half of it into the bundt cake pan. Then cut the Twinkies in half and stick them into the pan, cut side down, all around the cake, then pour the rest of the batter into the pan, covering the Twinkies, and bake according to package instructions. The only problem was that all the Twinkies floated to the top so there wasn't going to be any surprise Twinky layer in the middle.



Back to the store. Buy another cake mix and another box of Twinkies. Try again only this time cram those puppies into the bottom of the pan. They don't dare move. But when we eat the cake, the suprise Twinky layer doesn't have any Twinky filling, which apparently has melted out of the Twinkies and become part of the cake, but what is a Twinky without filling? Hugely disappointing.

The Bottom Line

Canned Pears-Too early to tell

Twinky Cake-Thumbs down