Last Minute Gift Ideas...Quick from the Kitchen

So here we are at the Christmas count down.  The last week before the big day.  I know, there are those of you who have been organized since Halloween, Christmas gifts wrapped by Thanksgiving, now just sitting back enjoying the decorations, but I am not one of those.  I do moderately well getting things together by the first part of December, but this last week is used for finishing things up, thinking up a few last minute goodies for loved ones.  So for the next couple days I am going to do some little posts, with last minute gift ideas from the kitchen.  They are all fairly quick and will put a smile on even the biggest ‘bah humbug-ger’ on your list.

The first one is Pears with Star Anise.  Pears are abundant at the farmers market or your local supermarket right now and this one will take you only a couple hours to produce.

Canned Pears with Star Anise

5 LBS pears

4 C Syrup - I make a syrup of one part sugar to three parts water

Juice of one lemon

4 Star Anise

Start a boiling water bath for 4 pint jars. 

Dissolve the sugar in water and bring the syrup to a boil

Add the lemon juice.

While you are waiting peel the pears, cut them in half or quarters and remove the core.

Fit as many pears as possible into each jar, along with a Star Anise. 

Cover the pears with the syrup

Run a chop stick along the inside of the jar to remove any air bubbles and add more syrup if necessary

Clean the neck of the jar and secure the lid to the jar

Process the pint jars for 20 minutes in boiling water.

Voila!

Lovely gifts for the hard to satisfy…

These guys are really yummy…

Tomorrow…Meyer Lemon Marmalade.