Gluten Free

Jam making doesn’t always have to be a big production. I sometimes make small amounts and keep it in the refrigerator instead of canning it for unrefrigerated storage. Apricot jam is especially versatile as a glaze for an apple tart or almond cake, or as the base for a soufflé.

This is a basic frosting good for cupcakes and decorated cookies. This makes enough frosting for one 9-inch cake or 24 cupcakes.

Serve warm caramel sauce with ice cream or stir it (at room temperature) into just-made ice cream before putting it in the freezer to firm up. It is lovely drizzled over poached pears.

Try this syrup mixed with sparkling water to make fruit sodas, or add to lemonade with a sprig of mint to make pink raspberry lemonade. For an aperitif, pour a little into a glass and add white wine, Champagne, or spirits.

Jellies, also known as fruit paste or pâte de fruit, are beautiful bite-size confections with intense fruit flavor. Fruits such as apples, quince, and plums are slowly cooked with sugar to a concentrated purée, then cooled in a mold or pan until set and firm. The jellies can be cut into all sorts of shapes, rolled in sugar, and served as candies. Without a sugar coating, fruit paste is a delicious accompaniment to cheese.

Serve these nuts as candy, use them to garnish a cake, or fold into homemade ice cream.

This is a delicious way to use the peels of citrus after they’ve been juiced. Candied peel, either plain or dipped in chocolate, makes a zesty ending for a meal. Candy only unsprayed, organic citrus fruit.

Choose ripe, flavorful pears—juicy, but not soft or mushy. The flesh of the pear should just give to gentle pressure near the stem end. Comice and Bartlett are almost always good, but try others available in your area; Warren and Kiefer are two that I like.

A vanilla custard makes a perfectly delicious ice cream and can be flavored in more ways than you can imagine.

Pavé is the French word for “paving stone.” Chocolate pavés are very rich, smooth, and dense. Chocolate cakes like this are often called flourless cakes, because they are completely gluten-free.

Nectarines and apricots are also delicious baked this way.