Huckleberry recipes order of the day

Dear Laura: A recipe for huckleberry jam was printed in the paper several years ago. It sounded worth trying. It was the inspiration of a cleric in North Idaho and as I recall he used wine in the recipe. I would appreciate your printing this recipe in the paper if it is available. — Joan, Spokane

Dear Joan: The recipe originally was published in 1997 in a story about the Rev. Stan Simonik who makes a variety of huckleberry goodies. Here’s his recipe for huckleberry jam.

Huckleberry Jam with Sherry

From The Spokesman-Review archives

1/2 gallon huckleberries

Juice from 2 oranges

2 boxes fruit pectin

2 (4-inch) pieces orange peel

8 cups sugar

1 cup sherry

Wash and drain berries. In a blender, liquefy all but 1 cup of the berries together with orange juice. Pour into a 6- to 8-quart pot, add remaining whole berries and stir in fruit pectin. Add the orange peel and bring to a rolling boil over moderate-high heat, stirring constantly. Add sugar and sherry. Bring to boil again and cook 1 minute longer.

Remove from heat, skim off foam and remove orange peel. Ladle into hot jars and process in hot water bath, following standard canning procedure.

Yield: 8 (12-ounce) jars

Approximate nutrition information per 1-ounce serving: 125 calories, less than 1 gram fat (1 percent fat calories), less than 1 gram protein, 33 grams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, 4 milligrams sodium.

Dear Laura: I am looking for Dorothy Dean’s Huckleberry Bars. Do you have the recipe? —Rosanne, Spokane

Dear Rosanne: The Spokesman-Review’s Dorothy Dean files contain many huckleberry recipes, both sweet and savory. Around 1963 or 1964, an entire leaflet was devoted to huckleberries with recipes for pies, cakes, dumplings and more. Unfortunately, I didn’t find a recipe for Huckleberry Bars. I did find this tasty recipe, though. I baked it in a 9-by-13-inch pan for about 20 to 25 minutes instead of the muffin cups. This recipe is light in texture. Next time, I might reduce the baking powder to 1 teaspoon to try to make the “bars” a bit more dense.

Hattie’s Huckleberry Tea Cakes

From The Spokesman-Review Dorothy Dean Homemaker Services, F-31 Series

1 2/3 cups sifted flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup huckleberries, fresh or frozen

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon sugar

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together into large bowl. Cut in butter until the size of small peas. Beat egg; beat in milk and vanilla. Add all at once to dry ingredients; stir just enough to moisten. Toss huckleberries with remaining flour and sugar. Gently stir into batter. Spoon into greased (or paper-lined) muffin pans fill a little more than half full. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on size.

Yield: 15 to 18 medium cupcake muffins

Approximate nutrition per muffin (based on 18): 129 calories, 3.9 grams fat (2.2 grams saturated, 27 percent fat calories), 1.8 grams protein, 22 grams carbohydrate, 21 milligrams cholesterol, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 130 milligrams sodium.