This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Albertsons. All opinions are 100% mine.

One of the easiest things we can do with the abundance of summertime fresh produce (including fresh blackberries) is to make an easy, healthy blackberry jam with it! I’m also a fan of reducing the amount of refined sugar in my diet, so this recipe speaks to that desire by replacing refined sugar with nature’s candy – honey.

I shopped at Albertsons in my local Montana area to pick up these blackberries, but you can also find a beautiful assortment of fresh produce at any of the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Safeway, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, Tom Thumb and Vons.

The best part about this jam is the simple list of ingredients – blackberries and honey! And, really, you could use any summer fruit. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or Flathead cherries are just a few that come to mind. As long as you can boil the fruit down and to a thicker, jam consistency, then you’re set!

Blackberries are particularly nice, though, because they naturally contain a higher amount of pectin than, say, strawberries, which helps the jam to thicken up. What exactly is pectin? Pectin is a carbohydrate found mostly in the skin and core of raw fruit. In nature, it functions as the structural “cement” that helps hold cell walls together. And, it also happens to help hold jams together, too!

Keep in mind that you’ll want to choose a pot with just a little extra headroom (about an inch or so is fine) because the blackberries will start bubbling and producing the prettiest, pinky-purple foam as they begin to cook down. If the bubbling bothers you, you can knock it back by stirring regularly. I used a 3-quart pot and had no issues when making the jam.

Did you know that blackberries are packed fully of Vitamin C? “Vitamin C is integral to collagen formation in bones, connective tissue, and blood vessels.” They’re also high in fiber, a great source of Vitamin K, high in manganese, they may boost brain health, and they help support oral health due to their anti-inflammatory qualities. Lastly, one cup of raw blackberries has only 62 calories, 1 gram of fat, and 14 carbs. (Source: Healthline) Pretty darn great if you ask me!

While most people use jam on toast or in sandwiches, you can always get creative with your jam in other ways too! This healthy blackberry jam is especially tasty on pancakes, muffins, and crepes, and I love to make a healthy dessert by swirling some into non-fat plain greek yogurt for a creamy, healthy treat.

If that sounds good to you, did you know that you can make it even easier on yourself with grocery delivery from Albertsons? Albertsons and Safeway also offer Grocery Delivery and Drive Up & Go for convenient ways to shop!

What sorts of things do you love to make with fresh blackberries? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Don’t forget to check Albertsons’ Weekly Ad for deals!

Healthy Blackberry Jam

 

Print

Prep time

2 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

32 mins

 

Easy, healthy blackberry jam makes summer produce the star and keeps refined sugar on the sidelines.

Author: Big Sky, Little Kitchen

Makes: Approximately 1.5 pints

Ingredients

• 5 cups fresh blackberries (about 2½ pounds)
• ½ cup honey or 1 cup white sugar

Instructions

1. Wash the blackberries well. Add all fruit to a medium-sized sauce pot (about 3 quarts is good). Add the honey (or white sugar if you're using it in place of the honey) to the pot. Stir to combine.
2. Place the pot on medium to medium-low heat and simmer covered for about 10 minutes. (Stir to keep any bubbling down.) Remove the lid and allow the fruit to cook for another 20 minutes while you stir from time to time. Make sure the fruit doesn't scorch. If the fruit mixture looks too thin, keep cooking and monitoring regularly until it's a thicker consistency and most of the liquid has boiled off.
3. Once the jam is gelling, transfer to a glass container to cool. Once cooled, store in the fridge.

Notes

If your jam isn't coming together at 30 minutes, this likely means you're cooking at too low a temperature. But don't give up! Keep cooking until most of the liquid has cooked off and you're left with a jam consistency to your fruit.

If you'd like, you can squeeze 2-3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice into your blackberries at the start of your cooking, too.

3.4.3177

I’m usually more of a savory-for-breakfast kind of girl, but sometimes you have to go a little decadent and splurge on some good ol’ crispy-on-the-outside, warm-and-soft-on-the-inside belgian waffles with coconut whipped cream and strawberries.

And waffles are just fun to make and eat. As a kid I remember having a blast filling the iron and then, once the waffles were ready to be devoured, trying to get every little square filled with maple syrup and butter, pretending I was eating a syrup lake with lots of mini moats. Oh to be a kid!

I found that when making these waffles, I didn’t need to grease my waffle-maker, but if your iron sometimes has troubles with the final waffle sticking to the inside, then you might want to grease it before each addition of batter.

Instead of topping these waffles with butter, I’ve opted for a lovely dollop of coconut whipped cream. If you’d like to do this, too, you’ll want to plan ahead to make sure your whipped cream is ready to use in the morning (or whenever you choose to serve these – I’m a *huge* fan of breakfast for dinner!).

The coconut whipped cream is made from the solids from a can of full-fat coconut milk. This comes about by refrigerating the can overnight to separate the solid from the liquid and get the cream nice and firm. It’s important to note that you’ll want to use a coconut milk brand that does NOT use guar gum, and it MUST be full fat. The guar gum prevents the solid and liquid from separating, but we want these two things separated, so avoid the guar gum or you’ll run into difficulties making the coconut whipped cream. I used the Sun Luck brand, and it also appears as though the Goya brand would work well too.

Top everything everything with diced, fresh strawberries (the better to fit in those squares!), and a splash of maple syrup – the real stuff from the trees, no imitations here.

Also, random sidenote – who on earth thought to stick a tap into a tree and drink its sap? I’m forever grateful to the people who have come up with these strange, awesome, and tasty things.

These waffles also boast a little extra flavor from just a hint of two of my favorite spices, nutmeg and cinnamon. However, if you’d rather have a non-spiced and more savory waffle as your vehicle for the coconut cream and strawberries (or whatever else you’d like to top this with), then feel free to leave the spices out. But I tell you – they taste great in this mixture!

Make sure to serve these babies hot off the waffle iron, but if you find yourself with a few extra, they can easily be reheated in the oven or a toaster oven for a few minutes to bring back that crisp outside texture.

And enjoy! Justify all this decadence with a good hike in the mountains, knowing that you’ve just treated yourself to a solid, and exceptionally tasty energy boost.

Belgian Waffles with Coconut Whipped Cream and Strawberries

 

Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

35 mins

 

Author: Big Sky, Little Kitchen
Barely adapted from Something Swanky and Oh She Glows

Recipe type: Breakfast

Makes: Approximately 6 belgian-style waffles

Ingredients

For the Waffles:

• 1¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup corn starch
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup almond milk
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• ½ cup cooking oil
• 1½ tsp. vanilla
• ⅛ tsp. nutmeg
• ½ tsp cinnamon

For the Coconut Whipped Cream

• 1 can full-fat coconut milk without guar gum as an ingredient, chilled overnight
• 2 tsp. sugar or maple syrup
• ½ tsp. vanilla

Instructions

For the Waffles:

1. Get your waffle iron nice and hot and ready to go.
2. Whisk all of the ingredients together in a large bowl until smooth.
3. Pour approximately ½ cup batter onto the hot waffle iron, and cook to your preferred darkness, or follow your waffle-maker's instructions.
4. Serve hot with a dollop of coconut whipped cream, diced fresh strawberries and a splash of real maple syrup.

For the Coconut Whipped Cream:

1. Ensure your can of full-fat coconut milk has been chilled overnight to make the coconut solids nice and firm.
2. Remove the can from your fridge and flip it upside down to bring the liquid to the top. Open the can and pour the liquid into a bowl or plastic container for storage. (You can use this later in yummy smoothies!)
3. Scoop out the firm coconut cream from the can and place it into a medium to large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.
4. Whip the cream until light and fluffy.
5. Add in your preferred sweetener and vanilla and whip again. Serve with your waffles.

Notes

If you'd rather not use the almond milk, cream and buttermilk in the waffles, you can just use regular milk. But I liked how decadent the cream made this and how the buttermilk added just a bit of tang.

If you don't eat all of these in one sitting, you can reheat your waffles in a 325 degree oven for 5 minutes. Leftover coconut cream stores well in the fridge - just scoop into a bowl and stir or re-whip when ready to use again.

3.3.2998