Earl's "Mississippi Mudslide" Jam
The idea for this, my latest cocktail-themed, non-alcoholic jam, came from brainstorming something fun and interesting to make for my father now that he has finally regained his sense of taste after having gone through chemotherapy. The trickiest part of designing this jam came in keeping it liquid enough to spread without it embracing the custard nature of the haupia too completely. Dad loves it, and being as chocolatey as it is, kids do too!
Ingredients
- 1 cup double chocolate hot cocoa mix, (I used Ghiradelli)
- 2 cups haupia (coconut custard) mix, (I used NOH brand)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 8 cups freshly brewed liquid coffee, (I used Starbucks brand)
- 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
- One large, metal pot
- For best results, when brewing your coffee, make sure to make it dark and thick (but not so thick that it becomes syrupy!) In a coffee maker that uses paper filters, using three or four should do the trick.
- While the coffee is still hot, mix it into the pot with the hot cocoa mix and the vanilla.
- Heat the pot with a low heat while you stir the mixture. Stir until the hot cocoa mix and coffee are fully integrated.
- Slowly stir the haupia mix into the pot. It will want to clump at the bottom, but keep stirring.
- Crush or process mint leaves, then add to mixture.
- Turn the heat up to medium or medium-high (depending on your stove) and continue to stir until the mixture becomes smooth and begins to bubble at the edge of boiling.
- Adjust heat as necessary and continue to stir, letting the mixture sit at a low boil for a few minutes and only reach a sustained, roiling boil for about a minute.
- Turn off heat and continue to stir for a few more minutes.
- Once mixture begins to cool and thicken (roughly five minutes,) carefully ladle (or funnel, but don't use a plastic funnel!) your mixture into your sterilized jars to within half or a full inch of the rim. Wipe the rims of the jars clean and seal them in your preferred canning method (Mine involves sticking the tightly-lidded jars into the oven at about 225 for roughly 30 minutes in order to seal them.) The jam jars will be hot both before and after you put them into the oven, so be careful when handling them.
- Give your jars about two to four hours to cool somewhere safe (out of reach of pets, children and curious people.) Once the jars are cool, make sure to check the seals and verify that the tabs are down and not popped. If any of the jars still have popped lids, keep those jars in the fridge and eat the jam in them as soon as possible (aka: before they go bad, which shouldn't be a problem because they're so darn good!)
- Enjoy your jam! Share with friends, relatives and anyone who loves the velvety taste of chocolate, coffee and cream!
