Chocolate Raspberry Jam

 

Well hi.  How do ya do.  Howdy there Chocolate Raspberry Jam.  Holy heck, jeebs louise, is this quite...quite...behold, quite the treat.

Yeah.  Chocolate Raspberry Jam. 

Ok, it kinda leans more like a spread than jam; think Nutella or a chocolate spread but nut-free with bittersweet chocolate and perky raspberries instead.

Yeah, you might want to sit down for this.

Or wait, no, print this out, save it, whatever, stand up, and go get in the kitchen right now.

First and foremost, yes, this calls for quite a few raspberries.  You can use fresh or frozen, or fresh that have been frozen, any format there works.

I typically can't find full pints at the store; they're usually the half pint, six ounce packages of fresh berries so you'll need four of those.  I know, it's expensive but you are worth every penny.  Get them at Aldi, much better price.

And yes, second, this recipe does make a lot.  A lot.  Two pints worth, in fact.  But.  You can use it in many many ways or if you're feeling generous, though after you taste this you will not be feeling generous, give it as gifts.  Hah, who am I kidding...

Maybe not the most alluring photo but that puddle, heavens to mercy.

You can can it, as in canning, and shelve it, stash a stash and mete it out.  Mete, yeah right, more like spoon after spoon after spoon....  I am not a canning expert so I'll refer you to where I found this for more tips and details there.  A wee more about that below though.

So, with that knowledge, do feel free to scale the recipe down.  Either way, this is a serious must-make.  Like, I hope you're grabbing your keys and running to the store for raspberries right now.

Chocolate and raspberries are meant to be.  Like yin and yang.  Perfectly paired.  As my eyes flutter into the back of my head, delicious together.  Chef's kiss.

What can you use this for?  Well, ho ho ho. 

Spread it into the center of the Chocolate Raspberry Puff Squares I shared a bit ago.  Smear it on a biscuit.  Add a swirl atop some toast.  Into oatmeal.  Use it as dollops in cookie recipes.  Swirl it into a brownie recipe.  Atop brownies. 

Warm it up and drizzle it over ice cream (holy heck, I just doubled over).  Get yourself a S'mores Indoors Kit* and make one helluva S'more.

A cake filling?  Ah hot damn, yes.  Yes.  Atop a cheesecake?  Why the heck not?!  Cheese plate, charcuterie?!  Get outta here, oh my.

Eat it off a freakin' shovel for all I care. 

You catch my drift.  The possibilities are endless.

You do you, so do it then come back and tell me what you did so we can swoon and sway and "OMG!!" in joyous harmony together.

Now, again, this Chocolate Raspberry Jam is more like a spread so don't panic about jam things or pectin or thickening and such.  The raspberries have natural pectin and with the chocolate, once the jar is refrigerated, they work together to create the spreadable aspect.

Ideally here, use bittersweet chocolate.  Because, well, IMO, the bitter with the sweet and tart, fan me down.  Yes.

I'm not a seed girl, I am not a fan of fruit seeds at all so I ran the berries through a frustrating food mill* and then through a fine mesh strainer* to weed most out.  But again, you do you, feel free to go all in with the berry mash and seeds.

Ok, let's make Chocolate Raspberry Jam.

Grab a large sauce pan* or dutch oven* and toss in the raspberries and sugar.  You'll heat that up, stirring* very often so the sugar doesn't clump and stick to the bottom of the pan, until the sugar is melted.  You'll feel and hear it as you stir.
 

Once melted and the berries have broken down, run it through that food mill, hopefully you have one that's not frustrating, and/or the fine mesh sieve.  Or again, you can skip this step if you're cool with seeds and want some texture.

Pop the pan back on the stove, bring it to an almost bubbly simmer, then toss in the chopped chocolate, flip the heat lower. 

Take a huge huge whiff or twelve of that heady, glorious, decadent aroma, oh my goodness.

With a whisk,* stir constantly until the chocolate has completely melted.  It will be pretty thin, you're all good.

What I do is pour this right into my mouth right into jars and cap them tightly.  Make life effortless and use a large measuring cup* or thing with a spout to fill the jars then let everything cool on the counter. 

I find as it cools, the top pops and seals.  Is this the right way to seal a jar?  Maybe not but it works for me.  Once completely cooled, store (if you can) or if a jar isn't full, that's yours right now.

Throw the jar(s) into the fridge and it could stay thinner or it could set up thick, potentially borderline too thick to spread, so ever so slightly reheat to spreadable consistency or reheat to melt back to a sauce-like shape. 

My batch this time wasn't as thick as previously, it could depend on the chocolate you use, like say chips or bar; the higher the cacao count with fewer emulsifiers likely leads to a thinner end result (I used 70% this time with little to no emulsifiers), but eh, taste it and you won't care either.

You know I stuffed that cinnamon graham in my mouth promptly after this, right?

Wowza.  Holy schnizzbit.  Good heavens.  My word.  Wow.  That's Yum with a capital Y.

Good luck my friends, this stuff is impossible to stop placing in your face. 
 

Gah, omg.

Chocolate Raspberry Jam.  Yes.

*The S'mores Indoors Kits, food mills, fine mesh strainers, sauce pans, dutch ovens, cooking spoons, whisks, and 4 cup measuring cups are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.