Kir Royale Jello Shots

It was my roommate's birthday the other day, and champagne always seems like a good choice for celebrations. We had plans to go to our friends' house that evening, so Kir Royale Jello Shots seemed appropriate. I am a  big fan of the more grownup alcoholic jello shots, where you mimic the ratio of a classic cocktail.  The basic formula is this:

4 packets flavored or unflavored gelatin
1 cup boiling water
4 cups liquor, juice, mixers, in the ratio of the cocktail

In this case, I did 3 1/2 cups champagne, 1/4 cup lime juice, and 1/4 cup chambord
I was going to sink the raspberries into the jello after letting it chill for an hour, but I fell asleep, so the next morning i poured some hot water over top to melt a bit of the top layer and stuck the raspberries on that way.

Experimental Cherry Bourbon Sour

To supplement our farmshare produce, I like to hit up Haymarket, a chaotic outdoor produce market in downtown Boston that happens every Friday and Saturday. It is crazy cheap, with vendors shouting and people from every walk of life jostling for the best deals.

A few tips:
1. make a pass through before you buy. One vendor may be selling 3 lemons for a dollar, but a few stalls down another vendor will be selling 5 for a dollar

2. Bring a market bag. Otherwise you get stuck with a zillion crappy thin plastic bags that rip

3. Bring small bills. Its cash only.

4. Best deals are on rainy days and later Saturday

Anyhow, there have been a bunch of bing cherries, so I pitted about half a pound and soaked them in some Jim Beam with a slice of orange peel to make cherry infused boubon.

I made myself a whiskey sour of a sort tonight.

2oz bourbon
1.5 oz lemon juice
0.5 oz agave (couldn't find the simple syrup)

The cherry infusion makes it pretty sweet, as does the agave. I like it, but I like sweeter drinks than some. Next time I might cut back on the agave, and/or use lime instead of lemon

Cherry Berry Port Crisp

I was at the ICA waiting to meet a friend for their Talking Taste series, and I decided to buy a copy of The Boozy Baker from the gift shop.

It didn't take long for me to make something inspired by it. In this case a crumble made with frozen cherries from Target and blueberries from the farmshare, and the remainder of ruby port from a bottle.

INGREDIENTS

Filling
12 oz pitted cherries
1 c blueberries
1/4 c ruby port
1 tbsp cornstarch

Topping
1/2 c flour
3/4 c chopped walnuts
1 c old fashioned oats
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter cut into cubes
(I added a tbsp or 2 of scotch)

INSTRUCTIONS
Whisk the cornstarch into the port and then let the berries soak (the longer the better)
Combine dry ingredients and use fingertips to rub butter into dry goods
Sprinkle with scotch

Heat oven to 400. Pour fruit and port into pie pan and sprinkle topping over it. Bake for 20-30 min til bubbly with brown crispy top. Be sure to let it cool off a smidge. Goes great with vanilla ice cream

Butterbeer Cupcakes

My friends and I have a kids book book club, and we are watching all of the Harry Potter movies in order to prepare for a trip to see the latest one in theaters. Yesterday we watched The Prisoner of Azkaban, and so I thought I would make Butterbeer Cupcakes.

So, how do you make Butterbeer cupcakes? Well, I looked at a bunch of Butterbeer recipes, and they all seemed to call for either beer or cream soda and butterscotch schnapps. Some of the more involved recipes called for additional spices to add warmth.

I decided on making a chocolate beer cupcake with some added spice, and a cream cheese frosting with butterscotch schnapps.

I based the cupcake recipe on Chef Chloe's recipe. I used a vanilla porter instead of chocolate stout, and substituted butterscotch schnapps for vanilla. I also added a teaspoon of garam masala spice to add some heat (it is a combo of cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper and other spices). I used my standard cream cheese frosting recipe.

Ingredients

Chocolate Beer Cupcakes

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (or gluten-free all-purpose flour plus ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup stout beer (I use Trader Joe's oatmeal stout)
• ½ cup canola oil
• 2 tablespoons white or apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon pure butterscotch schnapps
• 1 teaspoon garam masala

Instructions

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk together liquid ingredients. Mix just until everything is moist and bake at 350 for 16-20 min.

Frosting

8oz cream cheese

6 tbsp butter softened

3-4 cups powdered sugar

3 tbsp butterscotch schnaaps

pinch salt

cream butter and cream cheese together. Add sugar to desired consistency. Add salt and schnapps for flavor.

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash Soup
Originally uploaded by kel h

The farmshare has been filled with carrots, squash and potatoes lately. It's cold in New England (although STILL no snow, which seems wierd). My lungs were made of fail today. Put it all together and that spells SOUP

Based on a recipe from All Recipes

Ingredients:
1 2-3 lb butternut squash peeled and cubed
2 potatoes peeled and cubed
1 medium carrot peeled and grated
1 large onion chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
2 ribs celery diced
2 tbsp butter
1 cup white wine
3 cups veggie or chicken stock
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp grated fresh nutmeg
1/4 cup cognac
salt and pepper to taste

melt the butter in the bottom of a large pot
cook the onions and garlic til softened
add vegetables and cook for 10 minutes
add wine and cook for 2 minutes
add broth and thyme and simmer, covered for 30 min
puree in blender or with imersion blender
add cognac, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 min

Cognac (and wine) are optional, although I like the depth that the cognac adds to the soup. You could swap out the thyme for curry I suppose, but I think it's a bit much for the butternut's own flavor. Carrots are a bit more robust if you're looking for a curry soup.

Baconsgiving Cupcake

Baconsgiving Cupcake
Originally uploaded by kel h

I am going to "Baconsgiving" tonight (which is a celebration of all things bacon being hosted by friends of a friend). It's an odd thing for a vegetarian to go to a bacon festival, but it sounded like fun, and the challenge of making a bacon cupcake proved too strong to resist.

My friends Mike and Clare have gotten into making milkshakes, and I had a bacon maple whiskey milkshake at their house a long time ago. It sounded like a good departure point. Martha Stewart's maple cupcake recipe (which I found on 52 Cupcakes) seemed to have the most mapley goodness, so I used that with some modifications to make it more bacony. And I am always up for a good whiskey buttercream frosting (and this time I used angostura bitters instead of food coloring to take the whiteness down a notch, which I think added a nice flavor)
Ingredients
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp.
1/4 cup bacon fat
8 strips of bacon
2 cups pure maple syrup,, preferably Grade B
3 large eggs, room temp
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or seeds from 1 vanilla bean pod

Frosting

1 stick butter softented1 lb powdered sugar
1 pinch salt
1 tbsp milk
3 tbsp irish whiskey

Directions:
preheat oven to 350

Mix dry cupcake ingredients
In mixer cream butter, then add bacon fat (I broiled my bacon and poured off the fat into a measuring cup and then ran the VERY crispy bacon through the food processor to turn it into bacon crumbs)
Once its all smooth add the maple syrup
Then add eggs 1 at a time, and add vanilla
add dry ingredients and bacon and mix until combined
bake at 350 (I did mini cupcakes and it made four dozen. They cooked for around 11-12 minutes)

for the frosting
cream the butter. Add sugar. Then add milk and whiskey. Add pinch of salt and then add a bit more sugar or milk to get the right texture

New Drink: Napoj

Napoj means beverage or potion in polish, and this drink starts with Krupnik (a polish honey liqueur)

1 tbsp ginger simple syrup

1.5 oz lime juice

1.5 oz brandy

3 oz krupnik

Bourbon Tasting Notes

Bourbon Tasting Notes
Originally uploaded by kel h

Notes on a Bourbon Tasting:
ranked from most to least favorite ( i think...,it gets a little murky in the middle)

Woodford Reserve
Gentleman Jack
Jefferson
Knob Creek
Evan Williams Single Barrel
Sam Houston
Evan Williams
Wild Turkey = Tastes like Burning

I had a soup, but I ated it

I had a soup, but I ated it
Originally uploaded by kel h

The bulk of our trivia team bowed out this week, so I decided to make soup for dinner for me and my roommate instead. And THEN I invited another member of the trivia team. And that's how I wound up having a small dinner gathering tonight.

We have a surefit of onions from the CSA, and I've been wanting to make vegetarian french onion soup ever since watching Alton Brown make it on Good Eats a while back. And once we went from just me and G (the roommate) to a small dinner party, I thought I should make dessert. I have a bunch of apples from the farmshare too, so I thought a french apple tart would make a good dessert.

It was a local, seasonal, french supper

The soup recipe was taken from Food Network, which cribbed from Julia Child's recipe. I made a few adjustments, and I want to kiss the man who invented the food processor (so much easier to slice onions with the slicing plate). I used less broth (although I probably could have used the whole 8 cups), and I added a teaspoon of herbs de provance and a bay leaf (Alton made his with a bouqet de garni of bay leaf, thyme and parsley, but I didn't have the whole sprigs of herbs).

French Onion Soup

Taken from Food Network, which based their recipe on Julia Child's recipe for French Onion Soup

Ingredients
1/2 stick butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 cups thinly sliced onions (about 2-1/2 pounds)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon flour
8 cups homemade beef stock, or good quality store bought stock (I used better than boullion No Beef Base. I LOVE their stuff and ususally have two or three containers in the fridge at any given time)
1/4 cup Cognac, or other good brandy
1 cup dry white wine
1 tsp herbs de provance
8 (1/2-inch) thick slices of French bread, toasted
3/4 pound coarsely grated Gruyere

Directions
Heat a heavy saucepan over moderate heat with the butter and oil. When the butter has melted, stir in the onions, cover, and cook slowly until tender and translucent, about 10 minutes. Blend in the salt and sugar, increase the heat to medium high, and let the onions brown, stirring frequently until they are a dark walnut color, 25 to 30 minutes.

Sprinkle the flour and cook slowly, stirring, for another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool a moment, then whisk in 2 cups of hot stock. When well blended, bring to the simmer, adding the rest of the stock, Cognac, and wine. Cover loosely, and simmer very slowly 1 1/2 hours, adding a little water if the liquid reduces too much. Taste for seasoning

Divide the soup among 4 ovenproof bowls. Arrange toast on top of soup and sprinkle generously with grated cheese. Place bowls on a cookie sheet and place under a preheated broiler until cheese melts and forms a crust over the tops of the bowls. Serve immediately.

We had a side of salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

For dessert I made an apple tart based on a recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I am pretty sure I used three kinds of apples (Macintosh, Granny Smith, and Golden Delicious). I altered the recipe a bit. Alton reccomends using applejack in apple pie dough instead of water, and I like bourbon in my apple pie so I used some of that in the syrup. Part of the decision was based on the fact that apple tart is traditionally french, part because I had a bunch of apples, and part based on my recent purchase of a new tart pan from Ikea

Based on Smitten Kitchens Simplest Apple Tart recipe

Alice Waters’s Apple Tart
Found buried deeply within my recipe bookmarks folder!

Dough:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, just softened, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
3 1/2 tablespoons chilled water (I used applejack)

Filling:
2 pounds apples (Golden Delicious or another tart, firm variety), peeled, cored (save peels and cores), and sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
5 tablespoons sugar

Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup bourbon

MIX flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl; add 2 tablespoons of the butter. Blend in a mixer until dough resembles coarse cornmeal. Add remaining butter; mix until biggest pieces look like large peas.

DRIBBLE in water (or applejack), stir, then dribble in more, until dough just holds together. Toss with hands, letting it fall through fingers, until it’s ropy with some dry patches. If dry patches predominate, add another tablespoon water. Keep tossing until you can roll dough into a ball. Flatten into a 4-inch-thick disk; refrigerate. After at least 30 minutes, remove; let soften so it’s malleable but still cold. Smooth cracks at edges. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 14-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Dust excess flour from both sides with a dry pastry brush.

PLACE dough in a lightly greased 9-inch round tart pan, or simply on a parchment-lined baking sheet if you wish to go free-form, or galette-style with it. Heat oven to 400#176;F. (If you have a pizza stone, place it in the center of the rack.)

OVERLAP apples on dough in a ring 2 inches from edge if going galette-style, or up to the sides if using the tart pan. Continue inward until you reach the center. Fold any dough hanging over pan back onto itself; crimp edges at 1-inch intervals.

BRUSH melted butter over apples and onto dough edge. Sprinkle sugar over the crust and apples. I have some vanilla sugar that I used for this (although instead of alton's recipe I just keep a tupperware with white sugar and used vanilla bean pods that I add as I use them)

BAKE in center of oven until apples are soft, with browned edges, and crust has caramelized to a dark golden brown (about 45 minutes), making sure to rotate tart every 15 minutes.

MAKE glaze: Put reserved peels and cores in a large saucepan, along with sugar. Pour in just enough water and bourbon to cover; simmer for 25 minutes. Strain syrup through cheesecloth.

REMOVE tart from oven, and slide off parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 15 minutes.

BRUSH glaze over tart, slice, and serve.

Pretty Things Babayaga Tasting

Pretty Things Pint Glass
Originally uploaded by kel h

Babayaga....the beer that drinks like a scotch. It's a smoky porter from Pretty Things, a local brewer that hosted a tasting at The Independent in Union Square with trippy eastern european cartoons of Babayaga and the 1980 olympics or something and deep fried pireogis

Seelbach at Highland Kitchen

Seelbach at Highland Kitchen
Originally uploaded by kel h

went to Highland Kitchen with my friend Michelle. Had a great fall veggie pot pie, and a Seelbach cocktail

1 ounce bourbon
1/2 ounce Cointreau
7 dashes Angostura bitters
7 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
5 ounces chilled dry Champagne

combine first four ingredients in champagne glass and stir. Top with Champagne or sparkling wine and an orange peel garnish

Port Wine Truffle

port wine truffle
Originally uploaded by kel h

So, it's my roommate's birthday this weekend, and he is a fan of port. I decided to make the port and salted caramel cupcakes I've made in the past, but with a liquid center. The best way I could figure was to make truffles and sink them in the batter. They didn't quite turn into lava cakes, but they were goey and tasty in the middle, and the truffle ganache also made for a tasty frosting.

Today I decided to make more truffles just for fun

Port Wine Truffle

Ingredients:
12 oz semi sweet chocolate chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup port

melt butter and add cream
heat until simmering
add chocolate, reduce heat and stir until smooth
pour into a container and chill

once it gets clay like, scoop into balls
melt more chocolate
chill the balls of ganache and then roll around in melted chocolate and let cool
you may also want to roll it in powdered cocoa or chopped nuts once you coat in melted chocolate

Drinky Drinks: Gin Fizz and Gin Daisy Fizz

I'm getting ready to go on a trip home to Buffalo this weekend, and I've been cooking up a storm, and enjoying some adult beverages.

Gin Fizz:

1 oz lemon juice (abt 1 lemon)

2 oz gin (I have New Amsterdam in the house because it's a good mixing gin, and affordable)

1 tsp simple syrup

seltzer

make it in a highball glass (tall glass)

pour the first three ingredients over ice, then top off the glass with seltzer

to make it a daisy fizz, add 1/2 oz grenadine

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic and Apple Onion Butternut Squash Gratin

So, I went to see The Town yesterday with some friends, and before the movie I invited them over for dinner. I had a whole roasting chicken in the freezer from Trader Joe's, so I decided to make Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic from Ina Garten's recipe. For sides we had Butternut Squash, Apple, and Onion Gratain and Mixed Green Salad.

So, it didn't go exactly like that. I DID have to take the chicken apart, which I've never done before. It wasn't to bad, really. I mean, I'm sure I could have done it and gotten a little more meat off the chicken and made it look more professional, but it really was pulling the limbs and cutting where they meet the bird, and then cutting the breast off the breastbone.

The fact that with this recipe it simmers in sauce for half an hour after searing the surface makes the meat really tender, and the sauce was really tasty. I used pre-peeled garlic, but I still blanched them since comments on the website indicate that it was helpful not only in the peeling process, but started getting the garlic soft.

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

Ingredients

3 whole heads garlic, about 40 cloves

2 (3 1/2-pound) chickens, cut into eighths

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 tablespoons good olive oil

3 tablespoons Cognac, divided

1 1/2 cups dry white wine

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions

Separate the cloves of garlic and drop them into a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds. Drain the garlic and peel. Set aside.

Dry the chicken with paper towels. Season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the butter and oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. In batches, saute the chicken in the fat, skin side down first, until nicely browned, about 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Turn with tongs or a spatula; you don't want to pierce the skin with a fork. If the fat is burning, turn the heat down to medium. When a batch is done, transfer it to a plate and continue to saute all the chicken in batches. Remove the last chicken to the plate and add all of the garlic to the pot. Lower the heat and saute for 5 to 10 minutes, turning often, until evenly browned. Add 2 tablespoons of the Cognac and the wine, return to a boil, and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken to the pot with the juices and sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Cover and simmer over the lowest heat for about 30 minutes, until all the chicken is done.

Remove the chicken to a platter and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the sauce and the flour and then whisk it back into the sauce in the pot. Raise the heat, add the remaining tablespoon of Cognac and the cream, and boil for 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste; it should be very flavorful because chicken tends to be bland. Pour the sauce and the garlic over the chicken and serve hot.

The Butternut Squash, Apple, and Onion Gratain is something I have made in the past. I love making it with tart apples, and using thyme in the seasoning.

Butternut Squash, Apple, Onion Gratain

Ingredients

Cooking spray

1/2 cup flour divided

2 teaspoon salt divided

2 pinch nutmeg divided

1 tsp dried thyme divided

1 butternut squash - peeled, seeded and sliced

4 apples - peeled, cored and sliced

1 sweet onion, thinly sliced

1 cup veggie stock

1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9- x 11-inch glass baking pan with cooking spray.

Place half of the flour, salt, nutmeg and thyme into a large plastic bag. Add half the squash, apples, and onions; shake until lightly dusted.

In glass dish, layer the first 1/2 of squash, apples, and sweet onion. Pour 1/2 cup stock over the top, then sprinkle 1/2 of cheese. Repeat step 2 with remaining veggies and add to glass dish. Pour remaining stock over the top, and cover with foil.

Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes.

Take out and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Return, uncovered, to oven; bake for another 5 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

By the way, The Town was a nice, tight little heist movie that was obviously made by someone from the Boston area who knows and loves the town. Little details like the fact that you could see the Logan Airport tower through the window of Jon Hamm's characters office were really nice, and the car chase was EXCELLENT, especially the ending. Definitely worth seeing on the BIG screen

om nom nom dinner with friends

I had my friends over for dinner friday night before watching Inception. I didn't take any pictures, but we had corn and swordfish on the grill, a salad made of cubed watermelon and cucumber with mint, goat cheese and a simple lemon vinaigrette, and grilled peaches with ice cream and bourbon caramel from the NYTimes. The bourbon caramel was a HUGE hit, and so I'm posting the recipe here. The one change i would make is don't let the sugar at the beginning get too dark, because then it's burnt, which is tasty but not the flavor you are going for. It should look kind of like honey.

Grilled-Peach Sundaes With Salted Bourbon-Caramel Sauce

For the Peaches

4 ripe peaches
3 tablespoons peanut oil
Sea salt

For the pecans:
1 cup whole pecan halves
1 1/2tablespoons melted butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

For the caramel:

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup bourbon

For the whipped cream:

1 cup best-quality heavy cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup buttermilk

1. Prepare the peaches: Heat a charcoal grill while you bring a saucepan of water to simmer. Score the bottom of each peach with an X, then blanch for about 45 seconds, until skin near the X looks loose. Remove peaches with a slotted spoon and cool in a bowl of ice water. Peel the peaches. Then, with a paring knife, start at the stem of the peach and make a single cut around to the tip. Rotate hands in opposite directions, twist and free flesh from pit.

2. Lay the peach halves cut side up and brush lightly with peanut oil; sprinkle with salt. Place the peaches cut side down on grill (you can also use a stovetop grill pan set over medium heat) and cook until there are grill marks, about 2 minutes. Brush with oil and sprinkle with salt. Flip and grill the other side.

3. Make the pecans: Toss the first four ingredients in a bowl; spread on a nonstick cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until nicely toasted. Remove and toss with the sugar.

4. Make the caramel: Combine the sugar, water and corn syrup in a saucepan and bring to a low boil. Gently swirl the mixture in a circular motion (do not stir) and allow it to boil down until it is a deepamber caramel, at least 10 minutes. Carefully whisk in the cream, protecting your hand from the steam. Immediately whisk in the butter and continue to stir over low heat until mixture is smooth. Stir in salt and bourbon and whisk again. Remove from heat and allow to cool before using.

5. Make the whipped cream: Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla and whip to stiff peaks. Drizzle in the buttermilk and whip until incorporated. Refrigerate until ready to use.

6. To assemble: Place 2 peach halves in a bowl; scoop ice cream into each pit and add a dollop of whipped cream. Sprinkle with pecans and drizzle salted bourbon-caramel sauce over the whole shebang. Serves 4. From John Currence, chef and owner of City Grocery, Snackbar, Big Bad Breakfast and Bouré in Oxford, Miss.

Rum Party Cupcakes: Dark and Stormy and Cuba Libre

Dark and Stormy Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by kel h

I went to a party where the theme was rum, and decided to make two kinds of rum based cupcakes. One was a layered Dark and Stormy Cupcake, and the other was a Cube Libre cupcake with coke frosting and homemade candied limes. The rum cake recipe makes a TON, in fact enough for two dozen Dark and Stormy cupcakes AND a dozen Cuba Libre (makes 2 doz full sized cupcakes)

Dark and Stormy Cupcake

Ginger Beer Cupcakes (bottom layer)

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup ginger beer
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp milk
1 egg, at room temperature
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk and ginger beer beat well. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat until the batter is light and fluffy. Fold in the ginger.

Rum Cupcake (top layer):

2/3 c unsalted butter at rm temp
1c sugar
1c lt brown sugar
2 lg eggs rm temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp rum extract (or just 2 tsp vanilla)
1 1/3 c dark or spiced rum
2/3 c milk
4 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt

cream butter and sugars 3-5 min. Add eggs and extracts
in one small bowl combine rum and milk
In another bowl combine dry ingredients
add to butter mixture alternating wet and dry until combined.

Fill liner or well greased cupcake pan 1/3 full with ginger beer cupcake. Then pour another 1/3 of the way with rum cupcake (unfortunately I didn't have any food coloring, but it would be super cool if you could color the ginger beer layer a different color so you can see the layers). Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350.

Rum Frosting
1 lb powdered sugar
5 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter at rm temp
1/8-1/4 c milk
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp rum

combine sugar, butter and salt. Add rum. Gradually add milk to desired consistency. Mine was a bit runny (but I think i didn't use enough sugar)

Cuba Libre Cupcake

Cuba Libre (Rum and Coke) cupcakes
Originally uploaded by kel h

Rum Cupcake:
2/3 c unsalted butter at rm temp
1c sugar
1c lt brown sugar
2 lg eggs rm temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp rum extract (or just 2 tsp vanilla)
1 1/3 c dark or spiced rum
2/3 c milk
4 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325
cream butter and sugars 3-5 min. Add eggs and extracts
in one small bowl combine rum and milk
In another bowl combine dry ingredients
add to butter mixture alternating wet and dry until combined.
Bake 20 minutes

Coca-cola frosting
1/2 c butter
1/3 c coke
1 lb powdered sugar
3 tbsp powdered cocoa
a few dashes bitters if you have them
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter. Add coke, powdered sugar and cocoa. whisk togegther and bring to a boil. remove from heat and add vanilla and bitters. Refrigerate until it sets

Candied Limes
1-2 limes (I got around four slices per lime)
water
1 c sugar

Slice limes into 1/4 inch slices
blanch for 2 min in pot of boiling water then place on paper towel and dry.
bring 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar to a boil. Drop the limes in and let them simmer for 15-20 min. Put on a cooling rack or a piece of foil sprayed well with cooking spray. Let them cool.

(the recipe creates a nice bonus of some lime simple syrup) Toss some mint, a few uncandied limes and some rum and you've got a mojito!

rum cupcake ideas

I have a friend who's birthday is coming up, and it is a rum themed party. Here are some ideas I'm playing with

Cuba Libre Cupcakes

rum cake cupcake
Coca Cola Frosting
topped with a candied lime slice

Also, maybe a cable car cupcake

use the rum cupcake recipe above and add some triple sec
lemon buttercreme frosting
candied lemon slices instead of lime

or a dark and stormy cupcake
layerd cupcake with half rum and half ginger ale cupcakes
with a rum/ginger buttercream

i'd try a rum runner cupcake but it's a lot of flavors. I may think on it some more.

champagne cupcakes for new years

champagne cupcakes for new years
Originally uploaded by kel h

Cupcake Ingredients
2/3 c butter
1 1/2 c sugar
2 3/4 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 c champagne
6 large egg whites

1) Preheat oven 350 degrees

2) Cream butter and sugar together

3) Sift flour, baking powder and salt

4) Blend dry ingredients and butter and sugar

5) Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. fold white into batter in thirds

6) fill liners 3/4 full. Bake for 20 min

Frosting Ingredients

3/4 c vegetable shortening
12 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp champagne
4 1/2 c confectioners sugar

Beat sugar and shortening together. Add champagne, Slowly add sugar until smooth. Add additional champagne to achieve desired consistency

periodic table of beer

periodic table of beer
Originally uploaded by John602

this looks handy

Cocktail Hour on Rachel Maddow

This first one is a flaming punch made by Josie, who was our bartender at Drink

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

she is super awesome

This clip has three cockail recipes that were made at the white house

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy