Bourbon Caramel Spiced Bar Nuts

Posted on November 27, 2013 by abourbongal

Perfect to go along with your Thanksgiving cocktails!

I love making handmade gifts for the holidays, and these bar nuts fit the bill perfectly: tasty, easy to throw together quickly, and gorgeous in a pretty jar or crinkly bag. Plus, they make your house smell hella good when they’re roasting! I made these for our Supper Club a few years back and they’ve been a favorite ever since; great with salads or alongside cocktails. Technically, they’re really not a ‘caramel,’ but the presence of sugar and butter together gives it that distinctive caramel-ly flavor. I fix up a few batches of these sweet-spicy-savory treats just before Thanksgiving and have ‘em on hand for football tailgating, hostess gifts, and impromptu cocktail parties through the New Year. For the mixologist in your life, snuggle a box of bar nuts alongside a great bottle of booze and some swanky mixers.

Cheers, y’all!

Bourbon Caramel Spiced Bar Nuts

Bourbon Caramel Spiced Bar Nuts

2 ½ lbs. unsalted nuts (just pecans, or any combo you like)

3 Tbs. butter, softened to room temperature

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup bourbon

1 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 ½ Tbs. smoked sea salt (any variety, any color)

¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh rosemary

1 Tbs. raw, turbinado, or other large-grained sugar (for finishing)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread nuts evenly out on a large rimmed cookie sheet.

To a very large mixing bowl, add all remaining ingredients except for the raw/turbinado sugar. Stir to combine well (it’s okay if the butter is a little lumpy, it will melt later).

Toast nuts on the center rack of the oven until they are fragrant and golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Immediately toss the nuts into the large bowl with the other ingredients and stir with a large spoon until evenly covered. Spread all of the nuts out in an even layer on the rimmed cookie sheet; sprinkle with turbinado or sanding sugar. After cooling for about 15 minutes, taste, and adjust with a little salt or spice to your liking. Serve immediately, or store in an airtight container for one month.

I recently served these nuts for a photo shoot on a piece I wrote for CityHomeCOLLECTIVE about Hot Toddies. Check it out!

The Poison Apple: a bright red cinnamon-apple cocktail

Posted on October 29, 2013 by abourbongal

The Poison Apple

This week’s H.O.A.G.Y (Help Out A Gal/Guy, Yeah?) comes from my friend Sazerac –she’s from Baton Rouge, y’all—who texted me with this request:

“I’ve decided to be Snow White for Halloween! I want to make up a ‘poison appletini.’ Can you help me?!”

Of course, gal! We’ve got your adorable backside covered. Sazerac also said it needed to be a simple cocktail, since folks would be mixing up their own at her party.

The result: With a day or two of prep to start an infusion and freeze up some “poison apple” ice balls, the drinks only had three ingredients and they were both gorgeous and delicious, especially if you like your cocktails on the sweet-spicy side. If you don’t have the time or equipment to freeze ice balls – which look supah cool, but I’m warning you they are a pain in the ass to remove from the trays, the red food coloring gets EVERYWHERE, and beware the red shits the next day—regular old ice cubes work just fine and the drink is still a beautiful clear red color.

24 hours + in advance:

Start your Cinnamon Vodka Infusion: to a clean glass quart jar, add 25 cinnamon hard candies, and cover completely with not-expensive vodka (about 3 ½ cups). Store in a cool place out of direct sunlight, and shake the jar a few times a day to dissolve the candies. After one or two days, strain the vodka through a fine mesh strainer to remove any candy pieces that did not dissolve. I poured the vodka into an oversized clear liquor bottle and labeled it with a cool sticker label for the party. This will make about 20-25 cocktails.
Make the Poison Apple Ice balls: I make these in my kitchen sink to trap spills. Fill up the bottom half of your ice mold almost all the way to the rim with water. For a tray of 4, add about 12 drops of red food coloring and an optional 4-6 drops of cinnamon oil (available at most baking supply stores). For cripes sake be careful with the cinnamon oil and food coloring: the former is super strong flavored, and the later will stain everyfuckingthing it touches. Tightly secure the ice mold lid, tip it slightly to remove excess water, and move the ice mold to a flat spot in your freezer. I put paper towels under the tray to collect the red staining water as the trays froze.

Snow White and Sexy Jesus (aka my gals Sazerac and Saketini) – Halloween 2013

The Poison Apple

1 oz. red hot cinnamon-infused vodka

1 oz. Applejack (such as Laird’s)

1 oz. ginger beer (Sazerac likes using diet ginger ale)

Add all ingredients to a large wine glass or martini glass, stir gently to combine. Add a couple of ice cubes or a poison apple ice ball.

Happy Halloween, y’all!

The Poison Apple

Corny Candy Cocktail

Posted on October 24, 2013 by abourbongal

Corny Candy cocktail

Now, this is how you make a safety cone orange cocktail, my friends. One week left until Halloween! I love this holiday: the weather, the ancient ties to pagan harvest festivals like Samhain, the slutty costumes, the silly-themed food, and especially the outrageous cocktails. I started a couple of infusions last week in preparation for the festivities. The one I’m sharing now uses a candy-corn infused vodka that is shockingly hunter-vest orange. Fabulous! I’ll post the other one (hint: it’s called The Poison Apple, for my gal Sazerac who is dressing as Snow White) after it premières at her party this weekend.

Corny Candy Cocktail

2 oz. candy corn-infused vodka*

2 oz. blood-orange sparkling soda

Pour both ingredients over ice and stir gently. Garnish with a couple of candy corns threaded on a toothpick (make sure they are fresh from the bag, if they are dried out they will crack right in half).

*Candy corn vodka: Fill any sized jar about 1/3 full with candy corns. Fill the jar up to within ½” of the rim with vodka (use the cheap stuff for this one). Store in a cool place out of sunlight for 3 days, shaking the jar twice a day or so to encourage the candy disintegration. After 3 days, strain the vodka through a mesh strainer to remove candy fragments, and decant into a clean glass container. Shelf stable for about a month, refrigerate for up to one year after that.

I’ve also been writing for SLC’s fabulous City HomeCOLLECTIVE blog recently, and what a freakin’ fun gig that’s been! To see more on their blog about a fabulous dinner by Pago chefs at Frog Bench Farm, featuring unfiltered totally fab RUTHLewandowski wines, click here.

Pretty in Pink: A Cranberry-Prosecco Sparkler

Posted on October 19, 2013 by abourbongal

I’m super excited.

Pretty in Pink: A Cranberry-Prosecco Sparkler

Tonight I am meeting twenty or so women who are guests of Westminster College’s “Party Board” for a gal’s night out fundraising event supporting the general scholarship fund. I’m a huge fan of the liberal arts—my undergrad years were spent at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN—and I’m an even bigger fan of women getting together for some fashion, fun, and Autumn-inspired cocktails mixed up by Yours Truly. I promised them in advance I’d post the recipes on the blog so they can look ‘em up later. Here goes, ladies!

Pretty in Pink: A Cranberry-Prosecco Sparkler

0.5 oz cranberry vodka*

3-4 oz. Prosecco

To a champagne flute, add 0.5 oz. cranberry-infused vodka. Top with the Prosecco (how much depends on the size of your glass). Garnish with a skewer of sugar-dusted vodka soaked cranberries left over from your infusion. When you drop the skewer into the Prosecco, the sugar reacts to the carbonation of the wine and makes it bubble up even more. Festive!

*To make cranberry vodka: (Easily halved if you only need enough for a few cocktails) To a large clean quart lidded glass jar add 10 oz. dried unsulfured low-sugar cranberries. Pour over enough vodka to fill the jar (about 3 to 3 ½ cups). Place in a cool place away from direct sunlight, and shake daily for 1 week. After a week, strain the vodka through a fine mesh strainer, reserving the vodka-soaked cranberries to make lovely garnishes. If you are going to use the vodka immediately, it does not require refrigeration. If you are going to keep the vodka for longer-term storage, remove all sediment and fruit residue by filtering through a triple layer of cheesecloth or a coffee filter.

The Wasatch Mule

We also made Pear-Ginger Mules: Here’s a link to the Wasatch Mule recipe on a past blog post.

XOXO, y’all!

Simple Syrup in a FLASH!

Posted on October 11, 2013 by abourbongal

Mmmm – smells like fall in here. And booze.

We’re taking a quick break from our tour of my tiny household and how I can get ‘er done in the midst of harvest, canning, etc. Are y’all as crazy as I am this time of year? Fortunately, The Macallan built some handy new shelves in the cellar for me – it’s a perfect temp year ’round for my various brewing, fermenting, and infusing projects. Let’s just hope the cable guy doesn’t need to get to those wires behind my cider any time soon….

This week’s H.O.A.G.Y (Help Out a Gal/Guy, Yeah?) comes from a friend who needed to make simple syrup LIKE RIGHT NOW in preparation for a cocktail party, because the stuff she’d made a week earlier had already developed a Kombucha-like sugar mother alien thing and she was scared to use it. I’d be scared, too.

So, here’s how you make simple syrup in under 30 minutes:

Four steps to FAST simple syrup

1 – into a pint Mason jar, fill half-way with sugar (your choice)

2 – fill with boiling water up to 1″ from the rim of the jar, stir to dissolve

3 – add ice cubes to the rim of the jar, gently stir to dissolve and cool

4 – place a lid on the jar and the jar in an ice-water bath

It will be ready in 15- 20 minutes. Enjoy!

The Wasatch Mule: a pear-ginger white whiskey cocktail

Posted on September 20, 2013 by abourbongal

The Wasatch Mule

After posting my call for bourbon cocktail requests in honor of National Bourbon Heritage Month I learned quite a bit about y’all via your feedback. Mostly that:

1) your time, storage space and/or desire to mix up a bunch of esoteric syrups, shrubs, and bitters is limited;

2) y’all don’t like to purchase or wash any more cocktail equipment than necessary; and

3) you are curious (dare I say suspicious?) about how I manage to make this shit happen on a regular basis in my tiny kitchen with all of those kids and dogs underfoot.

So, for the rest of this month at this here blog we’ll go through each of these concerns and talk it out. And drink some bad-ass cocktails. We’ll tackle the time/space issue this post.

Before I call y’all out as the laziest bunch of sorry cocktail geeks I’ve ever known, I’ll make some of excuses on your behalf. In fact, they’re excuses I use for myself, all the time. Rare ingredients and random specialty booze like that 12-year-old crusty Blue Curaçao bottle with only 3-4 oz. used up take up a lot of space, and if you live in a 1940’s Sugarhouse cottage like mine, that’s at a premium. We were lucky enough to buy a house that the previous owner had obviously fitted with some SERIOUS food storage/hoarding capabilities, which my boys promptly filled with Legos in various stages of completion. Also, most syrups and some shrubs experiments require refrigeration, and if you are an infrequent cocktail mixer this seems like a waste of space that could be used for cheap white wine, expensive beer, and your Costco-sized bag of lettuce. I get it, so I’m gonna go full disclosure on y’all so you don’t get all frustrated about the physical and emotional space you are in.

The booze: You know why bars have that huge shelf of hundreds of bottles behind them? Because a bar needs them to serve the whim of folks who wouldn’t ever use Fernet or Aperol (both of which are next to impossible to source for the home consumer in Utah) for in a cocktail at home, but like to order the most complicated cocktails ever made when they’re out. A good barkeep will also have a wide price and flavor range within a booze category, e.g. several kinds of gin, bourbon, etc. Unless you are having outrageous cocktail parties every weekend or write a booze blog you don’t need all that shit at your house. Figure out what you like, and just keep that on hand. If you don’t know what you like, go to a very good bar early on a not-very-busy night and talk to your bartender. They’ll be happy to help you find your groove – most mixologists love to share their knowledge and recipes. Only buy the random stuff when you have a big party and want to make a signature cocktail, then at the end of the night give a guest who loved it (and whom you love) the random bottle(s). You get your space back, and make a friend for life. Win-win.

The mixers: I started out making my own shrubs, syrups, and bitters because when I first moved to Utah years ago there wasn’t much of a cocktail scene here and these things were hard to come by for the average home consumer. Thanks to Amazon.com, Etsy, and great local small-batch producers all over the country, it’s getting easier every day to source great ingredients. For instance, here in Salt Lake, you can buy Sugarhouse Libations cocktail syrups at the Downtown Farmer’s Market on Saturdays, or order their delicious syrups online. No, they didn’t pay me to say this, I just like their stuff. And the packaging and recipes that come with the heavy sexy bottle are feckin’ killing it. Get some. Then make this with it:

The Wasatch Mule

This cocktail is a play on the Moscow Mule, which you’ve seen served in pretty metal cups. To make it Utah Wasatch Mountains style, I used High West Distillery Silver Oat Whiskey instead of vodka, and Sugarhouse Libations Pear-Ginger syrup, and mix up the whole thing in a pint Mason jar. Yes, you can make your own pear liqueur (which, yes, I do, and it’s the BOMB), but you can also find it at big liquor stores.

5-6 leaves mint, spanked
2 oz. Silver Whiskey (or moonshine)
1 oz. pear liqueur
4 oz. pear-ginger syrup
2 oz. club soda

Spank the mint between your palms, as if clapping. Throw it in the bottom of a pint Mason jar. Add the whiskey, pear liqueur, and pear-ginger syrup. Fill almost to the top with ice. Close up with the jar lid and shake like crazy. Uncap the jar and add club soda. Replace the lid and gently tilt to combine ingredients –don’t shake it or that shit will explode all over you! This can also be made in a traditional cocktail shaker (minus the club soda—again with the exploding) and poured into a mule cup or julep cup with a floater of club soda swizzled in.

Peach & Basil Bourbon Smash

Posted on September 13, 2013 by abourbongal

Peaches & Herb: A Peach-Basil Smash Cocktail

Another H.O.A.G.Y (Help Out a Gal/Guy, Yeah?) from a friend, “I’ve got a sh!tload of peaches. What to do?”

Well, mix ’em with bourbon, of course!

Make a Peach and Bourbon Smash cocktail, perhaps we’ll call it Peaches & Herb? (Get it? #weareold) Celebrate the end of the week -or just getting through 4th grade homework- with this refreshing seasonal cocktail.

In a cocktail shaker muddle together:

1/2 very ripe peach

4-5 basil leaves

2 tsp honey or agave syrup

Add:

1.5 oz bourbon

0.5 oz Lillet Blanc

and a bunch o’ ice

Shake like crazy & strain into a pretty glass. Garnish with a peach wedge and sprig of basil.

TGIF!

Firecracker Moonshine Jell-O Shots

Posted on July 19, 2013 by abourbongal

Layered Jell-O shots. Party like it’s 1847!

July 24^th: Pioneer Day. It’s a Utah state holiday commemorating the triumphant arrival of Brigham Young and his band of pioneers to the Salt Lake valley on July 24, 1847. After he declared “This is the right place,” floods of Mormon emigrants and immigrants followed him to Utah. Most Utah towns of any size (except for the Independent Republic of Park City, but that’s another topic altogether…) host parades and associated “family-friendly” festivals. The Salt Lake City parade is the biggest community event of the year. Last year, lawmakers extended the period during which residents shoot aerial fireworks so that citizens could blow shit up from the 4^th to the 24^th of July without interruption. Folks who celebrate Pioneer Day host parties that fall into two camps directly divided by modern religious affiliation, rather than pioneer ancestry: Pioneers vs. “Pie and Beers.” Makes me want a good, stiff drink. Or some Jell-O shots. That’s right, Pie & Beer Camp: We are making Freaking Moonshine Jell-O Shots. With PopRocks on top!

The verdict: Pretty damn good

I made the ones photographed here for a July 4^th party hosted by Lemon Drop and IPA (a.k.a. Hoss on Hops). They were a freaking HIT. Half I made without alcohol; those were topped with cherries (to make sure the kiddos, pregnant women, recovering alcoholics, and Mormons didn’t get the boozy ones by accident). Half were made using 80 proof white corn whiskey (commercially available “moonshine”) instead of the frat party favorite Everclear. I left those unadorned until just before serving, then I scattered about ¼ teaspoon of Pop Rocks (yes! The exploding in your mouth candy!) on each shot. The combination of the whiff of Moonshine with the sweet gumminess of the Jell-O was perfectly balanced by the acoustic and sensory bang of the Pop Rocks. And nobody died from combining Pop Rocks and alcohol, so take that, urban mythologists. As a basis for this recipe, and for help figuring out how to make the “white” layer, I turned to a Wiki-how tutorial on making Patriots football Jell-o shots. Of course, you can substitute any colors/flavors you want, and you can always use plain old vodka if you don’t have corn liquor on hand. This recipe makes about 35 shots, depending upon what kind of containers you use and how full you fill them.

Layered Moonshine Jell-O shots

1 – 3 oz. box blue Jell-O

2 packets plain gelatin

1 can (1 cup) sweetened condensed milk

1 – 3 oz. box red Jell-O 3 cups boiling water (divided use)

2 ½ cups clear relatively flavorless liquor (corn whiskey or vodka)

3-4 packages Cherry or Watermelon (red) Pop Rocks

To assemble your shots: Place 35 small plastic cups on a large rimmed sheet tray. Lightly spray all of the cups with flavorless cooking spray to reduce sticking.

Blue layer

For the blue layer: combine blue Jell-O with 1 cup boiling water; stir until completely dissolved. Let cool slightly (otherwise your liquor will evaporate from the heat- we don’t want that!!). Add the liquor, and pour equally into small cups. Refrigerate for about 2 hours, or until set.

For the white layer: sprinkle gelatin packets over 1 ½ cups water just off the boil; whisk quickly to dissolve completely. Keep whisking and add the condensed milk and ½ cup liquor. After it’s all combined, pour gently over the blue layer 2/3 the way up the cup. Refrigerate for about 2 hours, or until set.

White layer

For the red layer: combine red Jell-O with 1 cup boiling water; stir until completely dissolved. Let cool slightly. Add the liquor, and pour equally into small cups. Add fruit to top at this point, if desired. Refrigerate for about 2 hours, or until set. For the PopRocks Firecracker finale! As you are serving the Jell-O shots, have guest sprinkle about ¼ tsp. Rop Rocks on their Jell-O shot.

Everything was a little blurry by this time, including this shot

Mint Chocolate Julep Ice Cream

Posted on July 11, 2013 by abourbongal

The last time I posted homemade ice cream photos on Instagram, my dear high school friend Boulevardier (she’s a Louisville gal, through and through!) wrote “@abourbongal – I’m challenging you to create a mint julep ice cream!”
Done and done, girlfriend! Here’s this week’s H.O.A.G.Y (Help Out A Gal/Guy, Yeah?).
This is another ice cream recipe I developed using the Ben & Jerry’s home ice cream prep method. It is SO refreshing and light. Well, the flavors are light anyway. There are about a million yummy fat grams in it. And the bourbon, and sugar. And the chocolate… Mmmmm

Mint Chocolate Julep Ice Cream. So refreshing!

Mint Chocolate Julep Ice Cream

2 large very fresh eggs
¾ cup sugar
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup heavy cream
1 ½ tsp. peppermint extract
2 Tbs. bourbon
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (or yummy with small chunks or shaved dark chocolate)
Mint sprigs for garnish

Whisk the eggs in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes); whisk in the sugar a little at a time and continue blending until completely combined (about 1 minute more). With the mixer on low speed, pour in the cream and half-and-half, increase speed to medium and pour in the peppermint extract and bourbon; whisk for another minute.

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer’s instructions.

After the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it is done), add the chocolate, then continue freezing until the ice cream is ready.

Garnish each serving with a little sprig of mint.

Salted Butter Pecan-Bourbon Ice Cream

Posted on June 28, 2013 by abourbongal

How much do I love Ben & Jerry’s ice cream? Well, a lot. Sure, there are some really amazing frozen sweets purveyors out there now, but I adore Ben & Jerry’s for their nostalgia factor. I can still remember trying Cherry Garcia for the first time, The Macallan and I sharing a pint and two spoons on a lazy western Washington afternoon.

Salted Butter Pecan-Bourbon Ice Cream. Yup, it’s pretty tasty.

A few years ago, my boys got me an ice cream freezer bowl insert to go with my stand mixer—this gift being one in a long line of kitchen gadgets given in the hopes that they would benefit as taste testers from my use of it. I make ice cream all year-round, and keep the clean freezer canister in my basement trunk freezer so it’s glacial cold and ready to go at a moment’s notice.I didn’t, however, LOVE making ice cream until I picked up a copy of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book.

Workman Publishing (1987)

Most of the ice cream recipes I’d used up until then involved lengthy custard-making and tempering on the stove instructions, followed by extended cooling times, making the ice cream experience a day-long affair. Ben & Jerry cut right to the chase: as long as you use really great ingredients and a SUPER cold (again, your case freezer is your friend) finishing freeze, you can make superb ice cream within an hour. And rarely use your stovetop. Using their recipe bases, I only have to clean two vessels: the stand mixing bowl, and the freezer bowl. Done and done, my friends.

One of my favorite adaptations from their cookbook is Butter Pecan Ice Cream. It’s not for everyone: you can both taste and FEEL the little beads of butter bursting on your tongue. I use a combination of white and brown sugar for the ice cream base, and add a bit of bourbon (of course!). I’ve experimented with a few different kinds of salt, and enjoy the savory edge of smoked sea salts in this recipe- just use a pale colored salt, otherwise your ice cream will look muddy.

Neither KitchenAid, nor Maker’s Mark, nor Bourbon Barrel Foods, nor my hens have paid me to promote their products. I just like their stuff.

Salted Butter Pecan-Bourbon Ice Cream (Makes 1 generous quart).

½ cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup pecan halves

½ tsp. smoked sea salt (plus extra for garnish)

2 large fresh eggs

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup light brown sugar, packed

1 ½ cups heavy or whipping cream

1 ½ cups half-and-half

2 Tbs. bourbon

Melt the butter in a heavy skillet over low heat. Add the pecans and salt and sauté, stirring constantly, until the pecans start to turn brown and are crisp, but don’t overcook or they’ll be soggy in the final product (yuck!). Drain off the butter into a small bowl and reserve; put the drained pecans in another bowl and cool.

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes); whisk in the sugars a little at a time and continue blending until completely combined (about 1 minute more). With the mixer on low speed, pour in the bourbon, cream, and half-and-half, increase speed to medium and pour in the butter in a narrow stream; whisk for another minute.

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer’s instructions.

After the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it is done), add the pecans, then continue freezing until the ice cream is ready.

Sprinkle a little pinch more sea salt on top of each serving.

A Bourbon Gal in Utah

DARBY DOYLE: food, booze & all things outdoors

Category Archives: Sweet Stuff

Bourbon Caramel Spiced Bar Nuts

The Poison Apple: a bright red cinnamon-apple cocktail

Corny Candy Cocktail

Pretty in Pink: A Cranberry-Prosecco Sparkler

Simple Syrup in a FLASH!

The Wasatch Mule: a pear-ginger white whiskey cocktail

Peach & Basil Bourbon Smash

Firecracker Moonshine Jell-O Shots

Mint Chocolate Julep Ice Cream

Salted Butter Pecan-Bourbon Ice Cream