Category Archives: recipes

Food, foodie, Holidays, recipes, things to drink, things to eat

Bourbon Cherry Dark Chocolate Fudge

1 Comment

Bourbon Cherry Dark Chocolate FudgeHonestly, does a post with a title like this really need anything more than a recipe? I could tell you about how I’ve just recently developed an interest in bourbon, and the craft of distilling it. Could go on about how discovering I like it has sparked all sorts of mixology adventures. Maybe I should tell you that Maker’s Mark enlisted me in some boozy baking fun, and that they helped in the development of this recipe by sending along a bottle of their amber awesome for me to play with. But really, all you want to know is…

“How do I get this in my belly… NOW?!”

So here ya go, you chocolate-loving-booze-hounds. (people after my own heart)

Bourbon Cherry Dark Chocolate Fudge IngredientsOne note about ingredients : Though fudge is oft made with semi-sweet or milk chocolate, this recipe uses high cacao content dark and semi-sweet chocolates. Why? Because this blend helps showcase the smokey notes of the bourbon and plays well with the tart cherry flavor. I tested a few chocolate options and this final blend took the recipe over the top – which is what boozy chocolate should be, right?

Bourbon Cherry Dark Chocolate Fudge
Serves 24
Dark, rich and delish, adding bourbon and cherries takes this fudge from holiday treat to confection perfection. I highly recommended using both good quality chocolate and vanilla bean rather than extract.
Write a review
Save Recipe
Print
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
3 hr
Total Time
3 hr 15 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
3 hr
Total Time
3 hr 15 min
Ingredients
  1. 1/2 cup Bourbon (I used Makers Mark)
  2. 1 cup Dried Dark Cherries
  3. 1 pod Vanilla Bean
  4. 1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
  5. 1 cup Sugar
  6. 5oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
  7. 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
  8. 6 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate
  9. 6 oz Dark (70% Cacao) Chocolate
Instructions
  1. Place cherries and bourbon in a small sauce pan, allow to simmer on medium heat until most of the bourbon is absorbed into the cherries. Set aside. In a double boiler over medium heat combine milk, sugar, vanilla caviar (insides of the pod) and butter. Allow to come to a simmer. Add chocolate by 1/2 cups, whisking to combine. Once all chocolate is melted, remove from heat. Stir in cherries and bourbon until combined. Place in a disposable 8x8 foil pan. Top with dried cherries, pecans, walnuts, or almonds (optional). Allow to cool. Refrigerate for a minimum of three hours before serving.
Notes
  1. If you prefer a more pronounced bourbon flavor, decrease the amount of condensed milk by 1 ounce and increase the bourbon to 3/4 of a cup.
Chicken Nuggets of Wisdom https://chickennuggetsofwisdom.com/

 

 

family travel, Food, foodie, recipes

Global Cookie Recipes from Omni Hotels

Leave a comment

I first published this post last year, but with the holidays fast approaching it felt like the perfect time to dust it off and share again. Okay, so maybe I had to dig up the recipes as part of my nefarious plot to score the top spot at this year’s cookie exchange. Either way this one is a win, win!

Taking a recipe with you is the best sort of travel souvenir. It lets you recall the memories with all your senses. Omni hotels are bringing it all back with some great global cookie recipes and personal stories.

Dulce De Leche Snap Cookies“This family recipe stems from growing up with my grandmother in a small village off the coast of the Pacific, a few hours from Acapulco. She was a great cook and baker. Everything that she produced was done from scratch including one of the main ingredients that was used for this particular cookie, the “Dulce de Leche” which was made from sugar cane molasses.” ~ Executive Chef Gabino Acosta, Omni Mandalay Hotel at Las Colinas

Dulce de Leche Snap Cookies

8 oz Sugar
5 oz Brown sugar
0.03 oz Salt
12 oz Shortening
4 oz Butter
4 oz Whole milk
.5 oz Baking soda
22 oz Molasses
20 oz Bread flour
20 oz Cake flour

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Cream together sugars, salt shortening and butter till smooth and soft. Dissolve baking soda in milk and add to the mix. Add molasses. Sift together flours and add it to the mixer, slowly till smooth. Roll 1.5 ounce balls, then make the dough in the shape of mini bowl. Scoop the Dulce de Leche into 0.8 ounce. Add the Dulce de Leche into the dough, close it and shape the cookie in 2 inches rounds. Freeze the cookie dough for about 20 minutes, and bake them frozen 8-10 minutes at 325 degrees.

Amaretti Cookie RecipeIn my husband’s Italian family, Amaretti cookies are a holiday staple. I’ve been asking my mother-in-law for her recipe for years. Like the mom on Everybody Loves Raymond she always seems to be unable to find it or recall it from memory when I ask. Our cookies are either shipped by her, or store bought… until now!

Amaretti Cookies

12oz almond paste
2oz egg whites
¾ C powdered sugar
½ C granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Put the almond paste in the bowl of your mixer and, with the paddle attachment, paddle to break up
3. Add the remaining ingredients and mix to form a sticky dough
4. Scoop the cookies with a cookie scoop (or alternately just scoop with a tablespoon) and roll into a ball. Place the balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Slightly wet your fingers in warm water, and press the cookies down using 2 fingers (you want to see the finger marks)
5. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until just starting to show color

“The holidays always remind me of baking with my Italian Nana. We would make pies, rolls, and cookies. The first thing she ever let me do in the kitchen was whip the cream for the pies, and every year when I am making my holiday desserts and whipping that cream, I think of being a little girl baking with my Nana.”  ~ Pastry Chef Kristina Kent, Omni Dallas Hotel

Omni has put together a great collection of global cookie recipes that you can enjoy at their hotels, or visit their Pinterest page to find some to try at home!

Disclosure: This post is NOT sponsored by anything but kiemy taste buds and love of trying new recipes. I was not compensated in any way. We do love to stay at Omni hotels – Berkshire in New York City is our favorite – because they always treat everyone in your family like you’re in theirs.

 

Save

cocktails, drinks, Entertaining, recipes, things to drink

Halloween Cocktails: The Poisoned Apple (5 Ways)

Leave a comment

Halloween Cocktails - Five Poisoned Apple RecipesThrill your guests and scare up the spirits with… well, spirits. Halloween Cocktails are some of my favorites – if only for the crazy names. I’ve scoured the webs {inter, not spider} to bring you terrifyingly tasty adult libations for your celebrations. I give you The Poisoned Apple… 5 ways.

If you’re not reading Cork Fork  & Passport, you need be – the cocktails alone are worth it! Julie takes her cocktails seriously. No apple cider to cloud up this concoction that includes… wait for it… orange infused rum!

Poisoned Apple Cocktail from Cork, Fork & Passport. (photo credit: Julie Cohn)
Poisoned Apple Cocktail from Cork, Fork & Passport. (photo credit: Julie Cohn)

Want a tangy twist and some serious pucker in your poison? Try The Little Epicurean’s version with a cranberry and pucker schnapps kick.

(photo credit: little epicurean)
(photo credit: little epicurean)

Little Epicurean’s Recipe

The apples must be McIntosh. The sugar is sanding… not table. She may be as uppity as an evil queen, but leave it to Martha to be creative enough to use the actual apple as her bar ware. 

Martha’s Recipe

Bread. Booze. Bacon. Um… we thought this was a cocktail roundup? Oh it tis, my friends. I just got a little distracted by the name of that blog, sounds like someone I need know. Plus, there may be Poison Apple Jello Shots served in syringes at their Halloween party.

And finally, my version the Poisoned Apple inTOXICating concoction -pictured above-  can be found over at (cool) Progeny… if you dare… bwahahahahaaa.

Happy Halloween!

{note to self, maybe don’t sample all at once while also writing about them}

Save

Save

drinks, europe, Food, foodie, recipes

5 global hot cocoa recipes

3 Comments

global hot cocoa recipes

Winter has finally arrived in all it’s teeth-chattering glory here in Maryland. I’ll admit to never being much of a cold-weather gal. One thing I do love about a nip in the air is that it is the perfect excuse for whipping up some hot cocoa. After you try some of these global hot cocoa recipes you’ll never go instant again!

On cold Spanish nights {yes, we had those even though I lived in the south} my favorite treat was wrapping my frozen fingers around a tiny mug of toasty warm coco and dipping crunchy churros into it’s molten yumminess. You’ve never indulged yourself in chocolate decadence until you’ve had Spanish hot cocoa.

Dense, rich and luxuriant, Spanish hot cocoa is more an event than a drink. Yes, there is work involved. This isn’t rip-open-the-packet coca. That said, making it is easier than you may think and certainly well worth the effort.

Spanish Hot Cocoa Recipe

2 cups WHOLE milk {I know, I’m a skim girl too but you really have to have the “real” stuff for this}
1 tsp cornflour
3/4 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup dark chocolate, grated {I suggest at least 75% cacao}
1 tbsp sugar

In a small sauce pot over medium heat make a roux of the flour and cornstarch with about 2 tablespoons of the milk. Allow to cook for about a minute. You don’t want to toast it but you also don’t want that icky flour flavor. Slowly whisk in the remaining milk.  Add grated chocolate and sugar. Continue to whisk until chocolate melts and the milk reduces to a nice, loose, almost pudding-like consistency. 

Three types of milk and cinnamon? I’m in! When I found this recipe for Peruvian hot chocolate over at Provecho Peru, I started praying for winter to arrive. Okay, if we’re being honest I could drink this stuff any time of year. The addition of the cinnamon gives it a warming aroma that is perfectly suited to a cold winter’s day though.

Peruvian Hot Cocoa
Global Hot Cocoa Recipes
photo credit: Provecho Peru – provechoperu.com

 

You’ll find the hot cocoa recipe here but once you’re done with that browse around. This website is packed with all sorts of Peruvian culinary adventures!

Norwegian Hot Cocoa

When you think of a Winter Wonderland there is no doubt Norway has to top that list. So it makes perfect sense that the Norwegians would have some seriously awesome cocoa, right? Right!

This recipe from My Little Norway is super simple. Good quality cocoa powder and vanilla essence set it apart.

Zartbitter Heisse Schokolade – German Dark Chocolate

Just saying, “zartbitter heisse schokolade,” makes me smile. Somewhere Heir Isaacson from 11th grade German class is cringing at my inability to properly pronounce those words, but still it’s fun. Even more fun when you add this delectable drink recipe from The Kitchen Maus. 

global hot cocoa recipes
photo credit: The Kitchen Maus

 

Ghanaian Hot Chocolate

Sometimes the story is even better than the drink. And that’s saying something when the hot cocoa includes spiced rum, people! Chrissy of The Hungry Buddha weaves a tale of West African history while pounding out cacao beans {yes, actually taking a pestle to those puppies}  the result is a recipe fit for even the most discerning travel journal.

Do you have a favorite hot cocoa recipe? I’d love to try it!

 

Entertaining, Food, foodie, recipes

Double Chocolate Espresso Brownies

Leave a comment

Double Chocolate Espresso BrowniesCould there be anything more celebratory than a deep, rich, chewy chocolate brownie? Um, yeah. If it’s a brownie with double the chocolate and kicked up with some espresso. Nothing brings out the full flavor of really good chocolate like coffee.

This recipe is actually a cheat on my Italian mother-in-laws famous from-scratch brownies. Honestly, who has the time to sift flour, measure dry ingredients, and all that jazz. Okay, maybe I do but if I can get out of the kitchen faster and still look like a baking rock star, all the better.

Want to up your WOW factor? Serve these with some gelato on the side. The hubby loves pistachio but I’m a bit of a purist, make mine espresso or vanilla, thank you. 

 

Double Chocolate Espresso Brownies
Rich, chewy, indulgent brownies with half the effort.
Write a review
Save Recipe
Print
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
40 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
40 min
Ingredients
  1. Boxed Fudge Brownie Mix (your favorite brand)
  2. 2 Large Eggs
  3. 1/4 Cup Espresso Coffee (room temp)
  4. 1/4 Vegetable Oil
  5. 1/4 Olive Oil
  6. 1/2 Cup Dark Chocolate (shaved off bar)
  7. 1/2 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips
Instructions
  1. Brew espresso and allow to cool to room temperature. You can use instant espresso, but brewed has a deeper flavor. Whisk eggs and oil together. Beat into dry brownie mix along with cooled espresso. Fold in chocolate. Place in a glass baking dish 13"x9" that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 27-30 minutes until toothpick inserted an inch or so from the edge comes out clean. Remove and cool on a wire cooling rack.
Notes
  1. Do not over-work your brownie batter that will result in a cake-like brownie rather than a chewy one.
Adapted from Her Mother-In-Law's Super Complicated Recipe
Adapted from Her Mother-In-Law's Super Complicated Recipe
Chicken Nuggets of Wisdom https://chickennuggetsofwisdom.com/