Showing posts with label alcohol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alcohol. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Kentucky Bourbon Balls


Christmas parties everywhere, every night. That's what December is for. Of Course, one should never show up to a party empty-handed, so here's a fun treat you can take with you next time you go to a holiday shindig. The glossy finish on the balls makes them a real treat that you can be proud of. They are a little labor intensive, but drag a friend into the kitchen and put on some dancing music and you will never notice.

Also, please please please keep these pure and use real Kentucky bourbon. I personally used Four Roses, but there are quite a number of good distilleries from Kentucky to choose from. These are not terribly strong, so you won't get tipsy off of them, but you can definitely taste the bourbon. This recipe is classic and definitely not that rum ball recipe that you find everywhere else. I personally much prefer these with their sweet, white insides.

Kentucky Bourbon Balls
From Beyond the Fence (a Kentucky cookbook)

1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup bourbon
6 tablespoons butter, melted
5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 block paraffin wax, shaved
Whole pecans, 1 to top each bourbon ball with

Spread chopped nuts in a shallow bowl and pour bourbon over nuts. Let soak overnight. The following day, in a separate bowl, combine butter, 4 cups sugar, and soaked nuts Mix thoroughly until mixture is consistent. Add remaining 1 cup sugar and mix well by hand. Using 1 tablespoon scoop, evenly scoop balls, rolling each into a sphere in your hand. Lay rolled balls on wax paper. Chill balls for at least 10 minutes in the fridge. In the meantime, prepare chocolate by melting chocolate and wax in a double boiler. Stir until melted and consistent throughout. Dip each ball into chocolate with a toothpick and allow excess chocolate to drip off before returning to wax paper. Place a pecan half on top of each ball before the chocolate hardens.

Should make 48 balls (I suggest to make them smaller than a tablespoon to get 48)

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Turkey and Leek Risotto


It just snowed for the first time this year. I honestly really wasn't paying that much attention, as I was running late for class and more excited that I had just dropped off some white bean soup and lemon pie for a sick friend, but seeing snow in the air is always nice, no matter how distracted I am.

I hope your December is going smoothly and your Christmas shopping is complete -unless you are one of those crazies who actually finds pleasure in spending the entire morning hunting for a parking spot at the mall, only to be elbowed every 3 seconds in the overcrowded mall while searching for that "perfect gift" that never seems to appear. 

Can you tell I don't like crowds and am a notoriously bad gift-giver?

Because I am absolutely horrible at picking out gifts, I have decided to keep it simple this year. I ordered spices from Penzey's and self-sealable tea bags on Amazon and put together homemade mulling spices. Who doesn't want homemade mulling spices? Everyone can use them. You simply put cider or wine in a pot on the stove, add the bag of spices, and you're good! Here's to hoping I actually do an alright job with gifts this year. And yes, everyone on my list is getting mulling spices, no matter how special (or not special) they are to me. Maybe that's the sign of bad gift giving again... oops.


Turkey and Leek RisottoPerfect for the leftover turkey from thanksgiving and the leftover leeks that were not used up for a fish bouillabaisse last week.
Serves 6. Adapted from Cooking Light

  • 5 ½ cups chicken broth 
  • 1 tablespoon butter, divided
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
  • 3 cups thinly sliced leek (about 3 large)
  • ¾ teaspoon salt, divided
  • ¼ cup finely chopped shallots
  • 1 ½ cups uncooked Arborio rice or other short-grain rice
  • ½ cup dry white wine
  • 2 cups chopped cooked turkey (light and dark meat)
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried fresh sage
  • ⅓ cup grated fresh pecorino Romano cheese
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Bring chicken broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan (do not boil). Keep warm over low heat.
Melt 1 teaspoon butter and 1 teaspoon oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add leek to pan; cook 7 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in ¼ teaspoon salt. Place leek mixture in a a bowl and set aside. Melt remaining 2 teaspoons butter and remaining 1 teaspoon oil in pan. Add shallots to pan; cook 2 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add rice; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in wine; cook 1 minute or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Stir in ½ cup stock and ¼ teaspoon salt; cook until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Add remaining stock, ½ cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of the stock is absorbed before adding the next (about 28 minutes total).
Stir herb, turkey and leeks into the rice; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat; stir in remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, pecorino Romano cheese, and pepper. Serve.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Pecan Pie Bars


  • Yay fall. I made these last week for a Statistics study session. Only 4 people came, so there were plenty of leftovers for me to take to Tuesday Night at my friends' house, where the boys quickly devoured them. As you can see, I barely managed to get a picture before these bars disappeared!
  • Pecan Pie Bars
    Adapted from Southern Living's Utterly Deadly Pecan Pie
  • 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoons salt
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 4-6 tablespoons cold water
  • 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
  • large eggs
  • 3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup milk milk
  • 2 tablespoons bourbon
  • 3 cups pecan halves
  • Preheat oven to 350. Mix flour and salt into a bowl, add oil; mix with a fork. Sprinkle water 1 tablespoon at a time until moistened and dough forms a bowl. If it seems to wet (should be the consistency of a pie crust dough), add flour; too dry, add water. Press into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan until the bottom is completely and evenly covered. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Bake for approximately 10 minutes.
  • Remove crust/pan from oven and let cool. Turn oven to 325°.  Whisk eggs in a large bowl until foamy; whisk in brown sugar and next 6 ingredients. Pour mixture into pan (on top of the crust), and top with pecan halves. Bake at 325° for 30 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 300°, and bake 30 more minutes. Turn oven off, and let pie stand in oven, with door closed, 3 hours.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Rum Cupcakes!




Is there any better way to christen my first home and kitchen than by baking rum cupcakes?

I am sorry to have been gone for so long, but it's hard to cook when I don't have my own kitchen. I made some pretty dang good scrambled eggs, but nothing spectacular. Now that I am in my own place for the first time, I am ready to cook and bake with new-found enthusiasm!

Don't get me wrong, I love living on peanut butter smeared Oreos just as much as any other God-fearing American, but I am very excited to have a beautiful gas range and oven, as well as my own fridge and pantry and knives and *ta da!* a stand mixer! I finally bought a stand mixer this past weekend so that I could give my new kitchen a real welcome.

Back to the cupcakes: This recipes comes from a friend I knew in high school. They are absolutely fantastic. I love their dense but oh-so soft texture. The flavors of the rum and lime are such that you might not recognize them if you weren't told what they were, but once you know, they are definitely there (in a delicious way, of course!).

Personally, I like my cupcakes plain, no frosting, but for you frosting lovers, I am recommending either a simple vanilla or a coconut frosting. I went with vanilla today.

Rum Cupcakes
1/2 lb butter (2 sticks)
1/2 lb sugar
1/2 lb flour
5 eggs
1/3 cup of milk
1/2 tspn salt
3 tbsp lime juice
1 1/2 tspn of baking powder
1/2 tspn nutmeg (or more to taste)
1 tbsp of rum
1/2 tsp vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 325 and line desired size muffin tin with paper liners.
Melt the butter, then stir in the salt. stir in the sugar slowly, making sure it's getting mixed in well. Fold in the flour, alternating with the milk. Add the baking powder nutmeg, lime juice, rum, and vanilla, mix well to make sure it's not bumpy.
For mini cupcakes, bake 12-15 minutes. For cupcakes, approximately 25 minutes.

For a 9x13, double the batter and bake for 40-45 mins at 325 or until you stick a knife in the middle and it comes out. clean.

Vanilla Frosting
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk

Cream butter and shortening and vanilla
Mix in powdered sugar a cup at a time
Mix in milk
Beat until light fluffy (it might take a good 3 or 4 minutes)

Witness the glory of my oven AND cupcakes, together!