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Mint Bourbon and an amazing cocktail!

May 24, 2012 by Alicia

We started infusing a mint bourbon shortly before the Kentucky Derby. For those of you who are Mint Julep fans, you may have too!

For our Mint-Infused Bourbon, we used Chocolate Mint, instead of the typical Spearmint. We picked some mint, rinsed it (and allowed to dry), then packed it into a pint jar and covered with bourbon. Infuse until it reaches your desired taste.

So, armed with mint-infused bourbon, we couldn’t help but want to try it in the Shady Porch Cocktail from A Taste of Morning. A Taste of Morning is written by Laurie, proprietor of the Morning Star B&B in Manhattan, Kansas. And by the looks of her posts, this would not be a place to miss if you are in the area.

Laurie’s Shady Porch Cocktail called for Mint-Infused Vodka, and we decided to test it out with our mint-infused bourbon instead. The drink was absolutely spectacular! I’m sure it is also fabulous with the original, vodka infusion.

Bourbon Shady Porch (adapted from A Taste of Morning)

1 1/2 oz. mint-infused Bourbon

1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

1/2 oz. mint simple syrup

4 oz. Ginger Ale

Garnish with lime zest and sprig of mint

Combine first 3 ingredients, and stir well to combine. Pour over ice, and add ginger ale. Garnish with lime and mint.

We used Spearmint for our mint simple syrup, but also enjoyed the chocolate-mint flavor in the bourbon infusion. The flavor seemed to be a bit more gentle than the spearmint.

Thank you again to Laurie from Morning Star B&B and A Taste of Morning. We will definitely make this cocktail again. It was really tasty, and will make for great summer gatherings.

Posted in Cocktail, Infusion, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Chocolate Bourbon-Peanut Clusters

May 22, 2012 by Alicia

These chocolate peanut clusters are made with the bourbon-soaked peanuts from our last post, Peanut Bourbon.

I wasn’t sure how these were going to turn out, so I didn’t measure precisely. These are rough estimates, but I don’t think the amounts are all that important. The recipe was following the same idea and inspiration from Oh She Glows (which we also used on the chocolate covered candied bourbon cherries.)

Chocolate Bourbon-Peanut Clusters

2/3 c. Bourbon-soaked Peanuts (from the peanut bourbon)

1/3 c. semi-sweet chocolate

1/2 TB Coconut Oil

2 healthy pinches of Sea Salt

Roast the peanuts in a low oven (225-275 degrees) tossing occasionally, until the peanuts are nearly dried out. Let sit until the following day.

Heat chocolate and coconut oil in the microwave or double boiler until the chocolate is mostly melted. Stir in the peanuts, and sea salt. Spoon onto a plate or parchment paper and place in refrigerator or freezer to set. Keep in refrigerator until you eat them (which probably won’t be that long…)

The sea salt is what really made these perfect. You could probably substitute a flaked salt or finishing salt with great results. We had a hand-picked, Oregon Sea Salt which gave it just the right flavor.

Enjoy!

Posted in Recipes, Food | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments »

Peanut Bourbon

May 20, 2012 by Alicia

This is an easy one. And if you like peanuts, you will like this.

Peanut Bourbon

2/3 c. Raw Peanuts (unsalted)

1 1/2 c. Bourbon (or other spirit of your choice)

Remove skins from peanuts, and give just a quick rough chop (not much). Toast the peanuts lightly until they just start to brown and the oils are starting to come out.  Set the peanuts aside and allow to cool. Once cooled, add both the peanuts and bourbon to a jar and cap it. Shake or stir, and keep in a cool dark place. Allow to infuse until it reaches your desired taste. We let this infuse for about a month, but you could do a much shorter time. It started to get the peanut flavor very quickly. Strain and filter with cheesecloth, and if desired, with a coffee filter.

* Keep those peanuts after you have strained them! (And stay tuned for a future post about the delicious treats we made with those infused peanuts.)

If you can’t find raw peanuts, you could probably try any unsalted peanuts. Make sure if you do use raw peanuts that you toast them to bring out the flavors. I made another nut-infused liqueur without toasting and it didn’t turn out as well.

Cheers!

Posted in Recipes, Liqueur, Infusion | Tagged , , | 4 Comments »

Sesame-Honey Vodka

May 17, 2012 by Alicia

I like sesame, and I like honey. When I was a kid, we used to make a variety of a honey-sesame candy, and somehow I thought it would be good to infuse vodka with these flavors. … it is delicious!

Sesame-Honey Vodka

1 oz Sesame Seeds

1 c. Vodka

2 TB Honey

Stirring frequently, toast the sesame seeds in a frying pan on low, until they start to brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Add all ingredients to a small canning jar or other sealing jar. Shake, and allow to infuse in a dark, cool place for 3-4 weeks. Strain and filter, with cheesecloth and a coffee filter, then enjoy!

This infusion really tastes like sesame and honey. I think it will be great in cocktails… any ideas?

Ok, so back to these sesame seeds… Since I’ve been on a roll trying to use my infused ingredients, I decided to keep the infused, vodka soaked seeds. I toasted them on low in the oven until they started to brown, stirring occasionally. I then roughly followed the instructions for a sesame-honey candy (from Nourished Kitchen), and … they were pretty good! They disappeared pretty fast.

If you like sesame, you will like this liqueur.

Cheers!
Sesame-Honey Vodka on Punk Domestics

Posted in Food, Infusion, Liqueur, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments »

Star Anise Gin

May 15, 2012 by Alicia

Anise… I think this is one of those flavors where you either love it or hate it. My mother happens to love it, and she loves gin. So this was one of her Mother’s Day goodies.

Star Anise Gin

20 grams Star Anise

1 c. gin

1 TB Simple Syrup (or more/less to taste)

Place Star Anise in a jar, add gin, seal tight and shake. Allow to infuse for about 2-3 days, then add simple syrup.

At 3 days, this tasted pretty good. Keep infusing until it reaches your desired taste, then strain and filter with cheesecloth and coffee filter if desired. Your infusion time will depend on how strong you want the flavor. It reminded me of a Good and Plenty candy (which I always loved).

I happened to have a lot of star anise, but you could probably cut way back on the amount in the infusion and just allow it to sit for a longer period.

This was very easy and really tasty on its own. And I think might make for a very refreshing gin and tonic!

Cheers to Mom!

Posted in Infusion, Liqueur, Recipes | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments »

Boozy Prune Jam

May 13, 2012 by Alicia

Happy Mothers Day!

Our plans changed a bit this year, and we had to come up with a portable breakfast. What we came up with turned out to be a winner.

Remember the prune liqueur taste test from a few weeks ago? Well we still had the prunes soaking in the booze. We finally strained them and decided to make something useful.

Boozy Prune Jam

1 generous cup booze soaked prunes (half of our prunes were soaked in bourbon, half in brandy)

3/4 cup orange juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 c. dark brown sugar

pinch of salt

- Make sure the prunes are very soft, and have soaked in the alcohol for a long time. (ours had soaked for a month, so they were very soft and spreadable inside)

- Quarter the prunes, then give them a rough chop.

- Place all ingredients in a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer on medium/low, stirring often and breaking up the prunes.

- Reduce heat to low, and continue to simmer until this reaches the consistency of a thick sauce or loose jam. (It will thicken up a bit upon cooling.) This will probably take about 5-10 minutes.

- Remove from heat and allow to cool.

- Store in refrigerator. Will keep for a few weeks.

We made some mini cream scones to spread this on, and it was perfect! In fact, this spread was so tasty, I could eat it by the spoonful. It was such a hit, I’m tempted to get a big bag of dried prunes to soak in booze for the sole purpose of making this jam and canning it (I’m a canning addict).

If you don’t have booze soaked prunes, you could probably start with dried prunes and stew them on low in a bit of water and brandy or bourbon until they get really soft. Then chop them and proceed with the recipe above.

After the success of this spread, I think we are going to start using a lot more of our booze-soaked ingredients.

Have a great Mother’s Day!

Posted in Food, Recipes | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments »

The Blueberry Pieball – our new favorite highball

May 10, 2012 by Alicia

When I was envisioning the cocktail for our little Portland blogger get-together, I asked Evelyn from Momsicle (the instigator) what she was looking for in a signature cocktail. She threw out a bunch of ideas, one of which was something that would be easy for readers to make for groups, especially summer parties. So that was the focus of our featured cocktail.

Enter the Highball… Highballs are really a whole family of drinks, which includes booze and a non-boozy mixer. I won’t go into much detail here because I’m not an expert.

Some years ago, we had just moved to High Street and were throwing a housewarming party. The theme was Highballs on High Street, and the drinks were so easy to make for the masses (not that the party was that big). The highball of choice for the night: Bermuda Highball, which includes gin, brandy, vermouth and ginger ale or club soda.

Our Boozed + Infused variation… the Blueberry Highball Pieball, made with our Blueberry Gin infused with pie spices.

Blueberry Pieball

1.5 oz Blueberry Gin

0.5 oz Dry Vermouth

0.5 oz Brandy

3 oz club soda

2 oz ginger ale

lemon twist

Blueberry Ice Cubes (made from blueberry juice) and frozen blueberries to keep the drink cold

Pour each of the ingredients into a tall glass, add a few blueberry ice cubes, frozen blueberries, and one regular ice cube, then garnish with a lemon twist.

For a party, we recommend making a lot of this in advance. The blueberry ice cubes and frozen blueberries will help keep the drink cold without watering it down. Make the ice cubes and freeze your berries the night before your party.

blueberry ice cubes and frozen berries to keep your drink cold

Either the night before, or the morning of the party, mix up the booze so that you aren’t measuring out the various ingredients for each drink. If you have 3 cups of Blueberry Gin, get a large jar, bottle, or pitcher and add the 3 cups or infused gin, 1 cup of vermouth and 1 cup of brandy. Stir, and keep in the freezer or refrigerator so that it won’t melt your ice and frozen berries too quickly.

For the party, you can use a large jigger, and just add equal parts of the Blueberry Pieball Booze Mix, Ginger Ale, and Club Soda. This makes it very simple to make a tray of them.

So… get those blueberries out of your freezer (or go pick up a bag from your local grocer) and start infusing some blueberry gin! This was really easy, refreshing, and tasty. And will make for some great fun at your summer gatherings.

For our get-together, each guest left with their own mini bottle of the Blueberry Pieball Booze Mix. Fun for later…

Cheers!

Posted in Cocktail, Drinks, Recipes | 17 Comments »

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