Coffee Cocktail with Maple

I don't know why I didn't think about adding coffee to a cocktail before. I mean, gee, I've made my own coffee liqueur. So why not just add coffee?

Sheesh.

So when the nice folks at Illy said, "Hey, would you like some coffee for you AND TO GIVE AWAY?" I jumped up and down (figuratively) and said heck yeah. For one thing, it's getting close to the holidays, so it's a good time to give stuff away.

And for another, Illy coffee is pretty great stuff.

My first experience with it was at a cooking demo/class I went to. It had absolutely nothing to do with coffee, but we got to eat the food that was prepared, and with dessert we were offered coffee. I've had good coffee and pretty good coffee and mediocre coffee. When someone serves me coffee, I generally don't think twice about it. It's coffee, let's talk about dessert.

But when I tasted the coffee, I had to ask what brand it was. It was different, somehow, and I really liked it. And it was Illy.

So there you go.

Lately I've been overly fond of making coffee using a cold-brew system that makes a concentrated coffee that you add to hot water. Depending on how strong you want your coffee, you add more or less of the concentrate. And the resulting coffee isn't as harsh or bitter as regular brewed coffee. So it can make fair coffee taste good. And good coffee is ... well, really good.

But the really cool thing (hehe, cool) about the cold-brew system is that if you want to add coffee flavor to a cake or if you want to make a cocktail, you have strong coffee that's not hot. And, just like making a cup of coffee, you can adjust the coffee flavor to the strength you like.

But of course, for this cocktail, let's just assume that I used strong-brewed coffee. Because then you don't have to run out and get a cold-brew system just to make a cocktail.

But you really should go out and get a can of Illy.

Coffee-Maple Cocktail

Recipe adapted from illy

1 oz dark rum

1 oz dark amber maple syrup

3 oz illy India Monoarabica (brewed coffee)

1 oz milk

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake, then strain and serve.

Garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg, or a little dollop of whipped cream, if desired.

More about illy and cocktails:

Illy has come up with a whole new approach to coffee mixology, pairing flavor characteristics of different single origin beans with spirits and ingredients that naturally blend well together. There’s actual science behind it (seriously), by way of illy’s Sensory Lab, which studies this kind of thing, at the company’s Italy HQ.

Here’s a post from illy’s US Master Barista explaining the research and a graphic depicting how spirits like tequila, Bourbon and rum naturally pair with beans from the likes of Costa Rica, Guatemala and Ethiopia, and ingredients like chocolate and cardamom. Kind of Barista-Meets-Mixologist-Meets-DIY.

And over on my giveaway post, I have some mixology charts for making your own coffee cocktails. A little of this, a little of that, and you're like a barista mixologist ninja.

Giveaway is over

I was provided with coffee to make my cocktail (whole bean medium roast, whole bean Monoarabica from Brasil and whole bean Monoarabica from Guatemala.) The sponsor is also providing coffee for the giveaway.

Maple Coffee Ice Cream

Obviously, summer isn't here yet. But I know it's coming because I've suddenly been wanting ice cream. When fall turns to winter, I lose my interest in chilly desserts. In summer, I make a whole lot of ice cream and we have it for dessert almost every night.

I decided to make a pretty simple ice cream - egg free, no cooking. I started with the idea of maple, but than added just a tiny bit of instant coffee. I really liked the result.

For a little more depth of flavor, I used brown sugar instead of white.

Since I've got an ice cream machine with a compressor, I tossed this in right after mixing. It took a looooong time to churn - almost a full hour. If you have an ice cream maker that uses a freezer bowl, make sure you let the ice cream base chill thoroughly, or you might have trouble getting it to freeze before your ice cream bowl thaws.

And then you'll hate me.

So, let's talk a second about ingredients. It's pretty obvious I love the Crown Maple Whiskey. I use it a lot. The Blis maple syrup is pretty awesome stuff, but it's pricey. You can use regular maple syrup. And then we come to the instant coffee. To be honest, I have no idea what brand it was. It's a little jar of my emergency coffee, just in case my coffee machine breaks or someone steals all my beans.

There's one little trick to the instant coffee. Make sure it dissolved in cold liquid. If it doesn't heat a little bit of the milk, then add the coffee and stir to dissolve. Then add that to the rest of the mixture.

Maple Coffee Ice Cream

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Crown Maple Whiskey
2 tablespoons Blis bourbon-barrel aged maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant coffee

Combine all the ingredients and stir until the sugar, salt, and coffee* are dissolved and everything is mixed in. Chill well before churning, particularly if you're churning in a machine that has a freezer bowl.

Churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to a container and freeze.

*Make sure the instant coffee can dissolve in cold liquid, otherwise heat some milk and dissolve the coffee in that before adding it.

Maple Whisky Ice Cream

Recently, I succumbed to advertising for Crown Royal Maple and picked up a bottle. Actually, I succumbed quite some time ago, but couldn't find it at any of the local stores. Everyone was out of stock. But then when I wasn't looking for it, I found it. So I bought it.

I was thinking it would be great in a barbecue sauce or maybe in a marinade for meat.

But then I thought it would be perfect for ice cream. Summer is coming, and I'm in the midst of testing a new ice cream machine (more on that soon) so I've been making all sorts of flavors. Maple is good in ice cream, and so is whisky. So why not add maple whisky?

No reason why not. So I did it. And I really liked it.

Maple Whisky Ice Cream

3 cups half-and-half
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup Crown Royal Maple

Combine the half-and-half, sugar, and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a simmer on medium heat, stirring as needed to melt the sugar and keep the half-and-half from scorching on the bottom of the pot (this is less likely in a heavy-bottomed pot, but insurance is good.)

Meanwhile, beat the eggs lightly in a separate bowl.

When the half-and-half is simmering, start adding the hot half-and-half to the bowl with the eggs slowly, whisking as you go, until you've adding about a cup or so to the eggs. Then, add the egg mixture back to the pot slowly, whisking or stirring the half-and-half in the pot as you add the egg.

Continue cooking on medium until the mixture thickens to the point where you can dip a spoon in the mixture and run your finger across the back of the spoon and the line will stay.

Pour the hot mixture through a fine strainer into a storage container to remove any small curdled bits. Add the whisky and stir to combine. Refrigerate until fully chilled. Four hours is probably fine, but I usually make my ice cream bases the evening before I want to churn, and then churn them the next day, whenever I have time.

When the mixture is fully chilled, churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to a storage container and freeze until firm. Or - if you like soft-serve, serve it right from the ice cream maker.

What's your favorite ice cream flavor?

Grilled cheese with Irish Whisky Cheddar

Who needs a recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich?

Well, maybe you don't need a recipe, but how about some inspiration?

I had more of the Kerrygold Irish Whisky Aged Cheddar left from my Whole Foods posts last Friday (here and here), and I wanted to explore it a little more before I nibbled it away.

The natural use for cheese is a grilled cheese sandwich, right?

So I made a grilled cheese sandwich - with just one slightly unusual ingredient.

Grilled Cheese with Whisky Cheddar

Bread
Maple butter
Kerrygold Irish Whisky Aged Cheddar
Tomatoes, sliced

Spread a small amount of the maple butter on one slice of bread. Add the cheese and tomatoes. Top with the second slice of bread. Cook as you would a regular grilled cheese sandwich.

Serve hot.

Michigan Munchies

See this box of goodies?

It all started with Serious Eats. Then there was this Facebook group that spun off to talk about non-food things. We talk about all sorts of things, but we talk about food a lot, too. Funny how that works.

One thing that comes up a lot is local and regional foods. Things we have where we live, or things we miss from where we used to live. And then once in a while, someone would offer to send a much-missed product to someone else. Then people started talking about how fun it would be to trade random goodies with others in the group. Pretty soon we had a plan for swapping foodstuffs. Regional things. Home made things. Fun things. Quirky things. Favorite things.

This is what I received from the most recent swap. Pretty awesome array of items, including garlic dill potato chips, Michigan maple syrup, dried cherries, mustard, home made pickled green tomatoes and green beans ... a whole lot of great stuff!

I think it's a blast to try regional products from other places, and in fact, when we travel anywhere I like to scout out the grocery stores to see what I can find that's new and different. How about you? Do you stick to old favorites, or do you try to find new things?

The Best Whipped Cream Ever

Okay, maybe too much hyperbole over something that's pretty simple, really.

Most of the time, I like my whipped cream fairly plain. Just a tiny bit of sugar. Not enough to make it super-sweet, but just enough to make it more than just fluffy cream.

This time, I decided to add a bit of flavor, which is something I don't normally do. Maple. As in maple syrup.

But more specifically, I used Blis maple syrup. It's aged in bourbon barrels, so it has a more complex flavor than regular maple syrup, and it added the perfect amount of sweetness along with an interesting maple-bourbon flavor to my whipped cream.

This could be whipped by hand, but I used my nitrous-oxide-powered cream whipper. I like it because it can sit in the refrigerator and dispense just as much whipped cream as I need at the moment.

The recipe?

The Best Whipped Cream Ever

1 pint heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons Blis bourbon-aged maple syrup

Put both ingredients into cream whipper. Screw top onto whipper, and tighten. Shake to combine ingredients. Charger cream whipper.

Dispense.

Eat.

Yum.

This could be dessert all by itself. Call it maple mousse and no one would know the difference.

Maple White-Wheat Oatmeal Bread

I’ve been on a bit of a maple binge lately. That happens a lot. I get stuck on an ingredient and I start putting it in everything, until I move on to something else.

This bread is hearty, with a nice sweetness from the maple, which helps to counteract some of the bitterness that some people detect in whole wheat products.

This bread takes quite a lot of kneading to get it to the shiny and elastic stage, but it does get there. It’s also a bit slow rising; don’t rush it. This loaf is worth waiting for.

Maple Oatmeal White Wheat Bread

1 cup lukewarm water
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 cup instant oats
1 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 cups white wheat flour
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil (plus more for drizzling)
Cornmeal

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine water, yeast, maple syrup and oats. Let sit for 10 minutes until the oats hydrate the liquid starts bubbling, indicating that the yeast is alive.

Add salt and 3 cups white wheat flour and mix with stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until the dough comes together. Switch to the dough hook and knead on medium speed for 5 minutes. Add more flour 1/4 cup at a time, slowing or stopping the mixer while adding flour. Continue kneading at medium speed until the dough starts getting stretchy and is tacky but not sticky. You may not need all of the flour. Add olive oil and continue kneading until the dough becomes shiny and elastic.

Turn dough out of the bowl and form into a ball. Place the ball in a clean, large bowl, Drizzle with a little olive oil to coat the dough ball all over, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and sprinkle cornmeal on a baking sheet.

Remove the dough from the bowl and shape into desired shape. I tend to like oval loaves, but it’s up to you.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled.

Remove plastic wrap, slash top of loaf, and bake at 325 degrees for 40-50 minutes, until the bread is a rich brown.

Take out of the oven, put on a rack, and cool completely before cutting.