Monday, December 15, 2014

Eggnog Muffins with Eggnog Glaze

These delicious eggnog muffins with eggnog glaze are redolent with bourbon, eggnog, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, are perfect for an easy Christmas morning breakfast or afternoon treat.

Food Lust People Love: These delicious eggnog muffins with eggnog glaze are redolent with bourbon, eggnog, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, are perfect for an easy Christmas morning breakfast or afternoon treat.

It's Muffin Monday at my house, so you know I had to make a Christmasy muffin for you. My current motto is Eggnog everything! If you agree, you'll also want to check out my grandmother's homemade eggnog recipe, my beautiful eggnog pound cake and easy eggnog mousse, a boozy dessert the adults will love.

Eggnog Muffins with Eggnog Glaze


Ingredients
For the muffins:
2 1/2 cups or 315g flour
1/2 cup or 100g light brown sugar
1/4 cup or 50g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 240ml eggnog (store-bought or homemade)
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil
1/4 cup or 60ml bourbon
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the eggnog glaze:
1 cup or 125g confectioners or icing sugar
2 tablespoons eggnog
1 teaspoon bourbon
Pinch salt

Optional: Decorative sprinkles

Method
Preheat oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare your muffin pan by greasing it or lining it with paper muffin cups. degrees.

In a medium bowl mix flour, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.



In a large bowl whisk your eggnog, oil, bourbon, eggs, and vanilla.



Fold your wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. A little flour will still show and that’s fine.


Divide your batter between the muffin cups.



Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool briefly in the pan. Take the muffins out of the pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.



Meanwhile, mix all of your glaze ingredients together in a small bowl.


When the muffins are completely cool, drizzle on the glaze and sprinkle immediately with decorative sprinkles, if using.

Food Lust People Love: These delicious eggnog muffins with eggnog glaze are redolent with bourbon, eggnog, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, are perfect for an easy Christmas morning breakfast or afternoon treat.


Enjoy! Here's to eggnogging all the things!

Food Lust People Love: These delicious eggnog muffins with eggnog glaze are redolent with bourbon, eggnog, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, are perfect for an easy Christmas morning breakfast or afternoon treat.

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Food Lust People Love: These delicious eggnog muffins with eggnog glaze are redolent with bourbon, eggnog, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, are perfect for an easy Christmas morning breakfast or afternoon treat.




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Sunday, December 14, 2014

Rhubarb Fool Cocktail


A bright, refreshing drink that is just the right combination of tart and sweet, this rhubarb lovely is drizzled with a little cream and some tangerine or orange zest, and is guaranteed to get you in the holiday mood! 

The first time I ever saw rhubarb, perhaps in Sydney circa 1987, I had no idea what to do with it so I didn’t buy any. It looked like pink celery and that was odd. Was it a vegetable? Used for seasoning like celery was? I didn’t have a clue. Finally I bought one of the Australian Women’s Weekly magazines (This was, after all, way before I had internet access of any kind.) and all was revealed. Rhubarb is a fruit! Or at least it is used like a fruit, in compotes, pies and other baked goods. Technically, of course, it’s a vegetable.

Our favorite way to enjoy rhubarb, up till now, has been in an apple and rhubarb pie because the apples and rhubarb complement each other so nicely with the rhubarb breaking down completely and the apples still keeping a bit of their shape and bite.

Another favorite is the British classic rhubarb fool dessert made by folding stewed rhubarb through whipped cream.

But this drink, made with rhubarb syrup, may be my new favorite way to enjoy my tart pink friend. I mean, really, just look at that color!



This week my Sunday Supper group is gearing up for the holiday parties by bringing you a plethora of concoctions, some made to imbibe directly, others using alcohol as an ingredient or flavoring. Many thanks to DB from Crazy Foodie Stunts and Alice from A Mama, Baby & Shar-pei In The Kitchen for hosting this fun event. Make sure to scroll down to the bottom to see the whole link list of libation-full recipes.

Ingredients
1 1/2 oz or 40ml rhubarb syrup
2 oz or 60ml vodka
2 cups crushed ice
Couple of tablespoons lightly whipped cream
Orange zest

Method
Put the crushed ice into a cocktail shaker and add in the rhubarb syrup and vodka.

Shake well for a minute or so, allowing the ice to melt a bit.

Pour the liquid through the strainer into a martini glass. Garnish with a drizzle – or more – of the whipped cream and a few pieces of orange zest.

I put my whipped cream in a decorating bag for easy drizzling but you can just as easily pile the cream into the top of the glass.

Enjoy!

If you are feeling extra generous, let your helper lick the cream off your empty glass. 

We are set to PARTY this holiday season! Join us!

Libations
Savory and Sweet Libational Dishes
Libational Desserts

Rhubarb Syrup


This bright pink rhubarb syrup is great in cocktail, drizzled over ice cream and pound cake or even spooned over crepes. 

Rhubarb syrup is easy to make and it goes down even easier in a cocktail. Best of all, when refrigerated, it preserves the beauty and flavor of rhubarb much longer than the cut stalks could stay fresh.

Ingredients to yield about 2/3 cup or 155ml of syrup (This recipe can be easily doubled.)
2 cups, loosely packed, or 230g chopped rhubarb
1/2 cup or 100g sugar
1/2 cup or 120ml water
Pinch salt

Method
Combine the rhubarb, sugar, water and salt in a pot and bring to a boil.

Lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is soft and the liquid has thickened slightly.



Set a fine-meshed strainer or a coarse strainer lined with cheesecloth over a large measuring cup.

Pour the rhubarb into the strainer and allow the syrup to drip down into the bowl.

You can press the solids with a rubber spatula to squeeze more liquid out or just leave it some place cool for an hour or two to make sure it has dripped completely.



Decant your syrup into a clean bottle and store it in the refrigerator.

I fold the leftover rhubarb solids through some whipped cream, adding raspberries for more color and a drizzle of the syrup for a lovely rhubarb raspberry fool. You can also spread it on toast.


The syrup has many uses but my favorite is a rhubarb fool cocktail with a drizzle of cream and orange zest.


Enjoy!