Milwaukee Kitchen: cookbook

Showing posts with label cookbook. Show all posts

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Adults Only Pumpkin Whiskey Cake

A few weeks ago, I ordered a new cookbook, Booze Cakes.

That's right, a cookbook featuring desserts infused with alcohol! It is a great cookbook and I enjoyed deciding which recipe from the cookbook to share with you today.

The recipe I chose, the Black Jack Praline Cake, sounds great, but it features mashed sweet potatoes. Given the season, I tried making it with pumpkin. I really think you will like this recipe and this cookbook!

Adults Only Pumpkin Whiskey Cake
adapted from the cookbook, Booze Cakes

Cake
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
1/4 cup sour-mash whiskey
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup pecans, roasted and chopped

Buttery Whiskey Sauce
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
5 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 c sour-mash whiskey

Grease and flour a 9-inch loaf pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is warming, place the pecans on a rimmed baking sheet and roast them in the warming oven for approximately eight minutes. Chop the pecans coarsely after removing them from the oven. Set them aside.

Cream the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs. Add the flour and baking powder and mix until combined. Mix in the whiskey, pumpkin, pie spice, nutmeg and nuts. Pour batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

To make the sauce, combine all ingredients into a small sauce pan. Bring to a slow boil and remove from heat. The sauce can be poured over the loaf or drizzled on to individual pieces. I chose a little bit of both. And yes, you can taste the whiskey! Yum!

This smells heavenly in the kitchen as it is baking and would be a new thing to bring to your adults-only Halloween parties this coming weekend.

Linking here:

Scrumptious Sunday @ Addicted to Recipes

Bouquet of Talent @ Life on Lakeshore Drive

Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks

Mix it Up Mondays @ Flour Me With Love

See Ya In the Gumbo @ Ms. enPlace

Tuesday Talent Show @ Chef In Training

Crazy Sweet Tuesday @ Crazy For Crust

Uncommonly Yours @ Uncommon Designs

Back for Seconds Social @ Back for Seconds

Whatcha' Whipped Up Wednesday @ DJ's Sugar Shack

White Lights on Wednesday

Back for Seconds Social

Live Laugh {Linky} @ Live.Laugh.Rowe

Pumpkin Patch Blog Hop @ Juggling Act Mama

Bloom Designs Online

Weekend Warmth @ Western Warmth

Foodie Friends Friday

Linky Party @ 30 Handmade Days

Until next time,

**I want to disclose that if you choose to buy this cookbook for your collection, and use the links provided in this blog, I will receive compensation for your purchase.**

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Cowgirl Chef's Salty Caramel Sauce

Source: www.cowgirlchef.com

Wow, this is a crazy-good cookbook. I love the premise...a Texas girl moves to France for love. She soon finds herself cooking to pass the day and begins teaching others her Tex-Mex favorites! Ellise Pierce is the Cowgirl Chef and her cookbook is a mix of traditional Southern dishes as well as French favorites, like a tart made with jalapeno pimento cheese!

To introduce you to this cookbook, I made her Salty Caramel Sauce. I drizzled this on my quinoa pudding recipe from earlier this week. Mmmmm....

Salty Caramel Sauce
from the Cowgirl Chef cookbook

1 1/2 c sugar
1/4 c water
1 stick of butter
3/4 c sour cream
1 t sea salt

Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat to medium to high heat. DO NOT STIR, but cook for 10-15 minutes. The mixture will boil/bubble rapidly, so make sure to keep watching it. The mixture will then look liked cracked ice, then get foamy, and then brown. Remove from heat and add the butter, sour cream and salt. Mix well and transfer to a glass or ceramic (not metal) bowl to cool.

It worked well for me to place the pan back on the burner after I had added to butter, etc., to make sure to get the sauce nice and smooth.

As I posted about on Sunday night, this sauce would be great on quinoa (or rice) pudding, ice cream, or as an apple dip!

The result is heavenly!

Linking Up Here:

Until next time,

**In full disclosure, if you happen to purchase this cookbook through the link mentioned in this post, I will receive a small financial kickback from Amazon. Enjoy! **

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Cookbook Corner: Farm to Fork

I hate to admit it, I am recommending a cookbook by Emeril Lagasse. I didn't really like him when he first came on the scene; all of the BAMS! and the like. But now, I feel a little different about Emeril.

That guy made the Food Network and then they let him go. Now, he is a kinder and gentler Emeril. I actually enjoy him interacting with Martha Stewart and I am happy he has a show on the Hallmark Channel. I even watch it from time to time!

This cookbooks is great for anyone with a home garden or who frequents a local farmer's market. It is divided by vegetable with many recipes in each section. This isn't a super-new cookbook; as you can see, I picked mine up at Half Price Books.

I have made a few recipes and all have turned out great. A sampling of a few of the recipes I would like to try:

Homemade Applesauce
Cranberry Orange Sauce
Emeril's Anytime Eggnog
Herbed Quiche with Blue Cheese
Roasted Garlic Soup

So yummy (and lots of pictures). I wanted to share with you a recipe for a hot potato salad, which we enjoyed a few weeks ago. Here we go!

Warm Potato Salad
by Emeril Lagasse

3 oz bacon (you will see I used ham instead)
1 c sweet onion, diced
2 lbs baby potato (such as fingerling)
6 c water
2 T salt
1 T whole grain mustard
1 T black pepper
1 T honey
1/4 c cider vinegar
1/2 c vegetable oil
3 T minced chives (I used dill, because I love it)

1. Place the bacon in a pan and saute until crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the onions and cook until they are soft, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Cut potatoes into 1/4 inch slices and place them in a sauce pan. Add the water and salt and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are cooked, about 5 minutes. Drain the potatoes and set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the mustard, pepper, honey and vinegar. Whisk to combine. Add the oil in a steady stream while continuing to whisk. Add the chives. Add the potatoes and bacon-onion mixture, and stir gently to combine. Serve warm!

That's it! Very easy, for sure. So give this cookbook a try, you will love it!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Cookbook Corner - Savory, Sweet Life

TGIF! So, I LOVE cookbooks. I have forever...I even have a cookbook that my grandmother gave me when I was about five! I will have to post about that sometime soon :)

A typical Sunday for me is sitting outside (or watching a Packers game) and paging through a cookbook, imagining the possibilities of a new recipe.

Recently, I purchased the cookbook Savory Sweet Life by Alice Currah. Alice is a fantastic blogger and someone I can learn so much from. Her cookbook is beautiful; all of the photos were taken by Alice and are just lovely.

One thing I really like about the cookbook is how Alice organized the recipes by occasion, such as Block Party and Dad's Birthday.

I have made several recipes from this fabulous cookbook; I highly recommend it!

As I had to bring a dish to a tennis event this week, I decided to try the peach croissants from Alice's cookbook. The results were terrific and I wanted to share the recipe with you!

Peach Croissants
from Savory, Sweet Life by Alice Currah

1 fresh peach
2 TBLS sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
Egg wash: 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teas water

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed backing sheet with parchment paper.

Cut the peach in half and remove the pit. Slice each peach half into 6 slices. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon together. Set aside.

Cut the puff pastry in half vertically and then horizontally so you have 4 equal square pieces. Rotate so it looks like a diamond. Place three peach slices across the center of the diamond from left to right. Sprinkle one-fourth of the cinnamon mixture evenly over the peach slices. Grab the top and bottom corners and bring them to the center, pinching them together to seal them. Repeat the process with each of the remaining squares.

Place the croissants on the baking sheet. Brush the puff pastry with the egg wash. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the croissants are golden brown.