Bourbon Mascarpone Mousse

My blessed husband braved the two inches of snow Louisville got today and returned with arms full of produce and cheese.  He's now in our kitchen whipping up this creamy, deceptively simple dessert.

8 oz mascarpone cheese
scant 1/4 c. powdered sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
a sprinkle of nutmeg to taste
1/2-3/4 shot of your good stuff (you'll really taste the bourbon in this recipe)

Put all ingredients in your food processor and pulse once to combine.  Scrape down the sides and pulse again.  Scraping makes sure the mixture doesn't separate. Make sure not to overbeat the mixture.  It breaks.  Delicious, but clumpy.

If it needs additional creaminess, add a tablespoon of heavy cream.  (NB: this won't resolve the clumping.)  Spoon into dessert dishes and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes and serve with fresh strawberries, chocolate dessert wafers, or just a spoon!

Not Your Grandpappy's Cough Medicine

It's been almost a year since my last post, and several months from the one before that.  A brief update to life on the Bourbon Trail:

1.  I got pregnant.  Doctors frown upon pregnant women drinking whisky.  Go figure.

2.  I had a baby.  She's awesome and universally adored.  Her father packed a bottle of whisky to toast her birth at the hospital.  He had a bourbon while I breastfed his child and gave him the stink-eye. 

3.  We temporarily moved to Indianapolis for my husband's job.  I learned some important things in Indy - the weather is cold, the people are warm, and the restaurant workers know not a thing about bourbon.  I asked what kinds they had at a local watering hole and the woman offered me a selection of two Canadian whiskies, a single malt Scotch, and Jack Daniels.  I ordered a beer.

Which brings us to January 2013.  It's cold and flu season, and being the mother of three small children, one of whom insists on chewing on the Target cart handles when I'm not looking, we've all shared some hellish combination of upper respiratory infection, flu, and what I'm assuming is the black plague.  This has brought a slew of suggestions that I publish a folk remedy involving some magical combination of bourbon, lemon juice, rock candy, honey, cayenne pepper, eye of newt, etc.

I have tried the various permutations of this concoction, most of which are horrid.  I drank a corrosive combination of boiling hot bourbon, lemon juice, and honey for years.  I do not recommend it.  I also do not claim to dispense legitimate medical advice.  This is not medical advice.  Seriously.  Go see a doctor if you're sick. 

This is, however, delicious.  It's like a hot drinkable caramel apple, good enough to serve as a post dinner drink (and often is at our house!), and excellent at clearing the sinuses and fuzzing the head.

So what I now present is...Not Your Grandpappy's Cough Medicine.

6 oz. fresh-pressed apple cider (the fresh stuff is better, but if it's not available, any cider will do)
1/2 to 1 shot (1.5 oz) bourbon  Don't waste the good stuff on this.  I used Old Forrester.

Warm the cider in the microwave for 60-90 seconds and stir in the bourbon.  Breathe in the vapor with your mouth open.  Drink it while it's hot, cuddle up with a blanket and a Doctor Who rerun.

Chocolate Chip Bourbon Brownies

1-1/4 c. unsalted butter

1-1/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. plus 2 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbs bourbon

2 cold large eggs

1/2 c. APF

2/3 c. chocolate chips (I prefer Ghirardelli 60% cacao chocolate chips.) 

Melt butter and mix with sugar, cocoa, salt, and bourbon.  Cool mixture slightly and mix in eggs one at a time.  Mix in chocolate chips.  Fold in flour until mixed.  Pour into 8 x 8 baking pan and bake for 35-40 minutes at 325 degrees.  Toothpick should come out mostly clean when inserted.  Remove and cool slightly before serving.  Enjoy!

Bourbon-Laced Cinnamon Strawberries with Bourbon Whipped Cream

So, so easy and elegant.  This can be thrown together just before dinner and served as a great mid-summer dessert! (I'm a little late on this, but I'll repost next summer, too!)

Ingredients:
Serves ~6
One pound of strawberries, topped and cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 c. granulated sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
One shot (1.5 fl oz) good quality bourbon

Mix first four ingredients in medium sized bowl. When incorporated, pour bourbon over strawberries and put in fridge for 45 minutes.

Whipped cream:
1 c. heavy whipping cream (Hey, I never said it was low-fat.)
Sugar to taste - Extra fine if you've got it, but I usually only have granulated which also works.
1/2 shot (.75 fl oz.) good quality bourbon.

Pour cream in stand mixer and turn on medium.  When cream starts to thicken slightly and hold its shape, gradually add sugar (I usually add about a Tbs.)  When cream forms soft peaks, drizzle in bourbon.  Mix until cream forms stiff peaks.  DO NOT OVERMIX, or you'll make bourbon butter.  We'll save that for another week!

For plating, I like to use white dessert dishes and dust the bottoms with cinnamon and freshly-grated nutmeg.  The white makes a nice palate for the colors and smelling the spices really enhances the experience.  Spoon the strawberries into the dishes and add a generous dollop of whipped cream!