infused liquors: making cheap booze classy

Infused liquor. It's so easy it's almost not worth mentioning, but here I am, buckling under a self-imposed sense of obligation to share this magic with you. I started infusing liquors this year and bringing them to food swaps. Wow, was I a popular swapper. Good lord, they love their booze. I had them fooled for a few months and then people started to catch on to how simple it is to infuse their own liquors. I've infused tequila with strawberries & lime and raspberries & honey. I've made peach-infused vodka with agave syrup. Most recently, I followed these instructions from Martha Stewart for a Cranberry-and-Orange Vodka and gave bottles of it away for Christmas. The best part is, you can just make up your own recipe once you get the basic formula.

To infuse liquor you need:

A) Liquor. The liquor doesn't need to be expensive. It really doesn't. You are dressing it up so nicely that you won't be able to taste that it came from a giant plastic bottle that you had to stoop down to get in the liquor store. This is a place where you can get away with being a bit cheap.

B) An "infusing agent" (I think I just made that term up) & an optional sweetener. The "infusing agent" can be fruit, herbs or something else I haven't thought of yet. I hear there garlic-infused vodkas out there, but that's not really my thing. In fact, it makes my stomach turn just thinking about it. I like to use fresh berries, when possible, but thawed out frozen ones work just fine too. Juicy fruits work best; I would be skeptical of a banana- or apple-infusion but if you try it, tell me about it, ok? Fresh herbs are key in herbal infusions; check out this post on Herbal Digestif for more info on that. The recipe I used for my Christmas vodka essentially calls for making a cranberry simple syrup, which allows the sugar to dissolve and the cranberries to split and release their juices. If you are using honey or agave as your sweetener, you can add it directly to the liquor without heating it, although warming it up a bit makes it easier to mix in. If you aren't heating your infusing agents, give them a light smash with a fork to break up some of the juicy bits. You don't want to make fruit puree of it, but a bit of a crush will help the infusion process.

A few ideas for infusions...

• Raspberry & Lime Tequila
• Peach & Vanilla Bean Vodka
• Cranberry-Orange Vodka
• Lemon & Lime Gin
• SO MANY MORE...

I let my infusions sit for a minimum of three days and up to two weeks. After a few days, I usually move it to the fridge where it can be safely stored for months. If you keep it in the freezer, it will keep for a very very long time. In a pinch for New Year's Eve? Make it tonight, let it sit for 24 hours & then break it out for a midnight toast. Even though it will be a young infusion, the flavor will still be strong, especially if you heat up your berries and sweetener before adding them to the liquor.

Happy New Year, peeps! See you in 2012 :) I've got some resolutions to think about, a NYE party to finish planning and perhaps another Whole Living Action Plan to start. Even though I tend to do a lot of my annual goal-making and looking-back on my birthday, I still like taking the time each December/January to think about the past year and wrap it up neatly in my mind. 

Coming up in January: A very special blog anniversary, if you acknowledge such milestones. I do, so we'll be celebrating in style here on the ol' blog.

the lotion & lip balm

I made my own lotion! And lip balm! I was guided completely by Christina, who relied on Jillian's beautiful recipe from the From Scratch Holidays e-book. I don't even have any tips to add because I am such an amateur lotion-maker, so just go read it. In fact, I'm pretty sure I just helplessly watched Christina make the lotion, feebly offering help with whisking and joke-making while sipping on Bailey's. Either way, making lotion is actually pretty fun.

Mmm, that lip balm is so soothing. We added a few drops of peppermint in the lip balm and a few drops of lavender in the lotion.

You'll need to whisk it all into a frenzy. The best part about the lotion recipe that Jillian gives is that is it so easily modified to make lip balm, so in one evening you can make yourself a whole array of body care products. The lotion recipe make about one pint, which is perfect for dividing up and giving away as presents. Or for keeping to yourself.

I use mine every morning and it is particularly wonderful for the elbows and other dry spots. It goes on a little greasy and then absorbs in so nicely. By making your own lotion, you can just skip the typical routine of spreading weird chemicals and preservatives all over your skin to be absorbed into your bloodstream. Which, I think, is a nice routine to skip.

Ta da! Aren't you impressed? I certainly was. What other homemade gifts did we give? Well, I've saved the booziest for last... fruit-infused vodka :) We'll talk about that tomorrow, right in time for you to infuse some for the New Year.

homemade gift, sriracha party nuts

Ouy, holiday cheer hangover, huh? Did you all have a nice holiday? I sure did. Vegetable casseroles & Swiss Colony petit fours & presents & homemade cinnamon bread & winter sangria & Big Moose Ale & family time. Just lovely.

The holidays aren't quite over yet because I want to tell you about the tasty holiday treats we made for gift-giving. Yes, in addition to the hundreds of Christmas cookies, we made a few savory and boozy edibles.

First up, these Sriracha Party Nuts. A few food swaps ago, I got the tastiest batch of sriracha spiced nuts ever from Jenna. With that as my inspiration, I searched high and low for a similar recipe. We found this video showcasing a recipe from The Sriracha Cookbook by Randy Clemens and decided to go with it. We made a double batch for Thanksgiving and was encouraged enough by their popularity to make a bunch of them for Christmas gifts.

Yeah, I never actually got a photo of them. Here are the delicious flaky sriracha-sugar crumbs that were left. Trust, these nuts were that good. They are only a little bit spicy (we'd like to kick them up more next time) with a sugary coating. In other words, they are incredibly addicting and awesome.

For those of you that would like the recipe written out instead of watching the video, here it is:

Sriracha Party Nuts
Ingredients

• 1 lb mixed nuts, lightly salted
• 1 egg white
• 1-2 tbsp sriracha
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary

Directions
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg white, water & sriracha. Add the mixed nuts and mix until evenly coated.

In a small bowl, mix together the sugars and rosemary. Pour over the nuts and combine until they are all coated with a gooey, spicy, sweet mixture.

Spread the nuts out into a singly layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every fifteen minutes and tasting as necessary :) Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

More treats coming up this week. Basically, I turned circles in my kitchen, clutching the From Scratch Holidays eBook, trying to make every recipe in there. It's that good, people. So anyhow, check back in to hear about my foray into making my own lotion & lip balm along with a post on the merits of infused liquor and a love note to homemade mustard.

a christmas photo

For this year's card, we packed up thermoses of hot tea and walked down to the state capitol building and Empire State Plaza. We scurried down there quickly, hoping to catch the good light right after sunset. To our surprise, we chose the same night as the Albany Last Run 5K so we were also treated to holiday music, fireworks and a show of freezing cold runners scooting past us. Bonus! After the bulk of the runners had passed, I laid down on my stomach on supercold brick to snap a few photos because I really wanted you all to have a magical Christmas card. And magical it is, yes?

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas weekend, if that's your thing. (If not, it's still the freakin' weekend so get your celebration on!) My gifts are made, wrapped and adorned with these cute labels. We'll be feasting with family on Christmas Eve and Christmas night and, in between, enjoying a cozy Christmas morning for two :)

For more holiday cheer...
Last year's cards from Rifle Paper Co.
Perhaps my all-time favorite Christmas card.

our epic cookie bake-a-thon

If you follow along on Twitter or Facebook, you know that this past weekend was one for the history books. Why? We made 40 dozen cookies. Over 450 cookies.

Sister & I packed up our cookie tins and some baking supplies and drove over to Mom's house in the Berkshires mid-morning on Sunday. We got back home past dinner time. In between? We baked. We baked chocolate mint cookies, molasses cookies, butter cookies, peanut butter kiss cookies, chocolate fruit cake cookies and cowboy cookies. We made a mess. We cleaned it up. We made more messes.

We were a well-oiled machine. Except for, of course, the occasional baking FAIL. Worry not, though: this buttercream frosting was saved and turned out to be absolutely decadent.

We mixed, stirred, whisked, shaped, decorated, baked and cooled all day long, stopping only to... well, stopping to eat, drink, giggle, stretch & generally goof off.

We had to set up a separate cooling and packaging area on a folding table set up in the living room. The cookies began piling up and by the end of it, we were overrun with holiday treats. Which is exactly what I had hoped would happen.

This bake-a-thon will go down in the history books. Even though the northeast is sloshing around in rainy, un-Christmasy weather, this was the perfect way to launch an all-out assault of holiday cheer. Thank you to my lifelong baking partners for yet another set of memories I'll forever keep with me. Also, thank you for ensuring that I'll gain enough weight to survive an upcoming harsh winter. That's so important in today's world, and I'll have 40 dozen cookies to thank for it.

A big shout-out to ShopRite for letting me try out some of their private label baking ingredients! From flour to sugars to spices, we were stoked to test out quality ingredients for our epic, history-making, all-day holiday cookie bake-a-thon. 

kombucha what?

Kombucha. Comb-boo-cha. Ever heard of it? It's the hippie, new age, magical "elixir of life". It's actually just fermented sweet tea, but I prefer "elixir of life", don't you? I'd heard about kombucha maybe a year or two ago and had seen bottled versions for sale at the co-op and eventually at the grocery store. After figuring out what it was, exactly, I bought a bottle of the stuff and gave it a try. Fizzy, light, pleasant. Like a weird little soda.

Then we all started food swapping and everyone brought freaky awesome things like tomato jam and homemade flax crackers and kombucha. I tried a sip of homemade kombucha brew and was hooked. Luckily for me the starter culture needed for brewing kombucha, a SCOBY, is readily available if you have kombucha-brewing friends because every time you brew a batch, you grow another SCOBY. By the way, SCOBY stands for Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast. Mmmm, delicious. Except, it's really weird-looking. When I brought it home, Chris asked me if it was a "pig's ear floating in formaldehyde". It is not.

So, we've got this fermented sweet tea beverage that some people claim can save the world and others aren't so sure about. I think it's tasty, and I haven't felt any negative effects from it and I only have a glass or two a week. Sometimes I put a splash in my smoothies. Read up. Make your own decision about it and then you can decide whether you'd like to homebrew some yourself or buy it at the store. Be forewarned, a regular storebought kombucha habit will get expensive, real quick.

There are plenty of tutorials out there for brewing your own kombucha, this one from Bonzai Aphrodite looks pretty good and so does this one from Apartment Therapy's Re-Nest. I used directions that a friend got from another homebrewer and it turned out magnicently. The basic idea is that you brew a whole bunch of sweet black tea, you add the SCOBY and then you let it ferment awhile. An additional delicious step is to do a second fermentation with fruit juice, like pomegranate juice. That is what I did and what I plan to keep doing because it makes it a fizzy, fruity little drink. From start to finish, my brew took about 3 weeks: 16 days for the first fermentation and another 5 days for the second fruit fermentation. I did notice that the bottles I opened later were even fizzier and more awesome, so next time I'll probably try and wait another week. The longer you let it ferment, the more vinegary your kombucha will be, but mine wasn't vinegary at all after that amount of time.

Kombucha Thoughts:

• It's a unique taste, but you'll grow to love it. 
• It is technically a tiny bit boozy, because of the fermentation, but I've never heard of anyone drinking it for a buzz. Or being successful at getting buzzed from it even if they tried. 
• There are usually little particles floating around, but that's ok. You remove the actual SCOBY after fermentation so don't worry about that.
• The SCOBY is super gross looking. Just deal with it. 
• SCOBYs are living things so you have to keep it alive; that means keeping it in starter tea (which is really just kombucha itself), keeping it in glass and away from plastic and keeping it in the fridge.
• The "starter tea" that you keep your SCOBY in smells nasty and vinegary. Try not to spill it all over your kitchen floor, swearing and throwing things in the sink will surely follow.
• Once you get your hands on a SCOBY, you can continuously make new batches of kombucha. After you are done brewing, there will be a new SCOBY (the "baby") attached to the original one (the "mother"). You can carefully separate these slimy things, keep them in a bit of your kombucha and then use one of them again for you next batch. Each SOBY only has 4-5 batches in it, but by that point you'll have saved new ones to used so you'll be fine. You can also let your SCOBY grow into a super SCOBY by leaving the "baby" attached to the "mother". (This is so weird, right?) That's what I did the first time, but I'll separate the new "baby" next time and try to pawn it off on someone.

Super weird, right? Your first step ought to be buying a bottle of it at the store to make sure it settles with you and that you like the flavor. I find my brew to be more delicious than store-bought though, but you'll at least get a basic idea. Give it a shot, try it with a fruit juice second fermentation and email me if you want more specific directions :) I like to have a small glass of it a few times a week and pretend that it is superhero juice. 

free holiday printables

Christmastime has snuck up on me. I probably say that every year, but this year it's insane. We enjoyed warmer weather through much of December and haven't had a significant snowfall. We only just put up our decorations last night and I haven't done any holiday baking, except for the batch of cookies I made for our cookie-themed FSC Swap earlier in the month.

These cutesy Gift & Canning Labels I designed for From Scratch Club ought to get me in the holiday mood, yes? Head over to FSC, download & print :)

And if you are still in the gift planning stages, check out my Nice & Naughty Gift Planner from 2008...

 or A Homespun Holiday Planner from 2009.

Enjoy! I'll be heading over to Mom's this weekend for a cookie bake-a-thon and hope to wrap up any last gift-buying too. Next week I'll start on some edible gifts and, with any luck, it will be be smooth sailing until Christmas. But before all of that, I'll share with you my first-ever kombucha homebrewing experience. Stay tuned for a story about fermented sweet tea! Riveting!

maple cream

Have we talked about maple cream yet? My records indicate that we have not. So let's talk about it. IT'S HEAVEN. IT'S SO DAMN GOOD.

That's really all I have to say. Maple cream is pure 100% maple syrup that is whipped into a frenzy. You can spread it on your toast, on pancakes and on anything else you can think of. I've been known to even spread maple cream on top of cookies. Then again, I've also been known to do the same with Nutella. It's really something special. I even gave a bunch of jars of maple cream as stocking stuffers last Christmas, in order to spread the maple cream cheer. I buy mine from Wells Maple Farm at the Troy Farmers Market. It's worth every penny.

If you like maple things-- and I hope you do-- then you should make it a priority to snatch up some maple cream. I'm not sure that it's available in many grocery stores, but that's ok because it's a perfect excuse to buy some from the friendly older gentleman that sells maple products at your local farmers market.

ps- When I Googled "Wells Maple Farm" to see if there was a website, this 1988 New York Times article popped up about a tough maple season in 1987, when I was a perky three-year-old. Love it. Which got me thinking about something I heard recently on NPR about a new reverse osmosis process that maple producers are using to reduce their energy and fuel costs and to help produce better yields. Something about "science" that reduces the time they need to boil down the sap. Sounds good, but then again what do I know?

non-dairy milks, an exploration

We've been down with non-dairy milks for awhile now. In fact, we rarely ever buy cow's milk these days, preferring instead to use unsweetened vanilla almond milk for most things. After experimenting with soy milk and almond milk, I decided to get friendly with all the non-dairy milks I could find. Except hazelnut. I didn't even realize hazelnut milk was a possibility until after I set up this little project, so forgive me. I'll try it soon.

Why non-dairy milk? Maybe you have dairy sensitivities. Maybe you are vegan for other reasons. Maybe you are just an adventurous eater and drinker. It's good to try new things and switch up your habits from time to time. At least I think it is. I eat way more things now than I did even a few years ago.

I present to you my unscientific, imperfectly executed round-up of non-dairy milks. When available, I compared the unsweetened, original flavored versions that are available in the refrigerated section. I also chose the most mainstream brand for each milk, in an effort to pick ones that are widely accessible and easy to find. Exceptions are noted below. Generally speaking, I don't pour myself a glass of milk to drink. I bake and cook with it, use it as the base for my daily smoothies and sometimes pour it into my coffee or tea. So if you are a die-hard, drink a glass of milk person, I can't say which non-dairy version might suit you best.

Coconut Milk
In addition to the cans of coconut milk you've probably used for making curries or sweet desserts, you can also buy a coconut milk beverage that has reduced fat and richness of straight-up, pure coconut milk. It's still sweet and creamy and makes a great substitute for coffee creamer and for use in Asian-inspired soups and sauces. For desserts, your best bet is the canned variety of coconut milk.

Notes: Unsweetened coconut milk (for drinking) is really tough to find, and the Original or Vanilla versions are much tastier. My two cents. Available in refrigerated and shelf-stable packaging.

Brands: Silk Pure Coconut (Original, Vanilla) & So Delicious (Original, Unsweetened, Vanilla)


Soy Milk
Soy milk is a popular  alternative that is almost as high in protein as cow's milk and is higher in calcium. It's also packed with magnesium and Vitamin D. Soy milk separates less during heating than many other non-dairy milks, so it is great for cooking and baking as well as regular ol' drinking. It's the non-dairy milk most people know about and are familiar with because it's been around for a long time.

Notes: Available in refrigerated and shelf-stable packaging. Unsweetened versions exist, but I couldn't find one for this tasting so I went with Original. Chocolate soy milk is one of my favorite treats, especially right after a long run.

Brands to try:  Silk (available in lots of flavors, including seasonals), 8th Continent (lots of flavors, including light and fat-free varieties) & West Soy.


Oat Milk
Oat milk is really tasty. It's sweet, oat-y & creamy. I hadn't tried it before this grand experiment, but I think I'll keep it in the rotation for awhile. Oat milk has more calcium than cow's milk and is also one of the lowest-fat options of the non-dairy milk crowd. I was surprised to note that it ranks second-highest on the protein scale for non-dairy milks, coming in right behind soy.

Notes: I've only seen this in shelf-stable packaging and I haven't seen an unsweetened version.

Brands to try:  Pacific Natural Foods (Original & Vanilla)


Almond Milk
Almond milk has a delicious, creamy consistency similar to soy milk. It's great in smoothies, cereal and for drinking. Almond milk has a slightly nutty flavor (as you might expect), is high in flavonoids and Vitamin E (which lower cholesterol) and contains as much calcium as cow's milk. I like to put a splash of almond milk in my tea. Almonds are one of the healthiest nuts you can eat and almond milk is the lowest calorie option of the bunch.

Notes: Available in refrigerated and shelf-stable packaging. Our current fave of the non-dairy milks is Unsweetened Vanilla Almond. Give it a try.

Brands to try: Blue Diamond Almond Breeze (Original, Vanilla & Chocolate in both Sweetened and Unsweetened versions) and Silk Pure Almond (Original, Vanilla, Dark Chocolate & Unsweetened)


Hemp Milk

Hemp milk is super nutritious. It contains the same amount of calcium as cow's milk, is rich in heart-healthy omegas and contains all ten essential amino acids. Bam! It does have a little bit of a grassy or nutty flavor, which I find to be awesome. I've heard it is distinctly "not great" in coffee, but I haven't tried that myself.

Notes: I've only seen this in shelf-stable packaging.

Brands to try:  Living Harvest Tempt (Original, Vanilla, Chocolate & Unsweetened Original, Vanilla)


Rice Milk
Rice milk is light and sweet but lacking in many nutrition categories. Your best bet might be to buy a rice milk blend or enriched rice milk product that has added vitamins and minerals. It's good for drinking since it isn't too thick. I rarely use this in my smoothies, though, because I like to add a bit more creaminess.

Notes: Available in refrigerated and shelf-stable packaging. Try a rice-soy blend, like the one from Eden Organic.

Brands to try: Rice Dream (Available in lots of flavors, including crazy ones like Chocolate Chai, Vanillla Hazelnut & Horchata. Also comes in Enriched and Heartwise varieties.)

And because I took the nerdy time to create this spreadsheet, I might as well share it. Click to enlarge.


For full disclosure, I almost always buy vanilla flavored milk. For drinking, smoothies and making desserts, I like vanilla better. For savory cooking though, you'd be smart to stick with original unflavored versions. In conclusion... they are all good for different uses.  Rice milk is the least nutritious, hemp milk is pretty much a superfood with its complete protein and omegas, and soy milk rivals cow's milk in terms of protein. I happen to love almond milk, find coconut milk a little too sweet for most things and I think oat milk is a tasty new find. And, of course, all non-dairy milks are cholesterol-free. Just to put aside another myth, you should note that most of these milks actually have as much or more calcium than cow's milk. Surprised?

I know I left out your favorite brand of such-and-such non-dairy milk, so tell me about it in the comments. What is your preference for non-dairy milk? Did you know you can make some of your own non-dairy milk? It's true. If you... say... had a Vitamix blender, it's actually really easy. Stay tuned...

my holiday wish list

All Over Albany asked me what was on my holiday wish list. I told them tea, movies and apple vodka. Oh and a few other local treats too. Click over here to read my full list.

muesli chocolate chip cookies

Yesterday was National Cookie Day. Coincidentally, yesterday was also the cookie-themed food swap! Hurrah. Cookie swaps are a big holiday thing, right? This was my first-ever cookie swap, but there were plenty of pros there who had, I don't know, ten more cookie swaps left this season. Are you a cookie swapper? Yes? Well then send me some of your extra cookies. Do you make really fancy cookies with icing and cut-outs and blood/sweat/tears? I don't. I make wonky little cookies, but they taste good. Especially when you eat them for breakfast.

This recipe borrows from my mom's world-famous Cowboy Cookies, but is modified to include the Maple Muesli mix published in the From Scratch Holidays e-book. So to make these cookies, you'll need to go over there and download your free copy. These are of the chewy and soft variety, because that's the best kind of cookie of course.

Muesli Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups Maple Muesli Mix
1 package semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
Cream sugars, butter, eggs and vanilla together until fluffy. Stir in the dry ingredients completely, and then add the Maple Muesli Mix and chocolate chips. Drop by a teaspoon on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, removing from the oven when the bottom edges begin to brown. Let cool for 3-5 minutes on the cookie sheet (they also keep baking a little, which is good) and then transfer to wire cooling racks.

Makes three dozen cookies, with enough wiggle room for a few cookie dough tastings :)

And who doesn't love a big glass of milk with a few cookies? I'll tell you who, people who can't tolerate dairy so well. Post-cleanse, I'm finally starting to admit that I may fall in that category. Fortunately, it's not an actual dairy allergy and it's not super severe. This week I'll share with you my Unscientific Non-Dairy Milk Comparison and Analysis! All the non-dairy milks you never knew existed, with taste test results, nutritional comparisons and recommendations for use.

free e-book!

The ladies of From Scratch Club are offering a FREE E-BOOK to help you create your very own From Scratch Holiday. The free digital book has brand-new edible gift ideas and recipes, never before published on FSC. From limoncello to gluten free pasta and the famous vegan cinnamon bun recipe from All Good Bakers, this handy little download has plenty of ideas for creating homemade, from scratch holiday cheer this season. Ooh, and I share my Maple Muesli recipe, perfect for a hearty yet simple winter breakfast.

You could even download and print this free e-book to give as a gift to your favorite cook. This is From Scratch Club's gift to you this holiday season, so spread the cheer :)

To get your free digital copy of From Scratch Holidays, head over here!