Countdown to Christmas - A Simple and Spirited Eggnog Bread

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is a nice quick bread to make for meetings or bake sales that have claims on your time at this time of year. It takes all of 5 minutes to prepare, and while it will never win any contests, it is an honest and nicely flavored loaf that everyone seems to enjoy. This is a two bowl and wooden spoon affair, so it is a great project for those with limited cooking skills, regardless of their ages. While the rum that is used in this recipe can be replaced with 2 teaspoons of rum extract and the addition of another 1/4 cup of eggnog, it will give the load an entirely different flavor. I think that rum extract has a distinctive flavor that is a poor substitute for the real thing, but many people prefer to use it in their baking. However, you decide to flavor this loaf, I think you will enjoy it. The ease with which it can be made makes it perfect for this busy holiday season. Here is how it's made.

Spirited Eggnog Bread...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Taste of Home magazine

Ingredients:
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
3/4 cup eggnog
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup dark rum
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
1) Grease an 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 x 2-1/2 inch loaf pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper and grease again. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2) Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. In another bowl, beat eggs, eggnog, rum, sugar, butter and vanilla extract. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients just until moistened.
3) Pour into prepared pans and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool to room temperature. To store, wrap loaf in plastic wrap. Yield: 1 loaf.

      

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Countdown to Christmas - Eggnog Cheesecake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I hope you enjoy the holiday season as much as I do, because if all goes according to plan, I'll be featuring a seasonal recipes each day until Christmas actually arrives. The recipes I'll be sharing are associated with the Christmas season as it's celebrated in the United States and other countries that have strong holiday traditions that include special foods that are served with the Christmas feast. The first feature in the series is actually my second best eggnog cheesecake. It's the one I make for meetings or communal gatherings where what is served is not as important as the socialization the affair provides. This is a near effortless cake that is made seasonal by including eggnog in the mix. The cake also contains a small amount of rum which gives it a bit of additional flavor. While many cooks like to use rum extract in recipes such as this, I prefer to use the real thing. I find the taste of the extract to be off-putting and it lingers unpleasantly on my tongue, so I avoid its use whenever I can. This cake is super simple to make and it can be prepared and frozen weeks before you need it. I like to serve this with rum flavored whipped cream which adds a festive air and helps to mask the simplicity of this lovely cheesecake. Here is how it is made.

Eggnog Cheesecake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Taste of Home

Ingredients:
Crust
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling
3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup commercial eggnog
1 tablespoon dark rum
Dash ground nutmeg

Directions:
1) Place a greased 9-inch springform pan on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Securely wrap foil around pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2) In a small bowl, combine cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. Press onto bottom of pan. Place on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
3) In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and flour until smooth. Add eggs and beat on low speed just until combined. Gradually stir in eggnog, rum and nutmeg. Pour filling over crust. Place springform pan in a large baking pan. Add 1 inch of hot water to larger pan.
4) Bake for 45-50 minutes or until center is just set and top appears dull. Remove springform pan from water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Serve with a dollop of rum whipped cream. Yield: 12-16 servings.

Rum Whipped Cream

Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon dark rum

Directions:
Combine all ingredients and whip until soft peaks form.

      

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Baked Alaska with Rum Raisin Ice Cream

                                                              Baked Alaska

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...The Silver Fox and I will be celebrating a landmark anniversary next weekend. I'll not be cooking for the occasion but in anticipation of the event, he asked me to make a Baked Alaska for him. I was more than happy to oblige because it gave me an excuse to make one of my favorite ice creams, a smooth and rich rum raisin concoction that is made with the world's happiest raisins. You'd be happy, too, if you spent a day immersed in that amount of rum. Baked Alaska is an old dessert that is enjoying a resurgence in popularity. It sounds difficult to make but nothing could be farther from the truth. The dessert has three distinct stages and all but the final toasting can be done a day ahead of time. I made the ice cream and the sponge layer for the cake I'm featuring tonight, but both could have been purchased at the grocery store and used in the assembly of the baked Alaska. Time is the only trick to successfully making this dessert. I generally assemble the cake, including the unbaked meringue covering, the day before I plan to serve it. It goes into the freezer and stays there until 15 minutes before I plan to put it in the oven. It takes minutes to brown the meringue, and because this is such a festive dessert I go one step further and flame it at the table. Children, and the Silver Fox, love this dessert. It is amazingly versatile and any flavor cake or ice cream can be used to assemble it. If you are looking for something that is festive and a bit out of the ordinary, do give this recipe a try. The ice cream, which comes from Saveur magazine, is especially delicious. Here is how the Baked Alaska is made.

Rum Raisin Ice Cream...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Saveur magazine

Ingredients:
1 cup raisins
1 cup dark rum
3/4 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1) Place raisins and rum in a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit until raisins soften and absorb rum, at least 8 hours or overnight. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons rum. Set raisins and rum aside.
2) Place sugar and yolks in a large saucepan and whisk until pale yellow and lightened slightly, about 2 minutes. Add milk, and stir until smooth. Place over medium heat, and cook, stirring often, until mixture thickens and coats back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. Pour through a fine strainer into a large bowl. Whisk in drained raisins along with reserved rum, cream, and vanilla. Cover custard with plastic wrap, pressing it against the surface of custard, and refrigerate until chilled.
3) Pour custard into an ice cream maker, and process according to manufacturer's instructions until churned and thick. Line a 7″-diameter bowl with a 15″ piece of plastic wrap, allowing excess to hang over rim of bowl. Pack ice cream into bowl, smoothing top, and freeze until solid, at least 4 hours. Yield: about 6 cups.

Sponge Cake

Ingredients:
Unsalted butter, for pan
1/2 cup cake flour, plus more for pan
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Directions:
1) Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8″ round cake pan; set aside.
2) Whisk together flour and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3) Beat sugar and eggs in bowl of an electric mixer on medium-high speed until tripled in volume, about 5 minutes. Stir in juice and zest and fold in flour. Pour into prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool completely, invert onto a rack, and set aside. Yield: 1 layer.

Meringue

Ingredients:
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
4 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar

Directions:
Place cream of tartar and egg whites in bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Add sugar and beat until stiff but not dry peaks form.

Final Assembly

To serve, place cake on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Invert ice cream onto cake and peel off plastic. Cover ice cream and cake with meringue. Bake until meringue begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Using 2 metal spatulas, transfer to a cake plate and serve immediately. Yield: 8 servings.









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Mardi Gras Hurricane Cocktail

Working on the theory that it is better to be weeks too early than a day too late, I wanted to alert all of you who follow One Perfect Bite to changes that are in the wind. Come the 1st of March, Google will no longer support Google Friends Connect on any platform other than Blogger. This has major implications for those of you who have blogs on the WordPress, TypePad, Tumblr or Movable Type platforms. If you have been following One Perfect Bite through Google Friend Connect you will no longer receive automatic updates. That can be remedied by subscribing to my blog using RSS, Facebook, Twitter or email. You can do that by selecting from the buttons that you will find at the top of the column on the right side of the screen. You will also be able to add it to your Google homepage or reader of your choice. I have started to post each day's entry on Pinterest and I'd love to have you take a look at what we are doing there. Obviously, for those of you with blogs on the Blogger platform, nothing will change, at least for the time being. I want to thank all of you for your support and I think I've done everything I can to make this transition as seamless and trouble free as it can be for you. I hope that come the 1st of March, it will be business as usual. I'm just a click away.

Everyone knows that the signature drink of the Kentucky Derby is the Mint Julep. How about Mardi Gras? The beverage of choice in New Orleans this coming week will be the Hurricane Cocktail. I should be embarrassed to admit this, but I first sampled the Hurricane last year at a Fat Tuesday party, where it was the (only) beverage of choice. Were it not for that, I'd probably still be in the woods sipping cider through a straw. I'm not a cocktail person and, while I love wine, I don't seek out drinks that come with parasols. They are just too sweet to my taste and I usually take a pass. Actually, as sweet drinks go, this one is not too bad and lots of folks really love it. For the next few days, I'm going to be featuring foods associated with Mardi Gras and I thought this drink would be a fun place to start. I'm also including a recipe for grenadine. The Hurricane numbs you for what is to come. Here we go.

Hurricane Cocktail Photo Courtesy of PRZman

Ingredients:
4 ounces light rum
4 ounces dark rum
2 ounces grenadine, or passion fruit syrup
2 ounces fresh orange juice
2 ounces sour mix, or fresh lime juice
2 teaspoon superfine sugar
Orange wedges, for garnish

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker, and shake to dissolve the sugar. I used a mason jar. Add ice cubes to come halfway up the sides of 4 tall glasses. Divide the mixture between the glasses. Garnish each with an orange wedge and serve with a long straw. Yield: 4 servings


Grenadine:

Ingredients:
1 quart pomegranate juice
2 cups sugar
2 dashes orange flower water

Directions:
Bring pomegranate juice and sugar to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat and cover, allowing it to simmer for 10-15 minutes and stirring occasionally. Allow mixture to cool, then pour into a small decanter or bottle with a tight-sealing lid. Add a dash or two of orange flower water (don't overdo it). Seal the bottle and give it a few good shakes.

Cook's Note: This grenadine should be good for up to 3 weeks and makes about 1-1/2 cups. You can also add a small amount of overproof vodka as a preservative to give it a little longer shelf life.









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Rum-Raisin Tea Biscuits

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I can't quite see myself serving these for breakfast, but I have no aversion to putting them on a brunch or tea table. They are delicious and a perfect example of Nancy Silverton's ability to make ordinary food extraordinary. These biscuits contain orange and rum soaked raisins that make others pale in comparison. Save for the drunken raisins, the recipe is like most others for scones or tea biscuits. It is straight forward and if you follow the recipe you are guaranteed success. You can, of course, swap cranberries for raisins and experiment with orange liqueur. I make these often, and, while I do experiment, I always go back to the original ingredients. If you use a 2-1/4 inch biscuit cutter you will be able to get a dozen biscuits from the recipe. I do hope you will try these. They are wonderful to serve with afternoon tea and distinctive enough to be memorable. Here's the recipe.

Rum Raisin Tea Biscuits...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Nancy Silverton

Ingredients:
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup rum
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup raisins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coarse salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter,
cut into 8 pieces
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Milk
5 teaspoons sugar

Directions:
1) Combine orange juice, rum, vanilla and raisins in a small bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes while preparing biscuits.
2) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
3) Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse to combine. Add butter and process until mixture looks like coarse meal.
4) Drain liquid from raisins reserving 1/3 cup. Combine reserved liquid with buttermilk and add to flour mixture in food processor, then add raisins and orange zest. Pulse just to dampen dry ingredients. Dough will be sticky.
5) Remove dough from bowl and knead 10 times on a well-floured surface. Pat into an 8-inch round, 1/2 inch thick. Cut 8 biscuits with a floured 2 1/2-inch cutter. Fold scraps together and cut 2 more biscuits. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet, 1 inch apart. Brush tops with milk and sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon sugar.
6) Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until tops are lightly browned. Yield: 10 biscuits.







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Hot Buttered Rum Punch and Wassail

If Lil - my darling Lily - were here, she'd walk you through the finer points of wassailing and you'd belly up to the bar, completely charmed, before the night was through. Lily was director of nursing at a teaching hospital in Chicago; she was also instrumental in establishing hospice centers throughout the city. Lily belonged to a community I've come to call the gatekeepers - a special group of people whose training and disposition place them with those about to take the first or last breaths of their lives. It's holy work - they are the faces we see at the beginning and end of life's journey.

Lily was my friend and neighbor and, for a period of time, a gatekeeper for my almost 3 pound baby daughter. She walked and talked me through sleepless nights and miles of worry, but our story had a happy ending - one that was atypical for preemies born all those years ago. Then came another baby girl - this one delivered by 747. She was frightened, malnourished and in braces; one of the first people she'd let hold her was Lil. Unfortunately, Lil never got to see the beautiful and accomplished women "her" babies became. Her pride would measure mine and I must tell you these young women still take my breath away. I can't believe they're mine.

Lily knew how to make Christmas merry. She loved caroling (wassailing) and she wasn't above having a nip now and then. She was very familiar with the tradition of wassailing. As she explained it, wassailers went from door to door, singing and drinking to the health of their neighbors. In pre-Christian times villagers traveled through fields and orchards in the middle of winter, singing and shouting to drive away any spirits that might prevent or slow the growth of future crops. As part of this, they poured wine and cider on the ground to encourage fertility in the crops. Lily thought this was a terrible waste of spirits. During the Victorian era this evolved into the idea of Christmas caroling. Carolers would return home after a night of singing and warm themselves by the fire with a pot of spiced wassail or hot buttered rum. I suspect they slept well. Today's recipes are for a hot buttered rum concentrate that will quench the thirst of the entire neighborhood; the other is for wassail - an elixer for those who are really, really cold or really, really thirsty. They are both very good. I hope you'll give them a try this holiday season. Slainte Mhath, a Mhari!

Hot Buttered Rum Concentrate

Ingredients:
1 pound golden brown sugar
1 pound confectioners' sugar
1/2 pound softened, unsalted butter
1 quart French vanilla ice cream
Pick your poison - rum, Irish whiskey etc.
Grated nutmeg for garnish

Directions:
1) Place brown sugar, confectioners' sugar, butter and ice cream in bowl of an electric stand mixer. Mix, using paddle attachment, to combine. Freeze.
2) When ready to serve, place 1 to 2 tablespoons of frozen mixture into a mug. Add a jigger of rum or whiskey and fill mug with boiling water. Sprinkle top with nutmeg. Yield: 24 to 32 servings.

Lily's Wassail Bowl

Ingredients:
4 small oranges, unpeeled
Whole cloves
3 (12-ounce each) bottles ale
3 cups dark rum
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2) Stud oranges, at 1/2-inch intervals, with cloves. Place in a shallow pan and bake, uncovered for 30 minutes.
3) Place ale, rum, sugar and ginger in a 5 to 6-quart saucepan. Bring just to boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
4) Place hot oranges in a punch bowl. Slowly cover with hot liquid. Ladle into cups. Serve hot. Yield: 15 servings.

Lily's Scottish Toast

The toast is Slainte Mhath! (pronounced Slanjey-va, meaning "Good Health"). The response is Slainte Mhor! (pronounced Slanjey-voe, meaning "Great Health").