Holiday Cocktails according to Betty (Crocker not Ford...obviously.)

Slammed slammed SLAMMED! But I am not to busy to post about something that matters, a drink at the end (beginning and middle are ok too...) of the day.



Ginger Bread Cookie Cocktail

Ingredients
Gingerbread Simple Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons mild-flavor molasses
1-inch piece fresh gingerroot, peeled, sliced
2 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon whole cloves

Gingerbread Cookie Cocktail
Orange wedge
Brown sugar
1 oz Gingerbread Simple Syrup (2 tablespoons)
1 oz vanilla vodka (2 tablespoons)
1 oz half-and-half (2 tablespoons)
1/2 oz coffee liqueur (1 tablespoon)

Directions
1. To make Gingerbread Simple Syrup, mix sugar, water, molasses, gingerroot, cinnamon sticks and cloves in 1-quart saucepan. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; set aside 1 hour to cool. Strain syrup into glass jar; discard spices. Cover jar, and refrigerate until needed. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

2. To prepare cocktail, moisten rim of chilled martini glass with orange wedge. Sprinkle brown sugar onto small plate, and dip moistened rim into the sugar to coat lightly. Fill cocktail shaker with ice. Add 1 ounce gingerbread simple syrup, vodka, half-and-half and coffee liqueur; cover and shake. Strain into martini glass.

Tip: If you can't find mild-flavor molasses you can use full-flavor molasses but reduce the amount by 1 tablespoon.





Coconut Macaroon Cookie Cocktail

Ingredients
Simple Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Coconut Macaroon Cookie Cocktail
1 oz Simple Syrup (2 tablespoons)
1 oz light coconut rum (2 tablespoons)
1 oz half-and-half (2 tablespoons)
1/2 oz white crème de cacao (1 tablespoon)
Toasted shredded coconut

Directions
1. To make Simple Syrup, mix sugar and water in 1-quart saucepan. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; set aside 1 hour to cool. Pour syrup into glass jar. Cover jar, and refrigerate until needed. Makes 1 1/4 cups.

2. To prepare cocktail, fill cocktail shaker with ice. Add 1 ounce simple syrup, coconut rum, half-and-half and crème de cacao; cover and shake. Strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with toasted coconut.

Tip: To toast coconut, sprinkle coconut in ungreased heavy skillet. Cook over medium-low heat 6 to 14 minutes, stirring frequently until browning begins, then stirring constantly until golden brown.


My favorite kind of cocktail after a long long day...



on the rocks.

Vasilopita

I have decided to recycle a post, it's not ideal but I wanted to share this with you all. Every year my father and I make Vasilopita, a traditional Greek New Year's Bread. It's about that time and we are going to be baking all weekend, so if you have nothing better to do bake along with us!









Let me reiterate the fact that I am by no means a cook, it's all I can do to not set the oven on fire (for the second time) But this recipe is special, it's my Yiayia's (Grandmother's)recipe for Vasilopita. Vasilopita is a Greek Tradition, it is a special bread that we make for New Years. It's a sweet bread, super tasty, and we bake a coin into each one for luck. Vasilopita is the bread of St. Basil the Great who's saints day is celebrated on New Years Day. When you cut the bread on New Years Day, whoever gets the piece with the coin in it is supposed to be "King" or "Queen" for the year (meaning they will have a good/lucky/exceptional year) The most senior member of the household is supposed to cut the bread. The first slice is dedicated to my homeboyJesus, the second is for the Virgin Mary, the third is for St. Basil, then a slice for the church, for the house, and then for the members of the family. This is something that I make every year with my father. We spend all day in the kitchen and make a huge mess. My late uncle passed this recipe on to us after he documented my Yiayia making it in 1986--when she was about 78 years old. It isn't super exact or precise, you kind of have to feel it out. If you have made bread from scratch before the whole process won't feel so foreign. It's a long process so settle in for a few minutes of reading.

This recipe makes 4-5 loaves of bread, you will need....

-7lbs flour (high gluten works really well)
-5 sticks of butter, melted and cooled
-11 large eggs
-3 cups of sugar
-4 packages of dry yeast
-4-5 cups of milk
-1 cup brandy (Metaxa)
-1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
-.5 tsp ground cloves
-.25 tsp salt

In a bowl, dissolve the yeast with a little water and a pinch of sugar. Add 3 cups of warm milk (not hot or it will kill the yeast; not cold or it won't activate) Stirring with a whisk, add enough of the flour, a little at a time, to reach the consistency of "gruel" or oatmeal. This is called..."the Sponge"...I know. Cover the sponge and let it rise in a warm place until puffy and bubbly. It takes between 15-20 minutes.

In a large bowl (I do this in 2 bowls because it's just too much for one) Add 3 lbs of flour, the sugar, salt, cinnamon, cloves and make a well in the center for the wet ingredients. Add 10 of the eggs (eliminate 2 of the whites if you can), melted butter, Metaxa, and the rest of the milk. Then add the sponge. With your hands, begin kneading the mixture into a dough. If it is too wet add more flour, if it is too dry add more milk. Knead until it is smooth, not sticky. Pull out some of the dough--the size of your fist--and set it aside.

At this point pull out your cake pans and butter them up. Shape the dough in to round loaves (in a 9" cake pan it makes about 4 loaves--leave about 2" all the way around the loaf in the pan, it shouldn't fit snug because it still has to rise again) Take a quarter, wrap it in aluminum foil and insert one coin into each loaf. Grab the dough that you set aside and you will need to shape it into the numbers of the new year...I don't really know how to explain it, so just look at the pictures.

Once the loaves have risen--they should almost double in size and fill the cake pan, it is time to bake. I do my oven at 325 for 50 minutes. Take the one remaining egg and beat it with a little bit of milk. When the bread has baked for about 40 minutes, pull it out and brush on the egg wash. Then again when it has about 8-5 minutes left of the oven. This will give the top a pretty, shinny, golden brown color. When you remove it from the oven, run a butter knife around the edge and when cool-ish flip them over and get them out and then let them cool on a rack.

If you decide to try this understand it's like and all day process, but it's really fun. It's a tradition for my Dad and I, we make them every year and I give them away to friends and family. This also happens to make the most AH-MAZING French toast, just an FYI. Enjoy!

1 of 2 recipes

I am not a cook and I don't pretend to be, I set of my fire alarm at least 2 to 3 times each year. But there are two things that I do enjoy making and that I haven't messed up yet. The first is a bread pudding with Panettone Bread (Italian Christmas Bread) I bet you have seen it in the grocery store or been given one as a gift and wondered what the hell to do with it (besides maybe make french toast.) Well here is what I do...

Panettone Bread Putting with Cinnamon Sauce

Cinnamon Sauce
-1 cup water
-1 cup brown sugar
-4 tablespoons whipping cream
-1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Bread Pudding
-1 (1-pound) loaf of Panettone bread, but into 1" inch cubes
-8 eggs
-1.5 cups whipping cream
-2.5 cups whole milk
-1.25 cups sugar
-Amaretto Liquor...just pour it.

For the bread pudding, pull out your pyrex and butter her up. Put in the bread cubes and spread them out in an even layer. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, milk, amaretto, and sugar to blend. Pour it over the bread cubes and press the cubes gently to submerge them in all of the happiness. Let it stand for about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 and bake for about 45 minutes. It's sooooo damn good.

For the cinnamon sauce (which I usually make while the thing is baking) combine the water and brown sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring it to a boil and stir until all the sugar dissolves. Boil until it reduces to about 1 cup (roughly 15 minutes) Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the whipping cream (I just pour until it gets a little thick and lovely--I don't necessarily follow the measurement on this part) at this point you can also add the cinnamon--again I usually add more then what the recipe calls for. Then I put it over the head for another 15ish minutes until it gets thick and lovely.

When both are done, combine them for a happy dance in your mouth. Kate Moss said that "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels"--stupid model, she's never had this bread pudding. It rocks, eat up, and enjoy!