Pot brownies get all the credit -- but baking with spirits is where the magic happens. Today, we step back from cocktails to talk about how you can build some sweet, boozy creations like Absolut Mandarin Dreamsicle Cookies with orange vanilla frosting.
The key when cooking with liquor is to make sure you're matching up flavors you like and flavors that like each other. Take the same approach that you might take with mixers -- like avoid putting together vodka with RC Cola.
While rum has inspired a series of balls, cakes and a flaming banana dessert, bourbon should be your first stop. Even those who might avoid the smokey, rich flavors of bourbon could get pulled in by the bourbon peach hand pies -- which would seem to form the underpinnings of the finest adult happy meal ever.
A boozy baked french toast is the way to kick off brunch -- you just have to add Bailey's, Cointreau or Chambord to your dipping batter. At the end of the meal, you can serve Mojito Cupcakes from this recipe in Cooking With Booze. Those concerned about firing up the oven and the bar in the same afternoon (cooking after a few drinks doesn't always end well) could turn to the good folks at Booze Cake, who infuse all their cakes "with honest to goodness straight alcohol."
When it comes to beer, stouts tend to be accentuated by or highlight chocolate in baked goods. Chocolate Stout Pudding tastes like deliciously chilled beer for lazy men -- this is a sweeter, hardier version of pudding. I've had a version of these Guinness Stout Brownies and they are dense squares of flourless chocolate cake. The truly ambitious might tackle this Russian Imperial Stout cheesecake, which is likely a high-risk, high-reward scenario.
For those who don't drink but want to do something for the drinkers in their lives, there's an extensive collection of liquor-shaped or themed cakes that contain no alcohol. You could make a wine bottle cake, a beer bottle or a bucket of beers cake. Each of which might pair nicely with this Wedding Cake Cocktail (pineapple vodka, pineapple juice, and sweet and sour mix) -- which with a sugared rim apparently simulates the deliciousness that is white cake. Serve that with a thick slice of suspended disbelief.
[Image via Flickr: sinksanctity]
Comments (0)