The cookie made me do it: Chocolate and Chai infused Rye Whiskey Liqueur

I have a new way of drinking my tea. 

“Your tea?” You may ask. 

Well, yes. But I wouldn’t bring it up if it weren’t pertinent. 

Every Christmas one of my coworkers makes a chocolate chai cookie. It is delightful and honestly one of the highlights of the holiday season. The first time I tried it, I thought to myself that it would feel even more decadent if it were also alcoholic. So I set out to figure out how to create it. 

Being me, I have a lot of whiskey on hand. Some of it amazingly high proof (high proof being better for infusing than low proof, think the difference between making tea using hot water and cold water). So having a lot of suitable whiskey on hand, I decided that it would need a whiskey base. But bourbon or rye? I ended up choosing rye for two reasons. One, I had a high proof rye that was a bit young that I wasn’t enjoying neat. And two, I thought rye flavors would play nicely with the chocolate I was planning on using. 

So I started with 1.5 cups of Rye whiskey, I used Willett distilled 2 year old rye because it was really high proof and relatively replaceable. You never know what is going to come of infusing so using something that you can't buy again isn't recommended. I added 4.5 tablespoons of loose chai tea blend to an infusing bag and let that steep for two hours. Buy a good loose tea (not powder) that you'd like to drink on it's own. I bought Reena's Chai from local tea vendor TeaSource. 

The chai infused rye was really spicy and very bitter at this point. It might have worked nice in a cocktail as a substitute for bitters...I might need to remember that idea. After removing the tea, I added the cacao nibs. About half a cup. I then let that sit for three days.

After three days, strain out the cacao nibs. Let it drain really well. Between the tea, the nibs and the tastings, I lost about half a cup of liquid by this point even though I thought I was squeezing everything really well. If you taste again at this point you will be convinced that what we have made is a bitter mess. A high proof bitter mess that's also really spicy. Think of it, tea and unsweetened chocolate. Yeah. Come to think of it, maybe this would make a better bitters...

So what counteracts bitterness? SUGAR!!! (though a little salt wouldn't have hurt either, but I just thought of that...) I dissolved half a cup of organic sugar into 3/8 of a cup of water. By my back-of-a-napkin calculations, this should bring it down below 80 proof, a nice gentle spot for a liqueur. Add that to the infused whiskey, give it a shake and you get a nice frothy liquid in your jar.

But one thing was missing. The taste is right, the smell is right, but the mouth feel is off. This is a chai tea inspired drink, even if it did travel down the inspiration road through cookie town. One of the best ways to enjoy chai is with milk. And so I tried that. I went 2 ounces of the liqueur and 1 ounce of the milk. 

It was very good. Creamy, chocolaty, spicy. Not too sweet but sweet enough to bring out the flavors of all the ingredients. I think this one is a winner.

Chocolate and Chai Rye whiskey liqueur

  • 1.5 cups rye whiskey (the high the proof the better)
  • 4.5 tbsp loose chai blend tea
  • 0.5 cup Cacao nibs
  • 0.5 cup sugar
  • .375 cup water

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Chocolate-Bourbon Cocktail Cherries

Door County Wisconsin is famous for it’s cherries. And when my wife and mother-in-law went on a short trip there, I asked them to bring me some back. You see, I had the idea that I wanted to make a yummy garnish for my manhattans and I couldn’t pass this opportunity up.

Chocolate-Bourbon Cocktail Cherries

Chocolate cherry juice

  • 1 cup 100% cherry juice
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • pinch of salt

Bring these ingredients to a boil in a small sauce pan. Allow to cool enough to fish out the cinnamon stick (or leave it in if you want more cinnamon influence). 

Cherries

  • 1 pint Cherries (I used tart cherries because I like tart cherries, if you don't you might want to try sweet)

Pit the cherries while the Chocolate Cherry Juice cools. Pack them into a wide-mouth one pint mason jar. 

Alcohol

  • 1 cup Bourbon or Rye (I used a 50-50 mixture of Buffalo Trace and Sazerac Rye)
  • 1 splash of Luxardo Maraschino liqueur

Once the Chocolate Cherry Juice has cooled to below 160° or so add the spirits. Mix well and pour over the cherries. You will have too much, reserve the rest for topping up the jar after the Cherries start to absorb it. Store in the refrigerator, shaking occasionally.

These get better with time. I found that after a month the tartness had mellowed and the chocolate and cinnamon had a more subtle influence that integrated better with the other flavors.

Now, I need a manhattan...

Bourbon Christmas Ham

I've been cooking again. If you follow me on twitter, you'll know that all my uncles, cousin's and their kids were at my house. There were about 20 adults and almost the same number of kids present. It was my job to cook the meat. Our family will normally have a turkey for christmas. After all there is a large turkey processing facility in the area I grew up in and many of my family have either worked there or have relatives or in-laws that do. 

I hate turkey. 

I made ham. And even if I wouldn't let my family in the same room as my bourbon, I couldn't pass up a chance to put a little on the ham. I found this recipe on foodnetwork.com. This is not mine. I pass it along as a service to you because it is just damn good. Here is the original recipe, it's for a 5 pound ham (Bourbon Honey Glazed Ham). I realized after I went to the store that I was not going to have enough as I was cooking an 18 pound ham. So I improvised.

I'm sure the original is tasty, but here is what I made. It was delicious.

Improvised Bourbon Glaze

1 1/3 cup of Corner Creek Reserve Bourbon
1 cup of honey
1 cup Door County cherry flavored honey
2/3 cup molasses
1 cup orange marmelade
1 tablespoon whole cloves

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cut diamonds in the top of the fatty portion of the ham and spoon glaze over it multiple times over the course of the last half hour of cooking.

I don't know that the cherry flavored honey added any flavor, but I had it on hand and it certainly didn't hurt. Unlike the original recipe I did not stud the ham. This thing had to be cut up and placed in a roasting pan to be served buffet style. So I boiled a reduced quanitity of cloves in the glaze to infuse it with clove flavor (probably should strain them out if you don't want your family to have punture wounds in their mouth...oops). And since I had left over glaze (like half of it) and I knew that pretty much only the top of the ham had the glaze, I poured it over the cut up ham as I placed it in the roaster to allow all of the pieces to enjoy the sweet bourbony goodness.

My entire family raved about it. And coming from 40 folks who wanted turkey instead, that's a pretty big win. Plus, now I get to eat really delicious ham sandwiches all week. For once I'm not regretting making so much.

Bourbon Banana Bread

I'm a real jerk sometimes. I look at my dwindling stocks of something and decide that I just can't share with everyone. Sometimes, I go ahead and do it anyway, like this weekend when I saw thatI only had maybe enough of my chamomile infusion to make maybe one more cocktail and almost refused to make one for a guest. 

My wife got to me before I could do that though. 

Or the time when I decided that I could only share my bourbon banana bread with just a few of the people at work instead of the entire team. And sadly that didn't even include my really good friend (who I couldn't figure out a way to call over without alerting everyone else as well). 

So since she is leaving this week for a job that promises both more stress and more fun I feel it is only right that I make up for that earlier slight by bringing in two whole loaves of the tasty treat. And since I'm trying to be a nice guy for a change, I figure that I should also share with you, my fellow bourbon lovers. My guess is that you already have the most important ingredient on hand.

Bourbon Banana Bread

Dry ingredients

2.25 cups flour
1.67 cups turbinado sugar
1 tsp salt
2.5 tsp baking powder
1.25 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp SaCo cultured buttermilk blend

Wet ingredients 

3 bananas (2 mashed, 1 diced)
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp high-proof bourbon (I used Knob Creek single barrel because 120 proof means more flavor and less water)
1.5 tsp vegetable oil
.5 cup (4 oz) plain non-fat yogurt
.67 cup skim milk

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F, spray 2 loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray 
  2. Melt butter in a frying pan and add diced banana. Cook over medium heat, turning frequently, until the bananas start to caramelize. Sprinkle a little turbinado sugar over them and pull off of heat. 
  3. fold together mashed and caramelized bananas
  4. Mix together dry ingredients
  5. Mix together wet ingredients. 
  6. When the oven is preheated mix together wet and dry ingredients
  7. immediately pour into 2 loaf pans
  8. bake 45 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the top comes out clean

Once you mix the wet and dry ingredients together, speed is essential as there will be a chemical reaction going on between the baking powder, baking soda, the buttermilk powder and the wetness that will cause the mixture to be very light and foam-like. This is what provides lift to the bread and if you wait too long, you will have flat loaves. Still yummy, but harder to show off. 

Bourbon (Baked) Donuts

A couple months ago or so I happened upon a tweet by  about really wishing he could put his morning donut in some bourbon. That got me to thinking, bourbon should be, no would be, really good in a donut. All that vanilla and carmel flavor melding with the sugar, a little cinnamon and nutmeg...I got to drooling just thinking about it (as an editorial aside, I still am. Saturday morning, these may be breakfast again...).

So I went looking for a pan to bake donuts in. I like fried donuts, but there is too much clean up. That and you have to get the oil just the right temperature or they soak up so much of it that your mouth is coated in an oil slick that is almost impossible to remove. No, baked sounded like the way to go. At my local Bed, Bath and Beyond (way beyond...) I found what I was looking for. The Wilton Donut Pan. It works pretty good and I was happy enough with it that I went back and bought another (since the recipe makes 12).

It took a couple tries to get right. The first time I didn't add enough bourbon. While you don't want too much, I really felt that since I was using good bourbon it was only right to taste it a bit. And since I told @BourbonBanter that I would share the recipe, here it is. It is a variation of the recipe on the packaging of the pan. I added bourbon and cinnamon and adapted it to what I had on hand. 

Bourbon (Baked) Donuts

(Makes 12 donuts)

Dry Ingredients

2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup bourbon (I used Knob Creek Single Barrel because 120 proof means more flavor and less water)
1/2 cup Egg Beaters (too many cholesterol problems to eat real eggs)
2 tbsp butter, melted. (shut up. I get the irony)
  1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray. 
  2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, buttermilk powder, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. 
  3. Mix together bourbon, water, egg beaters and butter. Add to dry mixture. 
  4. Beat until just combined. Fill each doughnut cup approx. 2/3 full. 
  5. Bake 7-9 minutes or until the top of the donuts spring back when touched. Let cool in pan for 4-5 minutes before removing. 
  6. Finish donut by dredging through cinnamon sugar or confectioners’ sugar. Donuts are best served fresh.