Maple Scotch

There is something so seasonal about sipping maple scotch on cold nights. I plan to have some in stock all winter. Here's how I made it...

In a non-reactive sauce pan, bring the following to a boil:

• 1 cup pure (bottled, filtered) water
• 1/3 cup maple sugar (you can buy some at Savory Spice Shop)
• 1/4-1/3 cup evaporated cane juice (use a little less if you want it less sweet)
• 2/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 6 or 7 whole allspice berries
• 1/4 tsp caraway seeds

I boiled the allspice berries and caraway seeds in a reusable herb sack to keep them all together.

Boil this mixture until the sugar dissolves. Then let it cool completely before combining a 750ml bottle of scotch with the maple mixture. I used Ballantine's and poured it into two different Ball jars, adding 2 cinnamon sticks to the smaller jar just to experiment. In the larger jar, I kept the seed sack to allow the flavors to blend.

This will be ready to drink in a couple weeks, but the longer it sits, the better. You also might want to remove the cinnamon sticks after a couple weeks to avoid making it too cinnaminy.

Enjoy!

Rudi's Gluten-Free Bakery Maple Bread Pudding

I came home from Rudi's Gluten-Free Gourmet Dinner at Root Down, Denver, with a loaf of Rudi's Gluten-Free Bread and a recipe for the delicious gluten-free bread pudding that had been served for dessert. Root Down made a really good bread pudding, so I was eager to re-create it using my gluten-free loaf of bread.

I cut off most of the crust and cubed one loaf of Rudi's Gluten-Free Bakery Bread for this recipe.

I altered the recipe slightly to accommodate the ingredients I had on hand. Here's what I mixed up:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• a pinch of sea salt

I poured my liquid mixture over the bread cubes and let it sit, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes. Then, I added 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, mixed it one more time, and poured it into a pyrex baking dish to bake at 325 for 30-40 minutes, until it was golden brown and cooked through the center.

I patiently let it cool, then served it with farm-fresh strawberries, some peach, and a drizzle I made with equal parts heavy whipping cream and maple syrup.

This recipe is a winner! It is definitely some of the BEST bread pudding I've had.

Sweet and Sour BBQ Sauce

This BBQ sauce is based off of the flavors from a traditional Vietnamese Sweet and Sour recipe given to me by an amazing chef named Duc in Hoi An, Vietnam.

First I made this pineapple and onion mix and sauteed it on medium for 10 minutes until the onions were soft and the pineapple was partially cooked. I used:

• 1/4 red onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 cup pineapple, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine
• green onion

I removed that from heat and started to mix together the base for my BBQ sauce.

I combined the following ingredients and mixed well.

• 1 six ounce can tomato paste
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 3 TB soy sauce
• 2 TB rice wine vinegar
• 1 TB onion powder
• 1 TB garlic powder
• 1 TB toasted sesame oil

Then, I put the BBQ sauce base in my Vita-Mix with all but 1/2 cup of the pineapple onion mixture and blended it for 30 seconds or so.