Sunday 3 March 2013

Creamy Peppermint Hot Chocolate (Minus the Cream)



I had to think of something last minute to post here. The reason being was I didn't get to say goodbye in my last post. So goodbye.

Okay, so you probably want a little more than that. Well, I'm going on an adventure and am going to be away from this blog for a bit. I'll be back though. I promise.

Anyway, this drink. It does have alcohol in it, and a type of alcohol I bought because I had to try it but was very sceptical about it. Turns out it really really works (for some things). I'm talking about whipped cream vodka (cake batter is the next one on the list to try). It took me a bit to find something I would want to drink with whipped cream flavouring in it but I can now say it is very good for two things: creamsicle screwdrivers (just your typical vodka and orange with an added creamyness to it) and hot chocolate.

With the hot chocolate I do find you have to balance the alcohols out. I love peppermint hot chocolates but the peppermint schnapps makes the drinks taste more bitter (and I like a sweeter, creamier, milk chocolate hot chocolate), and the whipped cream vodka on its own makes the hot chocolate excessively sweet. So do a 1:1 ratio of the two and it perfectly balances the drink out. The amount of each that I use doesn't make a strong drink, it just adds a hint of flavour. So if you want it stronger feel free to increase the quantities. What I really like about the vodka is that it makes my hot chocolates seem thicker and creamier (it's the word of the day) without having to make it with milk. This was a really good thing when I was limiting the amount of dairy I was consuming. Up until figuring this out I would rather have no hot chocolate than one made with water. But make it with water and add in this vodka and it's all good. Really.

So how do you make this wonderful thing I'm bragging about.

Ingredient

3/4 C. Boiling Water
1 Pkg. Hot Chocolate Mix
1/2 oz Whipped Cream Vodka
1/2 oz Peppermint Schnapps
*Optional* Whipped Cream

Directions

~Boil the water and pour into a mug.
~Stir in hot chocolate mix until dissolved.
~Mix in alcohols and stir.
~Top with whipped cream if desired.

Enjoy

Friday 1 March 2013

Blueberry Lemon Curd Galette


Okay, I know this looks messy and like I ruined my cookie sheet but I can assure you it actually came off the sheet beautifully and once it was on a plate you would never know that all the innards leaked out of it.

The beautiful thing about this is that it looks about as far from perfect as could be, but the rustic look is in right? Right? So really, imperfect is perfect now or at least that's what I'm telling myself. The other great thing about this is that you can really make them as big or as small as you want. Because you aren't limited to the size of a pie pan. I ended up making 4 of these (we cut them into 3 or 4 pieces) and I used about 1/2 - 2/3 of this pastry recipe. It was a great recipe to use up the leftover pastry from the chicken pot pies because I was able to make as many of these as I wanted at the size that I had pastry available for. It wasn't like trying to stretch not enough dough into a pie pan. Plus with my little bit of scraps I was going to throw out at the end I decided to do something with them as well so scroll down to the bottom for that.


The pastry really didn't roll out that well.

But it all tastes the same in the end




Makes 2 Galettes

Ingredients

1/3 Batch of Pastry, divided in 2 
4 C. Blueberries (I used frozen, fresh would work too)
Lemon Curd
5 Tbsp. Sugar
2 Tbsp. Cornstarch
1 Egg
Sugar

Directions

~Preheat oven to 350 F
~Grease a cookie sheet or large baking dish.
~Place 2 rolled out pastry circles onto greased pan (I slid 3 or 4 knives under the edges of the pastry to make it easier to not over-fill it and it helped to just flip the pastry up over the edges when done - see picture above if confused with what I'm trying to say here.)
~Spread lemon curd over the pastry, leaving about an inch around the edge.
~In a bowl combine berries, sugar and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly.
~Scoop berries on top of lemon curd.
~Flip up edges of pastry over the berries and with your hands press together to seal.
~Bake for 30-35 min. or until pastry is golden.

Enjoy

And this is what you can do with the scraps. Roll it out into a long rectangle, scoop a bit of curd in the centre and fold it up and press the edges together with your hands to seal. Bake with the galette at 350 F but for a little less time (say 25-30 min.), just watch them and when they are golden they are perfect.