Limoncello and lemon balm liqueur

File this under make-ahead recipes, as in make it well before next year’s holidays, or any time you’ve got 21 days and 45 minutes of lead time. I’m amused, and was initially daunted, by that very specific, lengthy amount of prep time. But if you just remember to take the initial steps about Thanksgiving time, you’ll be rewarded with a Christmas gift that’s much more popular than the fruitcake that also takes a long lead time and generally involves alcohol. So far as I know, there aren’t running gags about limoncello.

I’ve made this at least a couple of times now; it’s among the easier liqueurs to make at home with reasonable results.

Limoncello

Adapted from an allrecipes submission: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/32451/limoncello/

Ingredients

Zest of 10 lemons

1 liter vodka (you may wish to save the bottle)

2½ cups sugar

4 cups water

Method

Combine lemon zest and vodka in a large glass container. Cover loosely and let set for one week at room temperature. (You don’t use the juice, so I go ahead and juice the lemons at this point, freezing part of it for future use so it doesn’t go bad before I can use it up.)

After one week, combine sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and let boil without stirring for 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Stir into vodka mixture. Strain into individual glass bottles for gifts or back into the original bottle. Seal well. Let age for two weeks at room temperature.

Serve icy cold.

This year I also tried what is essentially a variation on limoncello. I was blessed with a rather prolific lemon balm plant, so I tried this recipe as a way to use it up.

Lemon balm liqueur

From The Herb Gardener

Ingredients

3 cups fresh lemon balm leaves

Zest of 12 lemons (again, you don’t use the juice)

1 cup sugar

1 liter of vodka

Method

Wash and bruise the lemon balm to help release the oils. Combine all ingredients into a large glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake well and set in a dark warm spot for two to three weeks, shaking every few days. Strain through cheesecloth back into the original bottle or smaller gift bottles.

Rating: It’s less sweet and more boozy than limoncello. The leaves from the lemon balm turn closer to tea color while they steep, so it loses that pretty green color and leaves behind a muddier-looking beverage rather than that crystal clear look and taste of limoncello.(Can you tell it’s hard not to compare the two?) The lemon balm liqueur does have more flavor notes going on. I think for the purposes of drinking straight, I prefer the limoncello because of the clarity and less pronounced booze bomb. But I’m looking forward to experimenting with combinations of the lemon balm version in recipes to see the results.

It’s probably not worth buying a bunch of lemon balm to make your own, but if you have some, it might be worth a half batch to play with. I’ll post an update if I find a perfect use. Meanwhile, it did NOT make the cut for any gift baskets.

Sparkling apple cider sangria

This was the second mock/cocktail offering I tried for a recent party. The pomegranate seeds make it look suitably festive.

Sparkling apple cider sangria

From thekitchn.com

Ingredients

2 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

½ cup cognac (if making the cocktail version)

2 cups apple cider

750 ml bottle of cava or other dry sparkling wine, chilled (or an equal amount of seltzer water or club soda for the mocktail version)

¼ cup pomegranate seeds, divided

Method

Add apples to pitcher. Add cognac, apple cider and chilled cava. Stir. Fill pitcher with ice and half the pomegranate seeds. Serve in ice-filled glasses with pomegranate seeds for optional garnish. (For the mocktail version, skip the cognac and add club soda instead of cava.)

Rating: This was very tasty as a cocktail. Very simple, but hard to go wrong, and it looked pretty with the pomegranate seeds. The mocktail wasn’t bad, but it obviously didn’t have nearly the robust flavor of the cognac-laced version, and was eclipsed by the other mocktail option I offered. I’d definitely make the boozy version again, but probably wouldn’t bother with the mocktail, which is sort of like watered-down fizzy cider, so you might as well serve sparkling cider. 

The original recipe called for using some of the apple slices in the serving glass, but I thought that looked like one of those things that was great for pictures, but kind of annoying for guests trying to drink, so I skipped it, and I think that was good call.

Make ahead: I sliced the apples early in the afternoon of the party, and left them in the cognac and apple cider mixture, which meant they didn’t discolor. I added the cava right before serving.

Cranberry ginger rosemary fizz cocktail and mocktail

Mocktails are all too often the afterthoughts of the drink world: watered-down fizzy fruit-juice punches for the designated drivers. So when I needed one for a recent cocktail party I went looking for one with more flavor. This one is steeped with fresh ginger, rosemary and cranberries, and further enriched by orange bitters, pomegranate molasses and tea. I figured it had a least a fighting chance.

This recipe was one of two I contemplated for the party, both of them more seasonal than my usual go-to punch that works well for summer months. In the end I couldn't make up my mind, so I tried both.

This first one takes several steps and you need to allow plenty of time for the flavors to blend, but it’s worth a certain amount of effort.

Festive cranberry fizz

From thekitchn.com

Ingredients

2½ cup fresh cranberries (12-ounce bag)

2 ounces fresh ginger, skin on and sliced (about ½ cup)

½ cup sugar

3 cups cranberry juice cocktail

2 large sprigs fresh rosemary

¼ ounce black tea leaves

4 cups boiling water

¼ cup pomegranate molasses

¼ cup orange bitters

4 to 7 cups tonic water (depending on whether you’re doing the cocktail or mocktail version)

2 cups gin (for cocktail)

Ice cubes

Method

Roughly chop cranberries and ginger in food processor. Mix with sugar and cranberry juice cocktail in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and add rosemary sprigs. Simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool, preferably overnight in the refrigerator to let the flavors blend. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and discard solids. You can make this syrup up to a week ahead or freeze it.

Brew tea in the 4 cups boiling water, steeping for about three minutes or until desired flavor is reached. (I used Harney’s Paris tea for this.) Strain out tea leaves. Whisk in cranberry syrup, pomegranate molasses and orange bitters. Refrigerator at least four hours, or overnight.

To serve as cocktail: Stir in 2 cups of gin and 4 to 5 cups of tonic water. Serve over ice.

To serve as mocktail: Stir in 6 to 7 cups tonic water. Serve over ice.

Since I wasn’t sure how guest preferences for cocktail vs. mocktail were going to break down, I served this as a base with 5 cups of tonic water stirred in, then let people pour it over ice and either add more tonic water or gin as desired. It made the math more complicated, but it worked OK, and it did give me an excuse to use the giant drink dispenser. I made a double batch, which was overkill, but I’m the queen of that. A single batch allegedly makes 18 6-ounce drink servings.

Rating: This worked well fine enough as a cocktail with gin. Dave preferred it with vodka, and I heartily enjoyed some of the leftovers with bourbon, which surprisingly didn't overwhelm the other flavors. Guests seemed to enjoy it either as a cocktail or mocktail. The threshold for mocktails is higher than cocktails, and often misses the mark. This one has a lot more going on than most, so people are more willing to drink it in mocktail form, which helps with pacing. I’d make this one again, but next time I’d just break down and make it in two large pitchers so self-service is easier for guests.

 

Carbonnade beer beef stew

Many cultures have their versions of a beef-in-broth dish. The Flemish take uses beer, but follows the same slow braising method of the French wine-soaked version. Both use bacon to add a smoky, salty note. And both make great comfort food, starting with that first sizzle of onions in butter and ending with buttery broth.

It's the kind of recipe you haul out in the short, cold days at the end of the year, after you've survived your umpteenth family Christmas gathering but aren't yet ready for the lean January purge.

We braved the crowds at the Delacroix-inspired exhibit at the MIA before coming home to fire up the biggest Le Creuset pot with this version. And now it's time to crawl under a pile of throws and pretend we don't have to go back to work and winter snow tomorrow.

Carbonnade

From Saveur “The New Classics Cookbook.” I've cooked some recipes from this book before, courtesy of the library copy. Now I can cook from my own copy, courtesy of Chelsea. Merry Christmas.

Ingredients

2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 2-inch by ½-inch thick slices, salted and peppered

¼ cup flour

4 tablespoons butter, divided

4 slices bacon, finely chopped

3 medium onions, thinly sliced

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 cups Belgian ale

1 cup beef stock

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

3 sprigs fresh thyme

3 sprigs fresh parsley

2 sprigs fresh tarragon

1 bay leaf

Method

Toss seasoned beef with flour to coat. Heat 1 ½ tablespoons butter in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Brown half of beef, turning until browned on all sides. Remove them from the pot as they brown and set aside. Add ½ tablespoon butter and repeat with the second batch. (Or divide it into more batches if you need to avoid crowding.) Remove from pan and set aside.

Add bacon to pan. Cook until fat renders (not until crisp). Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter and the onions, sauteeing until caramelized, about a half hour, and adding garlic when onions are closing in on doneness.

Add half the beer and cook, scraping up brown bits on the bottom of the pan, until it’s slightly reduced. Return beef to pot and add remaining beer, stock, herbs and some salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Simmer over medium-low heat, covered, until beef it tender, about 1½ hours. Serves 4 reasonably well.

Rating: I've made at least one other version of carbonnade before, and like this one the best so far. (Dave, I'm sure, would claim it's because he sacrificed one of his home brews for it.) Taking the time to let the onions reach the caramelized state helps add richness. It's family food, not company food, but that doesn't mean it's not tasty. It makes a rich spoon-coating liquid that splits the difference between a broth and a sauce.

Maple cookies

It's time for an intermission from appetizers, because cookies are the order of the day at my house right now. Every year since I first heard of a tradition of Czech women getting together to bake up to a dozen kinds of cookies at Christmas I’ve been on a mission to do the same. But since I don’t live near my family, I’ve executed this tradition as best I can by myself, which leaves me exhausted and my kitchen buried in drifts of powdered sugar. We all have our hobbies, and mine is no more self-destructive than motocross.

In addition to a more or less rotating cast of favorites, I like to try one new cookie recipe a year. This year’s stems from a suggestion from a child at last year’s family Christmas, who was of the firm opinion I should make a cookie with maple flavor in the cookie and in the frosting. This recipe found online was the likeliest looking suspect, so I tried it.

I made a half batch, since I wasn’t sure how popular it was going to be. I wound up with just four cookies left after the first family Christmas this weekend, so apparently they don’t hate it. Young Henry is taking credit for having “invented” this cookie. I think they were fine, and better than I expected. If I make them again, I might cut them smaller so they’re prettier and not so big. When you’re offering eight or more kinds of cookies on a platter, smaller sizes help people sample a larger selection.

Maple cookies

From Dennis Brady via Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

1 cup butter, room temperature, plus ¼ cup butter, divided

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided

1 teaspoon maple extract

½ cup maple syrup, divided

4 cups flour

2½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

Heavy cream

1 cup powdered sugar

Method

Cream 1 cup butter in a medium mixer bowl. Beat in the sugars. Add eggs, vanilla, 1 teaspoon maple extract, ¼ cup maple syrup and beat until light and fluffy.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Blend into butter mixture. Form into a flattened ball of dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 4 hours.

Roll out dough to ¼-inch thick. Cut into circles or desired shapes. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with heavy cream. Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

For glaze, combine ¼ cup butter, ¼ cup maple syrup, 1 teaspoon maple extract and 1 cup powdered sugar in a saucepan. Stir just until it reaches a boil. Brush over tops of cookies while still warm. Makes about 4 dozen if you cut them with the bottom of a drinking glass.

Bacon cheesecakes

While your oven is busy with cookies and other holiday baking, here’s an appetizer recipe for which you just need your refrigerator, and possibly a sense of humor.

I first made these several years ago when some of my husband’s coworkers were joking about possible potluck offerings. Somehow the concept of a bacon cheesecake came up. Thus challenged, I searched out a recipe. As it happened, there wasn’t a regular Stilton available at my local Kowalski’s that week, so I was pondering a substitute when their cheesemonger strolled by and asked what I needed. After I sheepishly admitted to making bacon cheesecakes, we discussed the relative merits of some blue cheese alternatives. File that under conversations you thought you’d never have.

This recipe isn’t difficult, and it doesn’t take a super long time to make, but it does need to happen in a few stages so you have to make it ahead. And special equipment certainly gives you a leg up. I use a mini cheesecake pan with removable bottoms that help unmold them. I imagine you could try this in a muffin pan, but they’d certainly be more challenging to extract intact.

Bacon Stilton cheesecakes

This recipe is adapted from a Saveur article that adapted Linda Ellerbee’s recipe from “Take Big Bites.” She in turn had adapted it from a recipe given to her by a chef from the George Hotel in Wallingford, England. So by now it’s probably strayed a bit from the original.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter, plus more for greasing pans

1 cup finely crushed cracker crumbs, either graham or Ritz

6 strips of bacon (or 7, if you want to reserve one for garnish)

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

4 ounces Stilton, or a good blue cheese

½ cup ground walnuts or pecans

Method

Grease mini cheesecake pan, if you’ve got one. Or use six 2-inch by 2-inch ring molds well greased. Melt 3 tablespoons butter and add crumbs. Press crumbs firmly into bottom of molds. Since this doesn’t get baked, it’s just the pressure and congealing of the butter fat that will hold this crust together. (If you’ve got a tart tamper, which is just fun to say, much less use, this works perfectly. I know it’s been a good week when I’ve used mine three times in a week.) Chill at least an hour before the next step.

Cook bacon until crisp. Chop in to very small pieces. Mix bacon with cream cheese, Stilton and nuts. Pack into molds on top of crusts. Smooth tops. Chill at least 4 hours or overnight. Run a butter knife around the rim of the molds to loosen the cheesecakes. Slide on to serving plates or platter. Serve at room temperature. Garnish with more bacon if desired.

Makes 12 mini cheesecakes if you’re using a mini cheesecake pan, or 6 cakelets if you’re using 2-inch molds. These are super rich; most people usually split them in a potluck setting.

Garnishing these with a small dollop of Stonewall Kitchen's Bourbon Bacon Jam dresses them up a bit.