Glühwein ~ Mulled Wine Recipe

I have a friend who does not even drink who has great alcoholic recipes, this is one of his.

1 bottle of bold dry red wine
1/2 cup of brandy or rum (optional)
1 cup water
1 large orange, peeled then juiced
1 lemon, peeled
1 lime, peeled (optional)
1/2 cup agave syrup or vanilla sugar
5-6 whole cloves
1 nutmeg, about 10 gratings
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean, halved
2 star anise

Peel large sections of skin from orange, lemon and lime. Over medium heat in a medium sized pot, pour in agave syrup and water, then add the peels and juice of the orange. Add the vanilla bean, cloves, star anise, cinnamon stick, and nutmeg gratings. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about an hour. The liquid will reduce, so after around 30 minutes, add in about a half cup of wine. This allows the flavors to infuse and will create a syrup.

When your syrup is ready turn the heat down to low and pour in the bottle of wine and brandy. Bring back to a gentle simmer and heat for about 5 minutes or depending on how much alcohol you want to burn off you can simmer a bit longer. Ladle it into glasses and serve warm.

Total Time: 60-90 minutes
Yield: Makes 4-6 Glasses

Hot Buttered Bourbon

When I have a cold, etc I have a few glasses, sometimes using the cannabis option for the butter or honey.

2 T butter (softened)
¼ t honey/agave
⅛ t cloves
⅛ t ginger
¼ t cinnamon
1 C orange juice
½ T sugar
4 oz bourbon
Optional nutmeg, cardamom

Heat the orange juice over medium heat. Add the sugar and whisk until it dissolves, then turn the heat to low.
In a bowl or mortar and pestle, mix the butter, honey, cloves, ginger, and cinnamon until combined.
Once the orange juice reaches a low simmer, add the butter mixture and whisk until it melts. Whisk in the bourbon then serve immediately. Garnish with cinnamon sticks, which you can use to stir the drink if it starts to separate.

Drunken Pumpkin Pie

½ cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp. powdered cinnamon
½ cup graham crackers, finely crushed
2 oz. vanilla vodka
1 oz. coffee-flavored rum
.75 oz Irish cream

Bring sugar and ½ cup water to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and drop in a cinnamon stick. Set aside, and let cool. (Once cool, discard the cinnamon stick.)
Combine the powdered cinnamon and graham cracker crumbs in a shallow bowl or saucer. Dampen the rim of a martini glass with water, and dip it into the graham cracker mixture.
In a shaker with ice, mix the vanilla vodka, coffee-flavored rum, Irish cream and .25 oz. cinnamon simple syrup. Shake and strain it into the rimmed glass.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

2 C half and half (you can use evaporated milk also of use 1 cup each)
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree

3/4-1cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2-2 t pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 t cinnamon
2 t vanilla (smidge more is totally allowed, but only a smidge)

10-12 C bread or bread (cut into 1/2-inch cubes)
1 C golden raisins

Set oven to 350 degrees.
Butter a11 x 7-inch baking dish.
In a large bowl whisk together first 7 ingredients to combine.
Fold in bread cubes and raisins.
Transfer the mixture to prepared baking dish.
Let stand for 10-15 minutes for the bread to absorb the mixture.
Bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until done.

Serve with lots of whipped cream, vanilla sauce, or caramel topping.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I commonly do a double batch, with a simple math of 1 it is easy to multiple to any size.  You can also put chocolate kisses, jelly, jam, etc on these.  If you want a different kind of nut butter the recipe is the same.

1 C Peanut Butter (I usually do half creamy and half crunchy)
1 C Sugar
Egg

Preheat oven to 350
Mix well
Form the dough into small balls.  Put on cookie sheet then squash using a fork crisscross, or spoon if putting something on the cookies.
Bake 10-12 minutes

Vegetable Summer Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce

It is hot and humid.  How is Seattle more hot and humid than San Diego?  The heat has me wanting a cool refreshing meal.  The work is worth it.  If you want to do this as a salad you can skip the wrapper (it is a really good noodle salad as well).

Ingredients
For the Spicy Peanut Sauce:
2 T peanut butter
2 T rice vinegar
1 T soy sauce
2 t sugar
1/2 t of red pepper flakes
1 to 2 T water, to thin sauce, if necessary

For the noodle filling:
1 1/2 ounces cellophane noodles (also called bean threads)
1/2 t sesame oil
Red pepper flakes

For the vegetable filling:
1/3 seedless cucumber
1/2 medium carrot, peeled
1/2 red bell pepper
2 to 3 medium radishes
1 scallion, chopped

For the vegetable dressing:
1/2 T rice vinegar
1/2 t sugar
1 t fish sauce
1/2 lime, juiced, about 1 tablespoon

To assemble the rolls:
8 rice paper wrappers
2 T cilantro leaves
16 to 24 fresh mint leaves

Tools
Separate bowls for sauce, herbs, noodles, and vegetables
Mandoline or box grater
Cake pan for softening the rice wrappers
Instructions

Spicy peanut sauce

Whisk together all the ingredients for the sauce until smooth and creamy, and set aside.

Noodle filling

If the cellophane noodles are very long, break them into smaller bits. Cook the cellophane noodles according to the package directions.  We heated a medium saucepan full of water until almost boiling, then turned off the heat, added the noodles, and let them sit for about 10 minutes.  Drain the noodles, put them in a bowl, and toss with the sesame oil and a dash of red pepper flakes.

Vegetable filling

Use a mandoline or box grater to slice the cucumber, carrot, and red pepper into thin strips — or simply julienne by hand.  If you are using large radishes, you can slice them on the mandoline or box grater.  Or just slice into thin rounds by hand.  Whisk together the rice vinegar, sugar, fish sauce, and lime juice in a large bowl.  Add the vegetables and the scallion, and toss to coat.

Soften the rice wrappers

Fill a round cake pan halfway with warm water.  For each wrapper, immerse it in the hot water bath until it softens, which takes about 30 seconds.  Watch for it to begin curling, then immediately flip it over and continue flipping until it is just softened.  Use both hands to pull it up out of the water, being careful so it doesn't collapse on itself, and spread it immediately on a plate.

Filling

Fill the center of the softened wrapper first by laying about 3 to 4 herb leaves down the center.  Then lay down about 1 to 2 tablespoons of noodles (you want to have enough for 8 rolls).  Then, add 1/8 of the veggie mixture.  Add a few sprigs of cilantro and 2 to 3 mint leaves, depending on how large they are.

Rolling

To roll up your roll, first fold the top and bottom edges of the wrapper over the filling, then fold in the edges towards the center and continue rolling the filled wrapper until it's closed and snug.  Continue this process with each of the wrappers.  You may need to change your hot water halfway through.  As you finish each roll, place it on a cookie sheet and cover the rolls with a damp towel.

Blackberry Jam

This is the base recipe, I multiple the numbers based on how many cups of blackberries (eg 3.5 C blackberries needs 3.5 Sugar and 3.5t Lemon)

1 cups crushed blackberries
1 cups sugar
1 teaspoons lemon juice

In a pan cook blackberries, sugar, and lemon juice on high heat for 5 minutes and reduce to medium heat and cook an additional 10-12 minutes.  Skim the foam off and store in a heat-proof container. The jam will thicken as it cools.