December 2018

Recipe for Drunken Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

These cookies have been a favorite that I’ve brought to gatherings for years, in particular meetings of various whiskey groups.  Besides being tasty, they’re filling – which is a plus if you’re engaged in a night of imbibing. The first time takes some planning with soaking the raisins, but well worth it!  Yields 2-3 dozen cookies.

Ingredients
2 cups of raisins
1 1/4 cup of water
5-8 tablespoons of bourbon*
2/3 cup of butter (unsalted)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup rolled oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

* As to the choice of bourbon, use whatever you have laying around, cheaper the better (as while the flavor is there, it isn’t prominent with everything else).  

1. Set 1 cup of raisins in a jar.  Add bourbon until raisins are completely covered.  Microwave for 1 min on high, or until bourbon begins to slightly boil. Using gloves/mitts (be careful!) remove jar and seal tightly. Let sit at least overnight, but a week or two if you can (I’ll have jars pre-made that sit for months without any issues). When you’re ready to make the cookies, strain out the raisins, saving the bourbon for . . . whatever (I like to put it in the fridge and just drink it as a sweet cocktail later!)

2. Add the other cup of raisins to the 1 1/4 cup of water, and bring to a boil (again, I use the microwave). Let boil for 1-2 minutes. Strain raisins out, but keep the raisin water for later (this part is critical!) Let both cool (I usually stick both in the fridge for 20-30 min).

3. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, oats, and 9 tbsp of the raisin water (once cooled a bit; doesn’t have to be room temp, but cool enough it isn’t melting/cooking the ingredients!). Stir to combine. Add the flour, spices, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the raisins.

4. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop a spoonful (about golf ball sized) onto the cookie sheet, leaving plenty of room between (I fit a dozen on a standard cookie sheet with 2-3 inches between them). Bake at 350 degrees F for 14-16 minutes.

The foundation recipe this is built on had nothing to do with whiskey, but was the best oatmeal raisin cookie recipe I’d tried. The biggest change here is to use 2 cups of raisins, and soaking one in bourbon. Can you soak BOTH in bourbon and skip the boiling step? You can, but you’ll want to still use 9 tbsp of water to bring enough moisture to the party. I tried subbing this for 9 tbsp of bourbon (that recently held the raisins so it was good and sweet), but that didn’t work nearly as well.

This is a recipe where you can absolutely use other types of whiskey, although in my experience the nuance is lost. I’ve tried this with rye whiskey soaked raisins, and it turned out alright, but not noticeably different. Maybe a really peaty single malt would stand up more, but I haven’t tried it (mainly figuring ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’).

Besides simply enjoying the bourbon after the raisins have soaked/steeped in it, I’ve bottled some and used it in place of vanilla extract at times (a tip from Richard!)

Cheers!
Gary

Recipe for Bourbon Fudge

While I love bourbon balls, the time and effort they require left me looking for an alternative to getting my bourbon & chocolate fix on.  This recipes nails that.  Typically takes less than 30 minutes to make, couple hours to set (I often let set overnight), and you’re ready to cut.  Significantly less effort, but just as delicious!

Ingredients
10 oz semisweet chocolate
10 oz dark chocolate
1/4 cup of bourbon*
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
14 oz of condensed milk (1 can)
1/4 cup butter (softened)
1/4 tsp salt
Coarse salt for topping (if desired)

* As to the choice of bourbon, the flavor here carries through more than the bourbon balls for whatever reason.  I like to use something around 100 proof, like Jim Beam Distiller’s cut or any bottled-in-bond.

1. Grease (or spray with non-stick cooking spray) an 8×8 pan or a 9×13 pan, depending upon if you want more (but less thick) pieces or not (I tend to go with the 9×13 myself).  Line the pan with parchment paper, pushing the paper down so it sticks as much as possible (it won’t fill the corners neatly, that’s OK).

2.  Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, stirring until it is smooth and completely melted.  Add the butter and condensed milk, continuing to stir and fold until it is well integrated (usually a couple of minutes).  It will become very thick!  Turn off the heat.

3.  Pour in the bourbon, vanilla extract, and salt, stirring until it is mixed well.  Once mixed, pour into the paper-lined pan.  If you want to top with salt (I use coarse kosher salt usually), sprinkle a little of that over the top.

4.  Place pan in the fridge to let set, typically a couple of hours (but can be left overnight).

5. When ready to cut, remove pan and turn it upside down over a cutting board.  Gently pull on the outer edges of the parchment paper to free the fudge.  Using a large knife, cut into desired size chunks (I usually go with about a 1 inch square).  The outer edges tend to taper off, so I’ll usually set those aside (nothing wrong with them, but I prefer to set out for serving the squares, and eat the edges myself later!)

When searching for a bourbon fudge recipe, they seemed to run the gambit.  Not being a professional or experienced candy maker, I wanted to avoid those that got really technical (the minute they mention “softball”, they lost me).  Honestly, this one looked like one of the easiest, so I decided to try it first, and I haven’t tried any of the more challenging ones.

I’ve tried different chocolates (100% dark, using milk chocolate rather than semisweet, etc), but really like this 50/50 ratio.  I have also tried peanut butter chips – and that was a fail (for whatever reason, it wasn’t as firm, and the bourbon flavor was just lost; the result wasn’t a total waste if you like peanut butter fudge, but not nearly as good).  I’ve also tried adjusting the ratios a bit (adding more chocolate and more bourbon), but hadn’t found that to be better either.  Now a nice twist is to substitute Grand Marnier in place of the bourbon and orange extract in place of the vanilla extract (if you like that sorta thing).

Also like the bourbon balls, the end result gets better over time.  Give them a week or two (or three) in the fridge, and the bourbon flavor really intensifies.  If you’ve got folks who really like bourbon, I’d plan ahead and do these 2 weeks ahead of time.  Now on a plate these take up a lot of space, but here’s a storage tip: parchment paper and stacking (see photo below).

Cheers!
Gary

Recipe for Bourbon Balls

I absolutely love bourbon balls!  They are a bit of work, and being a two day affair require some advanced planning.  Because of that, I often make a double-batch (winding up with closer to 60) and just make them once a year around the holidays.  The bourbon flavor also intensifies with age (you can absolutely eat them the day of, but they’ll be much better two weeks later).

Ingredients

1 cup of crushed pecans
Package of pecan halves (12 oz)
5-8 tablespoons of bourbon*
1/2 cup butter (softened)
16 oz powdered sugar (plus a bit extra)
10 oz semisweet chocolate
10 oz dark chocolate
Toothpicks (ok – less ingredient than tool, but make sure you’ve got them on-hand!

* As to the choice of bourbon, for years I used Old Grand-Dad 114, as I wanted a higher proof and intense flavor. I’ve used Evan Williams bottled-in-bond, and can’t say I could tell a big difference. My recommendation: use whatever you’ve got and that you enjoy drinking, but don’t waste your expensive stuff. If you keep Evan Williams black label laying around, I’m sure that will do just fine.

1. Fill a small jar with crushed pecans, leaving a bit of room at the top. Pour bourbon over until the pecan pieces are completely covered. Seal jar and allow to soak at a MINIMUM overnight, but ideally a week or more (honestly, I’ve left a jar like this for over a year with no ill effects; not that they soak up much more after the first few days, but simply for convenience).

2. Mix the butter and sugar thoroughly. Strain the soaked pecans (the bourbon can be saved for the next round!) and stir the pecans into the butter/sugar mixture. It should be slightly stiff; if it is overly wet – add in more powdered sugar.

3. Using a spoon, scoop out a small amount (like a quarter-diameter in size) and form into a ball. Insert a toothpick about half-way into the ball (NOT through it), and set in a tray (I use a 8 x 13 cake pan) with toothpick at a bit of an angle (just so you can cover the tray later). Repeat with the rest of the mixture (will make about 25 balls, give/take based on the size). Cover tray and refrigerate overnight.

4. Setup a double-boiler and melt both chocolates in the top. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Go through the package of pecan halves and select the best (complete ‘halves’), setting aside 25 (or however many balls your formed, plus a couple extra in case of breakage) on a plate near the tray.  Broken pecan halves can be set aside and later crushed (and soaked in bourbon for the next batch; one reason mine wind up soaking for a year! This is where any bourbon strained from the soaking nuts can be used again too!)

5. Remove the balls from the refrigerator, setting near (but not next to) the double-boiler. Using the toothpick, remove one ball at a time, submerge completely (but quickly) in the chocolate to coat, turning the ball while the excess falls away. Set onto the wax paper covered tray, and try to work the toothpick loose (sometimes a turn or two will do the trick; if not, use a pecan halve to hold the ball while gently pulling the toothpick out). Place a pecan halve over the top where the toothpick was. Repeat with the remainder of the balls. Note that as the chocolate volume in the double-boiler is reduced, you may need a spatula to work the chocolate around the balls to cover them.

6. Store the bourbon balls on a tray in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardens (usually an hour or so). Store in a container in the refrigerator until serving.

Below is an image showing (a double-batch) in production.  Another tip I learned is to put a couple of cookie sheets into the freezer the night before, and rotate them (being cool helps keep the chocolate from spreading too far when they’re placed on the wax paper).

Like most recipes, I borrowed from various sources and have tweaked it.  If you’re not a fan of dark chocolate, just use all semisweet.  Or if you’re a big fan of dark chocolate, use all of that.  I like the 50/50 mix.  I’ve tried peanut butter chips, but wasn’t as happy with that (the balls didn’t harden in the same way, and they melted more easily).  I’ve also tried rye whiskey rather than bourbon, thinking that might bring a nice spicy kick to the party.  It didn’t (they weren’t “bad”, but bourbon and chocolate just have this synergy for some reason; Alton Brown could probably explain it).  Most importantly, enjoy!

Cheers!
Gary