Hot Schnappolate II

Hot Schnappolate in a slow cooker? Answer… yes.
I cut this recipe into thirds to fit in the tiny crockpot.

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup hot water
1/2 gallon whole milk
1/2 gallon heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
16 ounces Peppermint Schnapps

Combine the cocoa, sugar, chocolate chips, and salt in a large sauce pan. Add the hot water and cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Stir the whole time and when chocolate chips are melted move mixture to the crock pot.  Add the milk, booze, vanilla, and cream. Cover and heat on low for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. When cocoa is hot, whisk in the vanilla.

Eggnog Pumpkin Bread with Orange Bourbon Glaze

My plan for this dish evolved a bit. Initially I was thinking of just making a pumpkin bread and somehow infusing it with bourbon, and having it accompany some eggnog ice cream. I had this idea that I should be able to pour some eggnog into an ice cream maker, and end up with eggnog ice cream. I didn’t get to test that theory, though, because our Kitchenaid ice cream maker wasn’t cold enough to actually freeze anything.

I decided instead to incorporate egg nog in the pumpkin bread itself. I used a recipe from my old Joy of Cooking book and made a few minor adjustments:

  • Reduced the amount of ground cinnamon by 1/4 teaspoon and added 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
  • Used ground allspice instead of ground cloves
  • Substituted 1/3 cup of eggnog for the 1/3 cup of water or milk called for in the recipe
  • Reduced the sugar by 1/3 cup

The recipe was for a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan, but 10″ x 5″ was the closest I had. It worked fine, though the loaf ended up a little shorter than intended. I baked the bread for an hour, as called for in the recipe. It turned out a little dry, so in the future I would decrease the baking time a little.

After the baked bread had cooled for a while, I poked a bunch of holes in the top with a bamboo skewer and poured an orange bourbon powdered sugar glaze over the top, making sure that plenty of it made it down all those perforations.

Orange Bourbon Glaze
  • 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
  • 4 ounces of bourbon (I used Bulleit)
  • 2 teaspoons of  freshly squeezed orange juice

The end result was quite tasty, if a little on the sweet side. If I were to do it again, I’d reduce the amount of sugar in the pumpkin bread recipe a bit more, maybe reduce the amount of powdered sugar in the glaze a bit (or increase the bourbon), and let the glaze soak into the bread longer before serving.

Sesame Banana Bread

Here is the sesame banana bread recipe! My only change was a different glaze.

Cake Ingredients
  • 1 cup / 4.5 oz / 125g all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup / 5 oz / 140g whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 cup / 4.5 oz / 125 g dark brown sugar (or muscovado)
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • 1 1/3 cups / 7 ounces / 200 g toasted sesame seeds – use a mix of black and white sesame seeds. More than anything, it makes the seeds more visible.
  • 1/3 cup / 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 1/2 cups / 12 oz / 340 g mashed, VERY ripe bananas (~3 bananas)
  • 1/4 cup / 60 ml plain, whole milk yogurt
 (or keffir)
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
Glaze Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup / 3 oz / 85 g sifted dark brown sugar (muscovado)
  • 1/2 cup / 2 oz / 55g confectioners’ sugar
  • 4-6 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350° F, and place a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9- by 5- inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pan, or equivalent.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add 1 cup / 5 1/2 oz / 150g + 1 tablespoon of the sesame seeds and combine well.

In a separate bowl, mix together the olive oil, eggs, mashed banana, yogurt, and zest. Pour the banana mixture into the flour mixture and fold with a spatula until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes. You want to achieve beautiful color on the cake, but at the same time you don’t want to bake all the moisture out of it. So the minute you’re in that zone, pull it, erring on the side of under-baking versus over.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the loaf out of the pan to cool completely.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the glaze. In a bowl, whisk together the sugars and the lemon juice until smooth. When the cake is completely cool, drizzle the glaze on top of the cake, spreading with a spatula to cover, and finish with the remaining sesame seeds.

Posole

This recipe is from Southwest: The Beautiful Cookbook.

Ingredients
  • 1-1/2 cups (8 oz/250 g) dried hominy, soaked overnight in water and drained, or two 16-oz/500-g cans hominy, rinsed and drained (about 3 cups)
  • 1-1/2 lb (750g) lean boneless pork, cut into 1/2-in (5-cm) cubes
  • 2 dried New Mexico red chilies, stems and seeds removed, torn into pieces
  • 2 cups (10 oz/315 g) finely chopped onions
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seed, crushed
  • 6 cups (48 fl oz/1.5 L) water or more as needed
  • salt to taste
  • Red Chili Sauce (recipe on page 195) or cored, seeded, and minced jalapeño chilies for garnish
Instructions

In a large pot, combine all the ingredients except the salt and the red chili sauce or jalapeños. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; lower heat and simmer, uncovered, for 2-3 hours, or until the meat is tender and the hominy kernels have burst and are swelled and tender. The stew should have plenty of liquid, so add more water if necessary throughout the cooking time.

Couscous m’hassel

From “Medina Kitchen: Home Cooking from North Africa” (from the chapter on Fez, Morocco) by Fiona Dunlop (a British cookbook as you’ll see by the metricity)

Couscous m’hassel

  • vegetable oil for frying, plus 2-3 tablespoons for the couscous (I used olive oil)
  • 1 kg (2lb 4oz) onions, peeled and sliced
  • 3 tsp crushed saffron
  • 3 tsp ground ginger
  • 3 tsp ground black pepper
  • 3 tsp cinnamon
  • 500g (1 lb 2 oz) raisins
  • 1-2 Tbsp granulated sugar (I only used 2 tsp and that seemed good enough)
  • 1 1/2 kg (3 lb 5 oz) chicken pieces (I used a few pounds of crimini mushrooms instead)
  • 750g (1 lb 10 oz) couscous
  • 50 ml (2 oz) water
  • about 100g (3 1/2 oz) salted butter (I left this out)
  • 150g (5.5 oz) toasted almonds as garnish (I left is out too)

Chicken (mushrooms)

  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion and 1 tsp each of the spices (except the cinnamon) over low heat until the onion is soft. Add the raisins, 1 tsp cinnamon and sugar. (I put some salt in as well). Cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside to allow flavors to meld.
  2. Sprinkle the chicken with the remaining spices and cook in a steamer, covered, for about an hour or until the chicken is cooked through. (Instead, I chopped up a couple pounds of mushrooms and cooked them in the big pan the onions had been cooked in. Takes much less than one hour.)
  3. Cook the couscous (see below)
  4. Arrange the chicken pieces (mushrooms) over the top of the cooked couscous, pour over the onion and raisin mixture, then garnish w/ a sprinkling of toasted almonds before serving.

Couscous

  1. In a large wide bowl, rub water (about 700-750 ml for 750g couscous) and 3 tablespoons of olive oil into the grain, lifting and rubbing it repeatedly to distribute the moisture. Set aside to swell for 15 minutes.
  2. Transfer to a double steamer or “couscoussier” with either or vegetables simmering hard below. (I used a mesh colander and that was fine.) Steam for 15 minutes with the lid off.
  3. Return the couscous to the bowl, spread out with a wooden spoon, sprinkle with more water and oil and some salt. Lift and stir the grains, breaking up any lumps. (She says, “Oil your hands to do this more effectively” but only a sadist would suggest you put your hands into something that’s been steaming for 15 minutes.)
  4. Return the couscous to the steamer for 15 minutes.
  5. Put the couscous back into the bowl, add some liquid (water, stock or even rose water) to moisten thoroughly break up any lumps with the wooden spoon and rework, separating the grains as much as possible.
  6. Return to steamer for final 15 minutes.
  7. Put in a large serving bowl, adding some salted butter to make it glisten (ah, that’s where the butter I didn’t use was meant to go).