Apple-Maple Cider Cocktail or 'Mocktail'

Ingredients
3 C apple cider
3 T lemon juice
3 T maple syrup
optional: 2 or 3 sprigs of thyme for steeping; extra thyme sprigs and/or very thin apple slices for garnish, if desired

1 C ginger beer or gingerale (mocktail)
    or
¾ C bourbon (cocktail)

Directions
If stronger thyme flavor is desired, steep apple cider with thyme first: Bring apple cider to boil with 3 or 4 sprigs of thyme; remove from heat. Chill. Remove thyme sprigs. (Maple flavor is more pronounced without steeping thyme.)

Add lemon juice and maple syrup to apple cider, stirring until maple syrup is dissolved. Add ginger beer, gingerale, or bourbon. Pour into glasses over ice. Garnish with apple slices and/or thyme sprigs.

Cheesy Mushroom Pasta

The original recipe called for pappardelle pasta, which I love -- wide noodles that catch and stand up to a good deal of sauce. But I had some mixed veggie noodles which were wide and rippled enough to do the same. Either, I believe would do very well; it was a hearty meal, very balanced flavor; great with a side salad. Would probably be fine even without the ham steak if you needed a vegetarian meal (not vegan, with the milk & cheese); the mushrooms give it a meatiness. Might need a little extra salt.

Ingredients
2 T butter
4 ounces ham steak, small diced
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
s&p to taste
12 oz buttom mushrooms, sliced
2 T flour
3 C whole milk
8-10 oz pappardelle pasta
2 oz (½ C) grated havarti cheese
3 oz (6 T) grated parmesan
2 T chopped fresh parsley

Directions
Begin bringing large pot of salted water to boil (for pasta).
Melt butter in large ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add ham, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent (3-5 minutes). Add mushrooms, cook another 3-5 minutes until tender.

Sprinkle in flour, stirring to coat ingredients. Gradually add milk, stirring; bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer, stirring gently, until thick and creamy. Remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat broiler. Add pasta to boiling water; cook until al dente. Reserve ½ C pasta water; drain pasta. Add pasta to skillet with mushroom sauce. Also add havarti, parsley and half of the parmesan. Fold together pasta, sauce, cheeses and parsley until well coated. Use reserved pasta water to thin sauce if/as needed. Sprinkle with remaining parmesan. Broil until bubbly and lightly browned.

"Butter Beer" (?) -- Butterscotch Soda (Non-alcoholic)

Apparently, "butter beer" is a creation from the Harry Potter world. Having never been much of a fan, I've no insights to offer as to any authenticity to descriptions from the text. The actual beverage was, it seems, created after the fact...so Universal Studios would have something to sell along side their theme park attractions. Probably a smart move on their part; I understand they sell both hot and cold versions. I've only tried this cold. I have no idea how 'butter beer' is described in the fantasy novels, or how it is 'supposed' to taste. But this is a flavorful butterscotch soda...perfect for crisp, sunny, fall days where the blue skies and sunshine are still lingering from summer, but the season is inviting rich, warm, buttery flavors.

Ingredients
1 C brown sugar
1 C heavy cream, cold
1 T powdered sugar
3 T butterscotch sauce
pinch salt
½ t butter extract
¼ t vanilla extract
6 C club soda

Directions
Mix brown sugar in small saucepan with ½ C water; bring to low bowl and simmer to dissolve sugar. Refrigerate until cold.

Beat heavy cream with powdered sugar to soft peaks. Fold in butterscotch sauce and salt; beat to medium-stiff peaks. 

Add extracts to chilled brown sugar water.

To serve, pour ¼ C brown sugar mixture into glass; add 1 C club soda and top with whipped butterscotch cream

Buttered Bourbon Spiced Cider

A hot-buttered-rum-twist on spiced cider. I like this better than hot buttered rum!

Ingredients
½ C butter, softened
 C brown sugar
 t each nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon
4 C applie cider
1 C bourbon

Directions
Mix the brown sugar and spices into the softened butter. Shape into a 1" thick roll/log, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour.

Heat the apple cider. Divide the cider and bourbon between 6 mugs. Add a slice of spiced butter.

The sugared and spiced butter sinks to the bottom and as it melts, drop by drop, floats to the surface where it spreads out in a delicious, spiced butter layer to sip through with each swallow!

Apricot Rosemary Jam

Ingredients
6 C (about 2.5 lbs) juicy, ripe apricots
2 C sugar
½ t salt
3 T pectin
3 T lemon juice
~12" fresh rosemary sprigs

Directions
Halve apricots and remove pits; rough chop into large pieces. Combine sugar, salt, pectin and lemon juice in large sauce pan. Add apricots and stir to coat thoroughly. Add rosemary sprigs. Let sit at least 2 hours and up to overnight (refrigerate).

Stir to combine juices with sugar that may have settled to bottom of pot.  Bring to boil; boil 6-8 minutes sstirring frequently (reduce heat if needed to prevent jam from boiling over or excessive spattering).

Remove from heat. Remove rosemary sprigs and discard (some loose leaves in the jam is fine, but they can be removed if preferred). Mash with potato masher for chunky jam, or purée with immersion blender for smoother jam.

Return to heat; continue boiling until jam is reduced to 4½ C; skim foam off top if/as needed.* Scoop or pour jam into sterilized jars.

* You can test jams for consistency: Scoop a little jam onto a spoon and place it in the freezer for 3-5 minutes to reach room temperature. Tip the spoon on end; if it's too thin and runny, continue boiling another 3-5 minutes and retest.

Sugar & Spice Bacon

Check out Food Network Spiced Bacon for the original recipe. But this one is easy to come up with your own personal riff on any spice combination that will compliment whatever you're putting your bacon onto or into (even if it's just your mouth!).

Ingredients
12-16 oz bacon
¼ C light brown sugar*
2 t water
2-3 T spices

* Light brown sugar, or...go dark if you want to highlight the flavor. If that mapley-molasses
   flavor is not at all complimentary to the spices you want, sub in plain white sugar.

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F.

Place bacon strips in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet (a 'jelly roll pan').* Bake 9-10 minutes (12-14 for thick cut bacon) until just begining to crisp.

* For easy clean-up, but a little more work on the front end: Line rimmed baking sheets with foil and set a metal rack (cooling racks work great) on the baking sheet; place strips of bacon on the rack.

While it's in the oven... Combine sugar with water; microwave in 15 second intervals, stirring each time, to dissolve the sugar. Prep spices if needed.

When bacon begins to crisp...  Remove from oven; use tongs or a fork to flip bacon. Use a pastry or small BBQ brush to coat top side of bacon thinly with sugar-water mix. Sprinkle with spices. Return to oven for another 8-12 minutes or desired crispness. Drain on paper towel lined rack or plate.

Spice combos to try...
* dk brown sugar with chili powder
* cinnamon chai blend
* jerk seasoning (purchased blend or make your own)
* cumin, coriander and peppercorns (grind or use whole seeds)
* rosemary & black pepper
* Chinese 5-spice (use soy in place of water; thorw in some sesame seeds too!)
* bourbon BBQ (use bourbon in place of water; add a little squirt of ketchup, chili powder, ground mustard...)

Beurre Blanc

There are many variations of beurre blanc recipes; all basically the same:Beurre blanc -- white butter. Yep, this sauce is mostly just butter...with a bit of white wine. Hard to get a good photo before it started to melt and thin. Serve it over fish, chicken, vegetables... This is a combination-compromise between a couple recipes from chefs I trust. I may tweak it a bit - especially depending on what I plan to serve it over. The lemon juice was a nice compliment with the fish, but not all recipes use lemon. Many do not use any white wine vinegar, but rather all white wine. I love the tanginess of the vinegar; but I should try it sometime made with all/only wine instead. Some recipes strain out the shallots; others made no mention of straining. They add extra zing (since they've been cooked in the wine/vinegar). But I like the smooth presentation without them.


Ingredients
¾ C butter; cut to small dice
¼ C dry white wine
¼ C white wine vinegar
1 small shallot, minced
pinch salt
pinch white pepper
1 t lemon juice

Directions
Combine wine, vinegar, shallot, salt and pepper in small saucepan. Simmer until reduced to 1-1½ tablespoons. Remove from heat. Whisk in about 2 tablespoons of butter - in small chunks. Return to very low heat (don't let it boil, the sauce will separate); continue adding butter chunks, whiskin continually. Remove from heat; whisk in lemon juice. Strain out solids. Serve immediately.

Best Blueberry Muffins

These stay fairly pale, even when fully baked, but they're super soft and moist!

Ingredients
2 C flour
1 T baking powder
pinch salt
1 egg
1 C sugar
¼ C butter, melted
1 t vanilla
1¼ C sour cream
1 C frozen blueberries
Optional: 3 T turbinado sugar - for sprinkling on top (I sometimes use this, or a simple flour-butter-sugar crumble...that's what's on the ones in the photos.)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with 12 paper muffin liners.

Melt butter; set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, briefly whisk egg vigorously. Add sugar, again whisk vigorously until well combined and smooth. Continue whisking while slowly adding melted butter (or add a little at a time, whisking after each addition). Add vanilla...whisk again. Add sour cream stiring just until smoothly blended.

Toss frozen blueberries in about ½ C of the flour mixture.

Add the rest of the flour to the batter, stirring just until blended (do not overmix!). Gently fold in blueberries -- and any remaining flour with them. Divide eevnly among 12 muffin cups. To with turbinado sugar (if desired...or a simple crumble topping).

Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.