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The Perfect Old Fashioned

2 Apr

Whew — it’s been busy around here. New jobs (more on that soon), new accomplishments and a few other things that deserve to be celebrated. And what better way to celebrate than with my favorite cocktail — the Old Fashioned.

After much at-home Old Fashioned experimentation with less-than-perfect results, I accepted the fact that my drinks just weren’t up to par. No more whiskey shall be sacrificed at the hands of this unskilled cocktail maker! It was time to learn from a pro.

So a few weeks ago I attended a Mad Men-themed cocktail class hosted by the very lovely Revae of Femme Du Coupe. Revae’s classes focus on all kinds of drinks, but I chose this particular class so I could learn how to make the perfect Old Fashioned. And that’s exactly what I did.
The Old Fashioned (makes one drink)
Recipe from Femme Du Coupe

What you need:

  • 2 ounces whiskey or bourbon (I really love Hudson Manhattan Rye Whiskey for a splurge, but Maker’s Mark is my favorite go-to.)
  • .25 ounces demerara (sugar in the raw) simple syrup
  • 2 droppers* orange bitters (I use Bittercube. They’re more expensive than the other brands, but they’re absolutely the best.)
  • 1 dropper* Angostura bitters
  • 1 dropper* cherry vanilla bitters (Also Bittercube, optional.)
  • Ice
*Not all bitters come with droppers. If using bottled bitters, one dropper equals about 7 drops.

Tools you need:

  • A jigger
  • A stir rod
  • A cocktail strainer
  • A nice whiskey or scotch glass (Mine are Villeroy & Boch.)
How you do it:
Fill a large glass with ice. Add 2 ounces of whiskey.
Add .25 ounces of simple syrup.
Add one dropper (or about 7 drops) of Angostura bitters, two droppers of orange bitters and one dropper of cherry vanilla bitters.
Stir. (I stir mine for a good 30-seconds. This allows the ice to melt a bit, taking some of the “heat” off of the whiskey.)
Fill a whiskey glass with fresh ice. Strain the chilled and stirred Old Fashioned into the whiskey glass.

Enjoy.

Chocolate Stout Milkshake

22 Apr

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a beer snob. It’s my drink of choice — by husband’s, too — and we’re as passionate about it as some people are about wine. In fact, my husband has recently taken to collecting (and even trading) special edition craft beers. Believe it or not, there’s a larger market for this than you might think.

I tend to gravitate towards stouts, and occasionally I’ll get my hands on a bottle for experimental purposes (aka: baking). Since stouts pair perfectly with chocolate (take these brownies for example), they’re fun to play around with when creating dessert recipes. The slight bitterness and coffee flavor of the stout really enhances the depth of the chocolate. As if chocolate weren’t good enough on its own, right?

I’ve had this thick, luscious, deeply chocolatey hot fudge sauce recipe in my “must make” file for a while, and I knew that pairing it with some vanilla ice cream and smooth stout would be the perfect adults-only dessert.

Mmm…pure stouty goodness. Cheers.

Hot Fudge Sauce (makes about 2 1/2 cups)

From Smitten Kitchen

What you need:

  • 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
  • 3 tablespoons butter, unsalted
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 6 tablespoons corn syrup
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
How you do it:

  1. In a double boiler, slowly melt the chocolate and butter; stirring constantly.
  2. Meanwhile, heat the water to boiling in the small, heavy saucepan. When the butter and chocolate have melted, stir the mixture into the boiling water.
  3. Add the sugar, corn syrup and salt and stir until smooth. Turn the heat up and stir until mixture starts to boil. Adjust the heat until the boil is constant and allow sauce to boil for nine minutes, stirring often.
  4. Remove from heat and cool for 15 minutes.

Note: Store sauce in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, microwave for 15 to 30 seconds.

Chocolate Stout Milkshake (makes 2 or 3, depending on the size of your glasses)

What you need:

  • 1 pint vanilla ice cream or yogurt, softened
  • 6 ounces stout (I used Bell’s Kalamazoo Stout)
  • 3 or 4 tablespoons of chocolate fudge sauce
  • Whipped cream, for serving
How you do it:

  1. Blend all ingredients (excluding whipped cream) in a blender until thick and frothy.
  2. Pour milkshake into glasses and top with whipped cream.

Boozy, Fudgy Brownies (featuring Half Acre Beer and Lion’s Pride Whiskey)

23 Feb

It’s about time adults got their own brownie, don’t you think?

One of me and my husband’s favorite pastimes is exploring Chicago’s thriving beer scene and discovering our local favorites — Half Acre being one of them. We might be a tad biased as my husband races for their cycling team, but their beer really does speak for itself. One of my favorites is the Big Hugs imperial stout, a specialty brew (aka: only available as a special release) that’s big (10% ABV) and chocolatey.

Chocolatey, you say? This very idea inspired me to combine my favorite chocolatey beer with my favorite chocolate dessert — the brownie. And why not throw a little Lion’s Pride whiskey from Koval — a local distillery — in there, too? You know, for good measure. How bad could it be?

As it turns out, not bad. Not bad at all. In fact, my husband declared this recipe his all-time favorite, and I’d have to agree — I think they’re my new favorite, too. Perfectly fudgy and outrageously chocolatley with a hint of edge from the booze, they’re a match made in chocolate heaven.

Boozy Brownies

Adapted from craftbeer.com (who knew!)

What you need:

  • Butter for coating pan
  • 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
  • 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup Half Acre Big Hugs stout
  • 2 tablespoons Lion’s Pride whiskey
  • 3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

How you do it:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a 9-inch square baking pan by buttering (I used the butter left behind on the wrapper from the stick required in the recipe) and dusting the inside with cocoa powder. Set aside.
  2. In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat until completely melted. Add chopped chocolate, stirring often, until melted and smooth. Remove saucepan from heat and let cool to luke-warm. Stir the sugars into the chocolate and mix well.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, beat together eggs, yolks, vanilla, stout and whiskey until smooth. Sift flour and salt in to the mixture and stir to combine.
  4. Add cooled chocolate mixture to the egg/stout/flour mixture a little at a time, folding to combine, until all the chocolate has been added. Fold in chocolate chips, being careful not to over-mix.
  5. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for about an hour. Let cool before cutting.

Coffee Brewing: Basic is Best

3 Jan

I’m all for modern conveniences. After all, my DVR changed my life. But sometimes, the “good ol’ fashioned way” is best, and that’s definitely true in coffee brewing.

I’ve learned a lot about coffee over the years — its almost become a hobby. Various roasting tours, tastings and brew methods have broadened my understanding of what those tiny beans of caffinated glory are capable of.  And while coffee machines do the job just fine, the best brew brings it back to basics.

At home, I use a coffee mill to grind the beans by hand and a Chemex brewer to brew the coffee. A Chemex is an hourglass shaped glass brewer in which hot water is poured through a special Chemex filter at the top that holds the ground coffee. What’s awesome about the Chemex is that it makes the purest coffee — no impurities from the machine, pot, etc. that you’d get with a traditional coffee machine. In addition, the hand grinder coarsely grinds the beans rather than pulverizing them, which helps extract the most flavor during the brewing process. Both of these methods when used together give you a pure, flavorful, delicious cup of coffee.


The Chemex is very easy to use and takes about the same amount of time as a traditional grind-and-brew. Here’s how:

  1. Heat the appropriate amount of water in a teakettle (my Chemex makes 6 cups, but there are other models available).
  2. Place a square Chemex filter, 3-ply side towards the spout, in the brewer and fill with your favorite ground coffee (one heaping tablespoon of ground coffee per five ounces of water).
  3. Once your water is boiling, remove from heat and let it sit for a second until the boil has died down. Now your ready to pour.
  4. This is the important step. Instead of pouring all the water onto the grounds at once, only pour enough to just saturate them. This is called letting the coffee “bloom.”
  5. After you wet the grounds, wait 20-40 seconds. This allows some carbon dioxide to escape from the coffee, which results in a heavier ground that clings to the bottom of the filter. NOTE: This is what makes a Chemex superior to an auto-drip machine as it allows for maximum flavor extraction. In an auto-drip, the grounds float in the water during the brewing process which results in a loss of flavor.
  6. After the coffee has bloomed, gradually pour more water into the Chemex, always leaving an inch or so of room at the top. When the base of your Chemex is full, your coffee is ready to go.

Intelligentsia Coffee also has an awesome iPhone app (as seen in the second to last photo in the collage above) for various brewing methods (including the Chemex) that shows you the approximate brew time and instructs you on when to perform each step.

As coffee brewing becomes more artisan, it’ll also become easier to find Chemex-brewed coffee in coffee shops — several of my favorites in Chicago are currently doing it. And if you haven’t tried it before, you have to! Your morning buzz will never be the same.

Foodie Around Town – On Photon, an Event at Half Acre Beer

20 Dec

Half Acre Beer Company (North Center, Chicago — 4257 N. Lincoln)

If the Gods of craft beer got together and had a party, this is what it would be like.

Oh, wait. They DID get together and this is what it WAS like.

The craft beer scene in Chicago is alive and well, and as a beer-lover, I couldn’t be happier. In fact, just the other day, the Chicago Tribune wrote a column about this very topic. Many of the breweries mentioned in the article were present at On Photon.

However, while I’m very much into supporting local businesses as much as possible, it’s safe to say that when it comes to beer, my house is a Half Acre house. My husband has been on the Half Acre cycling team for the past few years, and its been exciting to watch the brewery and the brand grow into what it is today. I’m so thrilled to have been a part of this awesome event. Gabriel, Matt and the rest of the Half Acre crew really know how to throw a party.

The beer:

The food:

The favorites:

  • Double Daisy Cutter, Half Acre
  • Freedom 0f ’78, Half Acre
  • Hell’s Black Intelligencer, made with Intelligentsia coffee, Three Floyds
  • Pullman Brown, Flossmoor Station
  • Grandma’s Sleigh Ride, Flossmor Station
  • Urban Belly’s Belly Dog with spicy curry mustard, crispy shallots and slaw
  • Nice Cream’s delicious burnt caramel ice cream
  • My Half Acre wool cycling jersey, which was a big hit with the guys at the party

The fun:

(Yes, that’s a marching band. Mucca Pazza!)

Can’t wait until the next party!

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