The Boozy Baker: 75 Recipes for Spirited Sweets (10 page)

TO MAKE THE CARAMEL FILLING
,
pour the wine into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat and simmer until the wine is syrupy and reduced to about 2 tablespoons, about 15 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 6 tablespoons of water. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves, then increase the heat and boil until it turns a deep amber color and a candy thermometer registers just shy of 340°F. (Pull the pan off the heat at around 320°F to make sure the caramel doesn’t burn.) Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the cream, butter, and wine.

Pour the caramel into the cooled tart shell. Let the tart cool slightly; then refrigerate for at least four hours before serving.

Plum and Hazelnut Tart

M
AKES
8
TO
10
SERVINGS

I
ADORE PLUMS, SO THIS TART
,
which combines both plum jam and fresh plums, is one of my absolute favorites. When I was testing the recipe, I took one over to my boyfriend’s apartment. He ate the entire thing! The toasted flavor of hazelnuts is the perfect complement to the sweet fruit. You can’t go wrong if you serve each slice warm, with vanilla ice cream.

FOR THE CRUST:

¾ cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and cooled

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

FOR THE FILLING:

1 cup plum jam

3 tablespoons hazelnut liqueur, such as Frangelico

2 ripe plums, pitted and cut into bite-size chunks

TO MAKE THE CRUST
,
pulse the hazelnuts a few times in the work bowl of a food processor until coarsely chopped. Measure out ¼ cup and set aside. Add the flour, sugar, and salt to the remaining hazelnuts, and pulse until the hazelnuts are finely ground. Add the butter a few pieces at a time and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand. Measure out ½ cup of the flour mixture and mix it with the reserved hazelnuts. Add the egg yolk and vanilla to the remaining flour mixture and pulse until the mixture starts to clump together.

Transfer the dough to a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, pressing gently into the bottom and up the sides. Freeze the crust for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the tart crust in the middle of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the edges are pale golden.

TO MAKE THE FILLING
,
combine the plum jam and hazelnut liqueur in a medium bowl. Stir to blend. Add the plums and toss to coat.

Remove the tart shell from the oven and spread the plum mixture over the bottom. Sprinkle the top with the reserved hazelnut-flour mixture. Return the tart to the oven and bake for 15 minutes more, or until the topping is golden and the fruit is bubbling. Cool completely on a wire rack, and then remove the sides of the pan, cut the tart into wedges, and serve.

SHAKE IT UP:
Substitute peach jam for the plum jam, two small peaches for the plums, and peach brandy for the hazelnut liqueur.

Rustic Fig Galette

M
AKES
8
SERVINGS

I
N ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
,
I had a pink Cabbage Patch Kids lunchbox. On the best of days, it was filled with a bologna and cheese sandwich (sans crusts), a small bag of Cape Cod potato chips, a Capri Sun juice pack, and two Fig Newtons. I haven’t had bologna in years, but I still love figs: green, black, dried, and fresh. This rustic, homey galette is bursting with the delicate juicy fresh fruits. And I’ve traded the Capri Sun for sophisticated Sauternes, a sweet French dessert wine.

FOR THE CRUST:

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup fine yellow cornmeal

¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced into ½-inch pieces and chilled

2 to 4 tablespoons ice water

FOR THE FILLING:

¼ cup Sauternes

2 pounds ripe fresh figs

TO MAKE THE CRUST
,
combine the flour, cornmeal, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor and pulse to blend. Add the butter, a few pieces at a time, and pulse to blend. Drizzle in the water, one tablespoon at a time, until the mixture comes together in large clumps. Turn out the dough onto a clean work surface. Form it into a ball, flatten it slightly, and wrap it in plastic wrap. Transfer the dough to the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface into a 14-inch circle. Carefully transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie plate, leaving at least a 1-inch overhang. Freeze the crust for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375°F and position a rack in the lower third.

TO MAKE THE FILLING
,
in a small saucepan, combine the Sauternes and the remaining ¼ cup sugar. Heat over medium heat until it is reduced and syrupy, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow to cool while you assemble the rest of the galette.

Trim the figs and cut them into ½-inch wedges. Spoon the figs into the crust and pour the cooled Sauternes syrup over them. Fold the edges of the dough up over the figs (it won’t cover them completely).

Bake the galette for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and allow the galette to cool for 15 minutes.

SHAKE IT UP:
Substitute Riesling or another sweet white wine for the Sauternes.

RAIDING THE BAR AND THE COOKIE JAR

What is more irresistible than
a warm chocolate chip cookie, or a gooey cream cheese brownie? How about a filled-to-the-brim Cosmopolitan made with white cranberry juice, or an icy glass of Dark and Stormy punch made with fresh ginger? Everyone knows that the pairing of cookies and milk is a match made in heaven, but I think cookies and booze are an equally delicious—and far more devilish—combination.

The recipes in this chapter are simple and whimsical. There’s not a plain gingersnap or boring shortbread in the bunch. Instead, I’ve transformed traditional bake sale treats with funky ingredients like poppy seeds, banana chips, and marshmallow cream. While some names may sound familiar (hermits, black and whites), you can rest assured that these aren’t your grandmother’s snickerdoodles.

Baking cookies is one of my favorite activities on a lazy afternoon. Here are a few helpful hints for success. Know your oven. While best-quality professional ovens heat evenly, most home ovens are a bit uneven. Because of this, it’s best to rotate sheets of cookies from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time. If you are worried about cookies sticking to your baking sheet, use parchment paper. Nothing—not foil, not silicone mats—works better. Sometimes I only want a cookie or
two, or I’m afraid if I bake a whole batch I’ll eat a whole batch. It’s easy to freeze cookie dough. Simply form the dough into balls and freeze them on a baking sheet. Once they’re solid, transfer the frozen balls to a zip-top plastic bag. There is no need to thaw them before baking, just pop them in the oven and add an extra minute or two to the baking time. The frozen cookie dough will last up to three months.

As kids, lots of us came home to an after-school snack of Oreos and chocolate milk, or apple juice and oatmeal raisins. Well, think of the cookies and bars in this chapter as the grown-up counterpart to that childhood ritual. What could be better than curling up after work with a platter of hazelnut liqueur-spiked chocolate chunk cookies and a giant glass of wine? Go ahead and dunk. No one is looking.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Nuts and a Nip

M
AKES
ABOUT
32
COOKIES

E
VERY BAKER NEEDS A PERFECT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE
recipe in his or her repertoire, but that doesn’t mean they have to be plain or standard. I pulse the hazelnuts in the food processor, which makes the pieces a bit smaller than if chopped by hand. Then I add hazelnut liqueur to ensure that the nutty, boozy flavor infuses every last crumb. Many recipes that call for toasted hazelnuts instruct you to rub every bit of papery skin off the nuts. Who has that kind of patience? Toast the nuts in a 350°F oven for 6 to 10 minutes and then rough them up a bit in a clean kitchen towel. Most of the skin will come off, and don’t worry about the rest.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup packed dark brown sugar

¾ cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon hazelnut liqueur, such as Frangelico

2 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped, toasted hazelnuts

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl to combine.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating to combine after each addition. Add the hazelnut liqueur and beat to combine.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat just until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and the hazelnuts. Transfer the dough to the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Drop the cookies by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the cookies are golden and set but still a bit soft in the middle. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

SHAKE IT UP:
Substitute almond liqueur for the hazelnut liqueur and chopped, toasted almonds for the hazelnuts.

“Old-Fashioned” Snickerdoodles

M
AKES
ABOUT
24
COOKIES

T
HE OLD-FASHIONED WHISKEY COCKTAIL IS
one of America’s first mixed drinks on record, and it’s still one of the best. Likewise, the snickerdoodle is one the nation’s oldest cookies. According to
Food Lover’s Companion
by Sharon Tyler Herbst, it dates back to the early nineteenth century and the name “has no particular meaning or purpose.” This recipe combines the classic components of an Old Fashioned—bourbon, bitters, and orange—in a cookie with a cinnamon-dusted surface and soft center.