Note: I was sent a bottle of Black Button Distilling’s Bespoke Bourbon Cream in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.
If you’re a fan of creamy cocktails, I have the perfect cocktail to share with you today! The team at Black Button Distilling sent me a recipe for a Maple Chai Latte Cocktail that sounded so tasty I knew I had to pass it along.
Black Button Distilling, based out of Rochester, NY, was actually Rochester’s first grain-to-glass distillery since prohibition when it was established in 2012. The cocktail is made with Black Button Distilling’s Bespoke Bourbon Cream, which combines their hand finished bourbon and local farm fresh New York State cream — it’s similar to Irish Cream but the bourbon brings a different (and delicious!) flavor profile.
This Maple Chai Latte plays up the vanilla and caramel notes in the Bourbon Cream with the addition of maple syrup, a chai simple syrup, and coffee liqueur.
You can buy chai simple syrup (paid link), but I’ve included a recipe below in case you want to make your own at home, like I did.
Ingredients (serves 2):
ice
3 oz Bespoke Bourbon Cream
4 oz coffee liqueur
1 oz Chai simple syrup (recipe below)
1 oz maple syrup (I used a bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup to really up the flavor!)
cThis has been quite a dreary and rainy fall so far. One of my favorite remedies for blah weather is a warm beverage. In the fall, you really can’t go wrong with a mulled apple cider, like this Orange Mulled Whiskey Cider!
Nielsen-Massey sent me a sample of their Pure Orange Extract to use in this citrusy spiced cider. Nielsen-Massey has offered high quality vanilla and other flavors since 1907. They are my go to for extracts, vanilla beans, and vanilla powder. Their Pure Orange Extract is a great pantry way to always have citrus flavor on hand. Just 1/2 teaspoons of the orange extract equals two tablespoons fresh orange juice.
They must have known Philadelphia has been basically sitting under a cloud and that I needed a warm pick me up! The addition of the pure orange extract to this cider brings some brightness to the mulled cider.
This cider uses some of my favorite spices to really bring the fall flavor. I picked up my spices at the Head Nut in Reading Terminal, but you can also find them at Penzey’s.
Recipe (serves 6):
2 quarts apple cider
1/2 cup 100% pure pomegranate juice
1/3 cup 100% pure maple syrup
1 Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean
1 teaspoon Nielsen-Massey Pure Orange Extract
3 large cinnamon sticks
12 whole cloves
5 whole allspice berries
1/4 teaspoon cardamom seeds
3/4 cup whiskey
Add the apple cider, pomegranate juice and maple syrup to a large saucepan; heat over medium-high heat.
Split vanilla bean in half lengthwise with the tip of a small knife.
Scrape both sides of the bean with the knife’s dull side and add the seeds and bean to the saucepan. (The seeds are the black flecks in the cider.)
Add the orange extract, cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice berries and cardamom seeds to the saucepan; stir to combine. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 30 minutes. Strain mulled cider through a fine mesh sieve.
Add whiskey; stir to combine. Serve with a fresh apple or orange slice.
This cider tastes just like fall! What a comforting beverage as the weather turns colder.
The spices in the cider add a nice warmth to the drink, complementing the apple and whiskey flavors nicely.
The orange flavor from Nielsen-Massey’s Pure Orange Extract comes through as well, adding a burst of bright citrus and making for a super tasty drink!
It’s no secret that I love pumpkin everything. Sweet or savory, it’s a safe assumption that I will enjoy whatever pumpkin treat comes my way. So when I was contacted about restaurants under the Darden Restaurant umbrella featuring pumpkin desserts for the month of October, I was happy to taste test!
I was sent a $30 gift card so that I could go to Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and Longhorn Steakhouse to try their pumpkin desserts. Here are the yummy offerings:
Red Lobster: Pumpkin Pie in a Jar – layered pumpkin and cream cheese mousse with a graham-cracker crust, topped with sugared pecans
Photo courtesy of Red Lobster
LongHorn Steakhouse: Pumpkin Spice Lava Cake – warm pumpkin spice cake filled with a cream cheese icing and drizzled with Maker’s Mark® bourbon-caramel sauce and candied pecans
Photo courtesy of LongHorn Steakhouse
Olive Garden: Pumpkin Cheesecake – pumpkin cheesecake topped with whipped cream, caramel sauce and ginger cookie crumbles
Photo courtesy of Olive Garden
They are as delicious as they look! I unapologetically scarfed down each and every one. They are super rich so I’m sure you should probably share them. But hey, I’m not going to judge.
I was given a second $30 gift card to GIVE AWAY so that one reader can go try one (or all) of these desserts for themselves! More on that after the recipe! {THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED}
I made my own pumpkin dessert inspired by a mixture of the three above: Bourbon Pumpkin Flan with Graham Cracker Crumbs. This recipe incorporates the Bourbon in the Pumpkin Spice Lava Cake, the creaminess of the Pumpkin Cheesecake, and the graham cracker “crust” of the Pie in a Jar. I adapted this recipe from a Bon Appetit Pumpkin Flan recipe.
Ingredients:
6 large eggs
6 large egg yolks
1 3/4 cups sugar, divided (I used Sugar In The Raw for a deeper caramel flavorMi)
1 tablespoon bourbon
2 1/3 cups heavy cream, divided
1 cup milk
5 whole cloves
3 whole star anise
1 cardamom pod, cracked
2 cinnamon sticks
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)
