Tag: In The Raw

Bourbon Pumpkin Flan

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!

Bourbon Pumpkin Flan

 

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 Darden Restaurants
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)
  • 1 15-ounce can pumpkin purée
  • 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • freshly ground nutmeg
  • Continue reading Bourbon Pumpkin Flan

Lower Calorie Sangria

Last year, I gave my dad sangria for Father’s Day. He loves sangria, so I thought I’d make it a yearly thing.

This time around though, I was also trying to sneak something by him. Instead of using sugar in the sangria, I used Monk Fruit In The Raw, a natural substitute. My father is diabetic, and Monk Fruit In The Raw is diabetic friendly (according to their website, “Monk Fruit In The Raw contains less than one gram of carbohydrates (by food exchange measure) and may be used in conjunction with food programs for people with diabetes as well as with guidelines for people with diabetes who use carbohydrate counting.”)

Now, I understand sangria in itself is not exactly diabetic friendly. But he is able to enjoy a glass or two once a year. The real reason I am trying the Monk Fruit In The Raw within the sangria is to see if he can taste a difference. You see, not only is he diabetic, but he is what some refer to as a “super taster.” He can tell you the secret ingredient in a recipe, and knows whether a wine is worth drinking. But, boy can he be picky too.

Unlike stevia, which leaves behind an aftertaste, Monk Fruit should be undetectable. So this is the first test to see if I can sneak Monk Fruit In The Raw into future recipes for my dad. So what is a Monk Fruit? Monk Fruit is a vine-ripened fruit found in Asia that kind of resembles a tiny watermelon. Monk Fruit In The Raw is made from Monk Fruit extract, which is about 300 times (!) sweeter than sugar. To make it measurable for consumption, dextrose (a natural bulking agent) is blended with the extract. Monk Fruit In The Raw also comes in a Bakers Bag, which is measurable cup-for-cup like sugar (in volume, not weight). The Bakers Bag contains Maltodextrin, which is also a natural bulking agent, that does not change the flavor of the sweetener. I used the Bakers Bag for this recipe.

Lower Calorie Sangria Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup brandy
  • 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (~3 oranges)
  • 1 bottle Rioja wine
  • 1/4 cup Monk Fruit In The Raw (Bakers Bag)
  • 1 apple, cored and sliced
  • 1 orange, thinly sliced and quartered
  • 1 lemon, thinly sliced
  • 2 limes, thinly sliced
  • club soda, to taste

Continue reading Lower Calorie Sangria

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