Monthly micro-batch: bourbon ginger ice cream

I've been a vodka drinker for the last 15 years of my life. So it was a pretty big deal that Paul shamed me into trying different variants of whiskey and I ended up liking it. Hence the libation recipes in the blog. Since fruits are not as plentiful at this time of year, I figured I'd use bourbon as the central ingredient in my monthly micro-batch. Slightly spicy, creamy, and amazingly warming, this is perfect for the cold holiday season. Snuggle up with a bowl.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 C Makers Mark
• 3 T grated ginger
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1 C half-and-half
• 1/2 C whipping cream

Instructions:
Gently heat the bourbon over a medium flame. Grate the ginger into the bourbon and mix. When you find ginger in your local market, buy as much as you can. You can grate it and freeze it or just freeze is whole. Then you can use it year round.

Cut the vanilla bean length-wise and scrape out the seeds with a knife. Add the seeds to the mixture on the stove. Cut the bean shell into large pieces and throw it in, too. Mix in the sugar, half-and-half, and whipping cream. Heat till almost bubbling then remove from the heat. Let it cool then put in the fridge over night to allow the flavors to meld.

Before processing in the ice cream machine, strain through cheese cloth to remove the chunks of ginger and vanilla bean shell. Don't worry, the vanilla seeds are tiny and will pass through. Squeeze the cheese cloth to get as much flavor out as possible. Process till smooth in the ice cream machine, then freeze to harden it up a bit.

Libation: ginger cookie holiday cocktail

After the oodles of holiday parties, most of you will likely not need any help with cocktails over the holidays. However, if you find yourself at home, sans holiday party, try warming up with this. The flavors come together to remind one of cookies your grandma used to make.

I particularly love this drink because the ginger comes from my favorite farmer at the farmers market. He is only there every third weekend, bringing small amounts of what he has, which has included, at different points in time, zucchini flowers, ginger, ginger leaves (and the instructions for how to use them to wrap food for cooking), red potatoes, and beautiful and sweet-smelling ginger flowers.

Ingredients:

• 3 T grated ginger (the more the gingerier)
• 2 sprigs mint (a few more leaves for garnish)
• 1/2 juicy lemon
• 1 T simple syrup
• 1 jigger brandy
• 2 jiggers bourbon
• 1/2 jigger Becherovka
• 1 egg white (use the egg yolk in something else, freezing if you can't use immediately)
• Peychaud's bitters

Instructions:
Muddle the ginger, mint, lemon, and simple syrup. Add the liquors with a few solid ice cubes. Shake, shake, shake. Strain with a fine mesh strainer, reserving the leaves and ginger. Squeeze out the mint and ginger to make them give up all they've got to this drink.

With the drink, the cubes, and an egg white back in the shaker, shake, shake, shake some more. You'll know it's ready when it starts to feel less wet and more frothy.

Strain into two glasses, tapping the strainer to get the froth to top the drinks. Garnish with a few leaves of mint and a few drops of Peychaud's. If you'd like to get even more fancy-pants, use a toothpick to make a design with the drops.

Libation: holiday turkey

While I do drink a lot, I've never posted any drink recipes. But with some of the ingredients lingering in my fridge after Thanksgiving, I thought it would be a good idea to put some of them in a drink.

Ingredients

• 1/2 Granny Smith apple, chopped
• 10 fresh cranberries
• splash of vanilla extract
• pinch each of nutmeg and cinnamon
• 1 jigger Wild  Turkey
• 1/2 jigger brandy
• ice

Instructions

To create the garnish for this, peel half of an apple carefully to make one long apple skin. Twist it into a rose, tucking the beginning and ending into each other. Stick a cranberry in the middle.

Muddle the apple and cranberries with the vanilla extract. Add the spices, alcohol, and ice. Shake well. Put the garnish in the center of a martini glass. Strain the drink into the glass, squeezing as much liquid as possible into the glass.

For a fun variation, the smoked turkey, rinse the glass with a smoky scotch. If this is too intense, add a bit of soda water in the muddling process.