Cocktail Week is typically devoted to drinks, but your favorite booze doesn't have to stay in a glass. Liquor-soaked foods add just the right amount of punch. Why use regular raisins when you can use cognac-soaked raisins? Why grill regular shrimp when you can make whiskey-soaked maple shrimp? Inspired? So are we.
TOP ROW
• 1 Cranberry Tart with Cognac-soaked Raisins, Tangerine Zest, and Dark Chocolate, via A Little Zaftig
• 2 Rum Soaked Date Bars, via Brown Eyed Baker
• 3 Zucchini & Spinach Tart w/ Whipped Ricotta & Rum Soaked Currants, via The Melbourne Food Files
• 4 Liquor-Soaked Apple Walnut Ginger Cake, via eCurry
• 5 Port Wine Soaked Chocolate Cherry Brownies, via 101Cookbooks
MIDDLE ROW
• 6 Irish Soda Bread with Whiskey-Soaked Raisins, via Pictures and Pancakes
• 7 Bourbon-Soaked Cherries, via Food Woolf
• 8 Easy, Tipsy Appetizers: Martini-Soaked Olives, via The Kitchn
• 9 Cocktail Alternative: Booze-Soaked Fruit Skewers, via The Kitchn
• 10 Rum-Raisin Almond Brioche, via The Kitchn
BOTTOM ROW
• 11 Vanilla Rum Soaked French Toast, via Pastry Affair
• 12 Nigella's Banana Bread with Southern Comfort-Soaked Apricots, via Savory Bites
• 13 Brandy-Soaked Scallops, via Simple Comfort Food
• 14 Puff Pastry with Whipped Mascarpone and Cointreau Blueberries, via Lemons and Anchovies
• 15 Whiskey and Maple Soaked Shrimp on the Grill, via Choosy Beggars
Related: Any Ideas for Using Up Rum-Soaked Fruit?
(Images: as linked)
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I made the Nigella Lawson banana bread the way it was written -- that is, with rum-soaked raisins. Actually, I merged her recipe with Delia Smith's, which has more whole grains. Anyway, it is my banana bread standard now -- a mix of white and whole wheat flours, pine nuts, and rum-soaked raisins.
The "rum" I use is a bit of a pastry chef's secret, and worth sharing here. It's a highly perfumed rum from the Czech Republic which is now available in Canada, and I'm sure, the U.S. as well. It's called "Tuzemak", and is not technically a rum as it is made from sugar beets (since no sugar cane grows in the C.R.!). I use it for cooking, but my husband likes it for rum-based drinks. It is very vanilla-caramel with a floral and herbal complexity which makes it great for both.
If any At'ers are familiar with Prague Deli on Queen Street W in Toronto, this is the secret ingredient which makes their pastries -- the ones with pastry cream, custards and cream cheese fillings -- so good. It's not the vanilla, it's the rum.
So if you want to plump some raisins, or flavour some baker's cheese or cream cheese, so run out and get some Tuzemak! (you'll thank me for it)
http://www.liquorature.com/?page_id=812
So glad you've included the Rum Soaked Date Bars...They sure are my favorites! Company
Wow, what a nice post ! Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I have search online to get french recipes and found this outstanding sites. I have tried many French recipes which i got from youtube and many other website as well as i have collected many french recipes books, cd etc to be a great cook. I like visiting French restaurants in weekend.