Pear Brandy & Apple Brandy

Fruited Brandies are wonderfully simple to make and cost far less than flavored brandies in the liquor store. Unless the funds are available to buy Calvados or other well-known brandies the cheaper varieties can be contaminated with corn alcohol, corn syrup or imitation flavor of unknown origin.



everything necessary to make fruited brandies at home



Crapabble brandy being my absolute favorite, even over peach brandy. The taste is quintessential apple pie packed into a thimble-size glass. Plus crabapples are often free for the picking. This year when the crabapples ripened I was too sick to take advantage of the tree’s bounty. Which means my cupboard is bare of fruited brandies, and winter is coming. This is unacceptable, untenable. So while I was brandy poaching a couple pears I started a pint jar of pear brandy, and another of apple brandy.

Making fruited brandies is one of my favorite uses for old, crystallized honey. I scoop it into the jars first, add the spice, fruits and then top with brandy. With swirling, over the infusion time, the honey dissolves. No waste, and no sticky dribbles down the jar sides.

Follow a vegan diet? Agave works in place of honey. I've used both in different batches with success.

For 2013, wish me good health, so I can return to making gallons of crabapple brandy, apple pie brandy, and plum spiced brandy as Yule Gifts.

Pear Brandy

Ingredients

1 medium sized, ripe pear, such as Bosc or Bartlett

2 cloves
2” cinnamon stick
Pinch of nutmeg
1 oz of honey
Brandy – inexpensive like Korbel

Directions
Stem, core and slice pear into sixths, leaving the peel on. Place in pint mason jar with other ingredients and cover with brandy.

Swirl 2-4xday for the first week, then daily for another week. Let rest in a cool, dark place for another two weeks minimum, two months preferably.

Strain and pour liquid back into the jar. Use in pies, tarts, or as an aperitif. I keep some of the fruit in my freezer to mince and use a dollop of to season those same pies and tarts.

Apple Brandy
Ingredients

1 small, tart apple, such as Granny Smith or Crabapple

1 sliver of lemon zest if using non-crabapples

4 cloves

2” cinnamon stick

¼ tsp mace

Pinch of nutmeg

2 oz of honey

Brandy – inexpensive like Korbel

Directions

Stem, core and slice apple into sixths, leaving the peel on. Place in pint mason jar with other ingredients and cover with brandy. When unable to use crabapples I add a strip of lemon zest to boost the tartness.

Swirl 2-4xday for the first week, then daily for another week. Let rest in a cool, dark place for another two weeks minimum, two months preferably.

Strain and pour liquid back into the jar. Use in pies, tarts, or as an aperitif.

Bacon Salt

This just jumped to the top of my weekend "To-Do" list:

Home Made Bacon Salt

http://lifehacker.com/5838933/make-your-own-bacon-salt

Biscuits and Herbed Margarine

In 2001 a coworker introduced me to a fabulous cookbook: How it All Vegan. By then I'd figured out my dairy allergy, which made vegan recipes very desirable. I could be absolutely certain there wouldn't be even a hint of dairy in a vegan dish. Since I didn't have my own kitchen at that time someone else having already figured out how to make the substitute taste good, hopefully, was imperative.

After having a piece of pie made from the book I bought a copy. Such decadent, amazing pie, there had to be more amazing-ness in there. The next dish I tried were these biscuits, just as delicious and as the name promised, easy. Flaky, fluffy, and dare I say "buttery?" I ate biscuits for a week: plain, slathered in jam, with safflower butter, with gravy from the vegan restaurant around the corner from my office, with cold cuts, rice cheese and mustard. These will absolutely have your guests shocked when they take a bite. Add the margarine and cranberry relish and prepare to sigh with a mouthful of bliss.

I also like that the most of the recipes in 'How it All Vegan' make small batches. If you need more than six biscuits, double or triple the quantities. Do roll them out, the small bit of extra effort is worth it when you easily split one of them open and catch a glimpse of the fragrant steam escaping from the layers.

For the upcoming holiday feast make the biscuits while the bird roasts. With the margarine make it anytime between now and the day before. It is step & time intensive, definitely not a 'day-of' recipe. I'll be making a half batch of it later today. Who knows, I may make a batch of biscuits to taste-test the margarine on!

Easy Biscuits

adapted from "How it All Vegan" by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer

2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (I prefer Pamela's)

3 tsp baking powder (Hain is the only one I've found that is gluten-corn-dairy-free)

1 tsp sea salt (Penzey's Kosher-style is currently in my cupboard)

1/4 cup shortening or margarine (palm shortening is free of everything but palm)

1 cup plain So Delicious coconut milk, soured with 1 tsp white vinegar

Preheat the oven to 425 (450 if the oven isn't convection)

Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Cut in the shortening.

Add 3/4 cup of the soured milk. blend until just mixed, adding the other 1/4 cup of milk if the batter is too dry (most likely here in the arid West).

Gently roll out on a floured board, cut with floured biscuit or cookie cutter.

Bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet for 12-18 minutes until lightly golden.

Try not to burn your fingers eating them fresh from the oven...not that I've ever managed to wait long enough to not burn mine.

The herbed margarine recipe I'll be trying for the first time is from the Washington Post:

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2010/09/29/homemade-herbed-margarine/

Depending on how it turns out I plan on making a batch of biscuits with the margarine instead of palm shortening.