Recipes « (y)our food choices™

Whiskies of the World 2016 in San Francisco is upon us. It is a great gathering of some of the world’s most iconic spirits. Jason has been feeling anxious about baking 500 mini nut pies for the event. In honor of the occasion, and to highlight the delicious, complex flavors of Bulleit Bourbon and Bulleit Rye, he has created these tasty mini pies with a focus on the ingredients that make American whiskey the national treasure that it is.

Jason has loads of experience baking in both professional kitchens and at home. That experience served him well as he prepared a rather large batch of tiny pecan-bourbon and walnut-rye “pie bites.” Of course, it helps to use great ingredients and Bulleit’s delicious bourbon and rye played their roles brilliantly in the preparation and final taste of these delicious little morsels.

Coming up with these recipes took a lot of experimentation, tweaking, and tasting (lucky us). The challenge here was in bringing the bourbon and rye flavors to the fore, preserving their complexity in the face of punishing heat and the resultant evaporation of the alcohol. Baking with alcohol is a futile effort if you’re truling to retain the rich, spicy character of the spirit. Alcohol plays a critical role in the flavor of the whisky. The result of all that experimentation payed off in a big way!

So, how do you create a sweet dessert that retains the character of the whisky? Very carefully. It starts with the pie dough. Take the Pecan Bourbon bites, for example. The dough consists of a mix of grain flours in proportions that mirror the grains used in the creation of Bulleit Bourbon in exactly the same ratios: 68% corn flour, 28% rye flour, 4% barley flour. He did the same with the Walnut Rye bites: 95% rye flour and 5% barley flour. Add and little butter and you have some tasty doughs.

The mix of flours works to produce a tasty pastry, but that didn’t get the bites across the finish line. The bourbon and rye are used to create the caramel. While other bourbon pecan pie recipes call for extremely modest additions of the whisky (a tablespoon for a standard sized pie), these little bites get a much more generous helping. The caramel is composed of equal parts bourbon or rye and brown sugar. The nuts are dressed with a small amount of their respective caramel companions before being used to fill the pie shells. When added to the pie shells, the nuts act as a sort of pie weight, preventing them from puffing up out of the muffin tins. Then, while the pies bake, more caramel is drizzled into the center at intervals. Adding that last bit of caramel before baking is complete ensures the flavors aren’t lost in the final product. The tasty, but still subtle whisky, comes through in the gooey, nutty pies. Extra effort? You bet. But the results speak for themself!

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Bulliet Bourbon & Pecan Bites
Makes 24

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup corn flour
1 tablespoon rye flour
1 tablespoon barley
1 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoon bourbon whiskey
2-3 tablespoons ice water

Mix flours, salt and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Add grated frozen butter to the bowl along and sprinkle the bourbon whiskey. Using one hand, mix flour, butter, and water until the dough comes together when making a fist.

Place the dough on a sheet of plastic and roll into a 1″ x 4″ log. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before continuing.
Filling
1 cup finely chopped raw pecans
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup Bulleit Bourbon
3 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
pinch of kosher salt

1 strip crisp bacon chopped finely (optional) or
2 tablespoons chopped dark chocolate (optional) or
2 tablespoon blue cheese (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, except bacon, chocolate, or blue cheese, if you’re using. Set aside in fridge.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray mini muffin pans with non stick spray. Slice each log into twelve discs. Using your fingers, gently press each disc until it fits up the sides of the muffin tin. Continue with all twelve. Refrigerate if the dough becomes too soft.

Once all the shells are in the tins, (add a few pieces of bacon, chocolate, or blue cheese to each shell if using) spoon 1 teaspoon of nuts into each shell. Do not add any of the caramel at this time. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Try not to get any caramel on the top of the muffin tin.

After 10 minutes remove from the oven and add 1 teaspoon of caramel to each tart shells. Place back in the oven for 10 more minutes. Remove again and add another teaspoon of caramel. Place back in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove, add caramel and back for another 5 minutes or so. For a total of 30 minutes of baking and 3 additions of caramel.

After final baking remove from the oven and cool for 5-7 minute before removing from the pan. Once cool gently remove each she’ll, if necessary use a butter knife.

Bulleit Rye & Walnut Bites
Makes 24

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, frozen grated butter
1 1/2 teaspoon Bulleit Rye whiskey
2-3 tablespoons ice water

Grate the frozen butter on a box grater. Place back in the fridge until ready to use.

Mix flours, salt and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Add grated frozen butter to the bowl along and sprinkle the rye whiskey. Using one hand, mix flour, butter, and water until the dough comes together when making a fist.

Place the dough on a sheet of plastic and roll into a 1″ x 4″ log. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling.

Filling
1 cup finely chopped raw walnuts
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup Bulleit Rye
3 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
pinch of kosher salt

1 strip crisp bacon chopped finely (optional) or
2 tablespoons chopped dark chocolate (optional)or
2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese (optional)

[See baking instructions above.]

There is nothing like the taste of a nicely caramelized onion – deep, earthy, sweet and savory jam. But caramelizing onions is a time consuming labor of love well worth the effort, most of the time.

Lucky for those of us with pressure cookers, the geniuses in the labs of Modernist Cuisine came up with a brilliant hack to get those delicious browned onions cooked and ready to eat in half the time and with virtually no need for our attention once the lid is locked! This is seriously one of our favorite shortcuts to one of those foods we associate with very long, closely tended cooking times.

We put a batch of pressure cooker caramelized onions to use in an onion tart intended for a holiday brunch party. But we ended up eating the whole thing ourselves over the course of several days. No complaints here!

Any savory pie crust recipe will do. We’re partial to America’s Test Kitchen’s tart crust recipe. As for the custard filling, we adapted this one from Monday Morning Cooking Club: The Feast Goes On (recipe published on epicurious.com).

Caramelized Onion Tart

Pressure-Caramelized Onions

(From Modernist Cuisine At Home)

4 3/4 cups (500 g) yellow onion, sliced thin
1/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) baking soda
3 tablespoons (35 g) unsalted butter, cubed
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste

Combine sliced onions and baking soda in a large bowl, mixing thoroughly. Divide the onion mixture evenly into three 500 ml/16 oz. canning jars. Divide the butter evenly among the filled gars. Tighten the lids fully, and then unscrew them one-quarter turn so that the jars don’t explode.

Place the filled jars on a rack or trivet in the base of a pressure cooker, and add 1 inch of water. Pressure-cook at a gauge pressure of 1 bar/15 psi for 40 minutes. Start timing as soon as full pressure has been reached. Let the cooker cool, or run tepid water over the rim, to de pressurize it. Let the jar contents cool before opening to avoid splattering.

Transfer the cooked onions to a pot. Simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced to a syrup, 10-12 minutes.

Season the onions to taste, and set aside.

Crust

(from The Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and chilled
2-3 tablespoons ice water

Spray 9-inch tart pan with vegetable oil spray. Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in food processor until combined, about 4 pulses. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture; pulse until mixture resembles course sand, about 15 pulses. Add 2 tablespoons ice water and process until large clumps form and no powdery bits remain, about 5 seconds, adding up to 1 tablespoon more water if dough will not form clumps. Transfer dough to prepared tart pan; pat dough into pan. Lay plastic wrap over dough and smooth out any bumps or shallow areas. Place tart shell on plate and freeze for 30 minutes.

Adjust over rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Place frozen tart shell on baking sheet. Spray piece of extra-wide Healey-duty aluminum foil with vegetable oil spray and gently press against dough and over edges of tart pan. Fill with pie weights and bake until top edge just starts to color and surface of dough no longer looks wet, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and remove foil and weights. Return baking sheet with tart shell to oven and bake until golden brown, 5-10 minutes. et baking sheet with tart shell on wire rack to cool while preparing the filling.

Custard Filling

1 cup heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl, gently beat egg yolks into into cream until well incorporated. Add caramelized onions and freshly grated nutmeg. Mix well to evenly distribute onions throughout custard. Pour into prepared tart shell and bake in a 350 degree oven until center of custard is set, approximately 40-45 minutes.

Remove tart from oven and let cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove rim of tart pan and carefully slide a spatula between tart pan bottom and tart to loosen it. Slide tart onto serving plate, slice and serve!

Variations: