Monthly Flavors for August – Light it Up!
August is here, and it is HOT! Here in the Bay Area we are dealing with heat waves, and I am about ready to melt.
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September makes me think of starting school again, the start of fall in the air, and the beginning of the holiday season. Basically, it makes me think of cocktails. The flavors this month are all based on cocktail ideas. They aren’t go-to drink ideas like an old fashioned, but rather flavors I would want in in a cocktail. I got to play with new techniques and ideas this month, so I hope you enjoy eating them as much as I did creating them! Also, all the names this month are types of cocktail glassware.
Fig and Honey Pâte de Fruit with Rosemary Tequila Gel
Right now, figs are falling off the trees in abundance. Our sidewalks are littered with the fruit! One of my favorite desserts with figs is to cut them open like a flower, drizzle honey and a touch of rosewater or orange blossom water, and sprinkle on sliced almonds. Simple, but so delicious! That is kind of the basis for this chocolate. The honey disappears a little to the fig, but gives it a more complex flavor than just sugar. The rosemary and tequila give an earthy flavor to round it out.
Plum and Rose White Chocolate Ganache with Lemon Vodka Gel
Plum trees are in abundance here in the Bay Area. Red plums in particular grow wild! They are tart and acidic, but paired with rose water the ganache is light and tart, with definite sweetness. Lemon zest in the vodka gives a sweeter citrus flavor than the juice would, and the whole thing would be a damn tasty cocktail!
Cassis and Apple Ruby Chocolate Ganache with St. Germain and Rum Gel
Apple season is just beginning. But apples have a fairly low profile flavor. It is hard to make something intensely apple flavored, it just usually comes across as fake. So this ganache has freeze dried apple! It gives all the sweetness and flavor to help round out the tart blackcurrant, and pairs beautifully with the red berry of the ruby chocolate. The St. Germain elderflower liqueur and rum bring floral lightness for a wonderfully balanced chocolate.
Passionfruit and Ginger Caramel with Drambuie Gel
This caramel actually turned out pretty differently than I had expected. I reduced Bundaberg ginger beer by more than half to get a really intense flavor along with raw ginger soaked in the cream. The result is a pretty ginger-y caramel, but with more ginger beer sweetness than ginger spice. It is pretty cool! The passionfruit brings in tartness and crunch from the seeds. Drambuie is a liqueur made from Scotch whisky, heather honey, herbs, and spices. It pairs wonderfully with ginger beer as a cocktail, and it continues to be great in this chocolate!
Pecan Praline with Bourbon Gel
Bourbon is often described as having a peanut or nut flavor. This may have to do with the yeast strains used as it ferments. I have always found that no matter the reason, bourbon goes great with nuts. It is why it is integral to a good pecan pie! This chocolate basically tastes like pecan pie – strong nutty flavor, sweet caramelized notes, bourbon. Delicious!
Cucumber White Chocolate Ganache with Gin Gel
This chocolate is the closest to an actual cocktail. Cucumber is often used in an upscale gin and tonic, as well as in gimlets and other gin based drinks. The two go together very well! In full honesty, I actually don’t like gin at all. I don’t like the intense herbaceous quality of most gins. But, I can definitely understand why the cool, light cucumber is so often paired with it! This ganache lacks the effervescence of a gin and tonic, but otherwise is pretty similar.
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Lying somewhere between a cake and a cookie, financiers are a type of petit fours (literally little oven) that are common in French bakeries. Financiers are typically made with almond flour, which helps retain their moistness and give a little extra texture. Here, I used hazelnut flour instead! It ends up a little sweeter, and the hazelnut flavor is subtle but present. The figs pair beautifully for a super tasty treat!
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Nutter Butters were a fairly rare treat for me growing up. My parents just didn’t usually buy cookies at the store, so I pretty much only had them at friends’ places. This is a recreation from Bouchon Bakery of the gloriously peanut buttery treats! Be warned, if you don’t like peanuts you will not like these cookies.
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August is here, and it is HOT! Here in the Bay Area we are dealing with heat waves, and I am about ready to melt.