homemade ginger ale

For a long time I didn't think I liked ginger. I liked ginger ale (which, let's be honest, often tastes nothing like actual ginger), but at our house we never ate anything with ginger in it so I stayed away from it until I went to college. I only found out I liked the "real" taste of ginger when I tried it pickled along with sushi, another food I didn't try until college. (Shockingly, sushi wasn't readily available in Bamberg, South Carolina.)

After discovering I actually liked the taste of ginger I continued to drink, say, Canada Dry, but I also wanted to find a more gingery ginger ale. I tried Blenheim and it certainly tastes like real ginger, but it also has a cough-inducing kick to it that doesn't exactly scream "refreshment." So I went back to the standard supermarket varieties until recently, when I realized I could make my own.

For my birthday this year my sister, who is pretty much the best gift giver on earth, sent me a SodaStream along with a very thoughtful Pinterest board of soda and cocktail recipes to go along with it. For the past few months I've just been making seltzer water, but I'm a big cocktail fan during the summer, and since I'm not in school I have the time to make things like homemade soda. I gave it a shot and the results were well worth the minimal effort.

This recipe for ginger syrup also comes with a nice perk--you end up with candied ginger along with the syrup! Once you've strained the ginger and spices out of the syrup, toss the candied ginger (it's just been boiled in syrup, after all) with sugar and let it sit out for a few hours to dry. Voila--crystallized ginger!

ginger syrup for ginger ale
adapted from FormerChef
makes about 3 cups of syrup, enough for about 9 liters of ginger ale (don't worry, it keeps for awhile!)

ingredients:
1 c brown sugar
1 c white sugar (or raw sugar, if you prefer)
2 c water
2 tsp cardamom pods
1 tsp whole allspice
1 tsp peppercorns
3 star anise pods
4 oz peeled and sliced ginger, about 3/4 c

instructions:
Stir together the brown and white sugars and water in a small pot. Toast the whole spices in a skillet until they begin to brown; remove from heat. Add the spices and ginger to the sugar-water mixture and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once the mixture boils, turn it down to a simmer and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep until mixture cools. Pour into jars and refrigerate.

To make ginger ale, use about 1.5 tbsp syrup per cup of seltzer. The syrup will keep in the fridge for at least a month, and I've read that if you add a bit of vodka to it it will keep indefinitely.

This will vastly improve any ginger ale-based drink you want to make. The buck, your basic ginger + spirit (e.g., gin buck, whiskey buck, tequila buck) is a good place to start. Here are a few other cocktails to try your new concoction in:

- bourbon & ginger: bourbon + ginger
   ale + peach
- pear haymaker: vodka + ginger ale +
   lemon juice + pear
- the operator: white wine + ginger ale +
   lime juice
- tequila grapefruit splash: grapefruit
   juice + ginger ale + tequila +
   Campari + triple sec

strawberry season!

Although it's not quite time for strawberries in Tennessee yet, in more southerly states the season is in full swing. I really wanted to make a strawberry cake for my birthday party last week (along with strawberry-infused vodka), so I had to make due with CostCo strawberries. Of course a friend from Louisiana brought strawberries picked that morning to the party, but it was too late for the cake so we've just been eating them out of hand (which may be the best way to enjoy them anyway).

Luckily, this cake doesn't rely too heavily on the quality of the strawberries; they mostly provide a little color and some tart texture to round out the airy soft genoise layers and light and creamy mousse filling. This cake requires a bit of time and effort but I think it's worth it, particularly for a special occasion. Having a stand mixer makes the process much easier because you whip the batter for a long time, but it's possible to make it with a handheld mixer.

If you make nothing else, make the cheesecake mousse filling--it's quite easy and probably the best filler/frosting for a cake I've ever made.

P.S. - Speaking of strawberry season, my strawberry-basil breakfast bowl recipe was recently featured on a Whole Foods' cooking blog--check it out! (It's a variation on a blog post I did last summer, the blueberry-basil breakfast bowl.)

vanilla bean genoise filled with cheesecake mousse and strawberries
adapted from Sarabeth Levine and, oddly enough, Worcester Telegram and Gazette
makes one three-layer 9" cake

ingredients:
genoise:
   5 tbsp butter
   5 large eggs + 5 large egg yolks
   1 c sugar
   seeds from 1 vanilla bean, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
   1 c pastry or unbleached cake flour
cheesecake mousse:
   8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
   1/2 c powdered sugar
   seeds from 1 vanilla bean or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
   1 c chilled heavy cream
+1 pint strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced

instructions:
Make the genoise: Preheat oven to 350. Grease three 9" cake pans (or one or two, if you don't have three and need to bake the layers in batches) and line them with parchment paper. Do not leave out this step; I promise the cake layers will stick to the pans if you do!

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, or in a small heatproof bowl in the microwave. Let cool.

Bring a large saucepan of water to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to low to maintain the simmer. Whisk the eggs, yolks, and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer, or a very large heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over the water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water), and whisk constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is very warm to the touch, about 1 minute. If you have an instant read thermometer, the mixture should reach 118 degrees.

If you have a stand mixer, attach the bowl to it and fit it with the whisk attachment. Add the vanilla and beat the mixture on high speed until it is almost quadrupled in volume, very pale yellow, and fluffy, about 5 minutes. If you're using a handheld mixer, Sarabeth says this will take at least 6 minutes. She says the right consistency has been reached when, if you lift the whisk attachment a couple of inches above the bowl, the egg mixture creates a thick ribbon that falls back on itself and holds its shape on the surface of the mixture for at least 5 seconds before sinking. I whipped mine for at least 6-7 minutes and didn't quite reach the 5-second mark, but my cake turned out just fine! Whenever you think it's good enough, remove the bowl from the stand mixer.

In four equal additions, sift the flour over the egg mixture, folding in each addition with a whisk. (I'm not much of a sifter, but I think it's important here.) Handle the batter gently to keep it as light and fluffy as possible. Transfer about a quarter of the batter into a medium bowl; add the butter and fold in with a whisk. Pour this mixture back into the remaining batter and gently fold it in with a whisk.

Pour the batter into the cake pans and smooth it over with a spatula. If you don't have three pans to use at once, try to fill the pans you have to about a half-inch thickness; this should make your layers roughly even. Bake until the top of the cake is golden and it springs back when pressed gently with your finger, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely in the pan. (If you need one of the cake pans to make another layer, you can probably get away with letting the layer cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before removing it.)

While the cake layers are cooling, make the mousse: using a handheld or stand mixer (whisk attachment) on medium-high speed, whip together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Whip the heavy cream in another bowl until soft peaks form. Using a spatula, fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture in three additions, and cover and refrigerate until cake layers are cooled and you're ready to assemble the cake.

Assemble the cake: Run a knife around the outside of one cake pan, and flip the cake out onto the plate you want to use for your cake. Remove the parchment paper, and spread a thin layer of mousse over the surface of the cake. Cover this with a layer of sliced strawberries. Repeat this process for the next layer, then top with the third layer and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining mousse. Top with strawberry halves or more sliced strawberries, if you'd like.

You can store this cake in the refrigerator for a day or two before serving, but make sure to remove it at least an hour before you want to serve it.

a time for baking, a time for blogging.

Although I have done less blogging (ahem, no blogging) over the past few months, I have baked more than ever. I started making muffins, scones, granola bars, and various other breakfast-y items for the divinity school's weekly coffee hour back in September, and I've tried dozens of recipes, from walnut date bread with brown butter (YUM) to blueberry-buttermilk "biscones" (yum) to chocolate oatmeal flaxseed muffins (un-yum).

As much as I love whipping up three or four new baked goods each week, I keep going back to one scone recipe that consistently delivers. No matter how you embellish them, these scones are divine--rich but delicate, with a crumbly brown exterior and a soft, light interior. You can make them sweet and/or savory, add dried fruit, chocolate, nuts, or cheese, break them open and spread them with butter and jam or eat them as-is.

The scones pictured here have about 1/2 cup of oats replacing the same amount of flour, with about 1/3 cup of blue cheese and 1/3 cup of chopped dates mixed in. If that combination doesn't appeal to you, here are a few other options for mix-ins:

sweet:
1/3 c white chocolate chunks + 1/3 c dried cranberries
1 c fresh blueberries + 2 tsp lemon zest
1/3 c chopped pistachios + 1/3 c chopped dried figs

savory:
1/2 c grated parmesan + 2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/3 c chopped cooked bacon + 1/3 c gruyere, topped with cracked black pepper
1/3 c grated cheddar cheese + 1/3 c diced apple (okay, this one straddles the line a bit)

simple cream scones
adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book
makes 8 scones

ingredients:
2 c (10 oz) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar (for sweet scones only)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
1/2 - 1 c mix-ins (optional)
1 c heavy cream

instructions:
Preheat the oven to 450. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

Whisk together the flour, sugar (if using), baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in any mix-ins you are using.

Form a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the cream. Using a rubber spatula, stir together just until combined. If there's a bit of excess flour, incorporate it into the dough using your hands, but try to handle the dough as little as possible! (If you knead it too much, the scones will be tough.)

Lightly press the dough into a round cake pan and cut into 8 wedges. Place wedges on the prepared baking sheet, and bake until they are light brown, 12-15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through if you remember.

Transfer the scones to a wire rack and let cool for as long as you can stand it (at least 5-10 minutes). Serve warm or at room temperature.

P.S. - If you don't want to bake eight scones at once, these freeze well. Once you've cut them into wedges, just place them on a baking sheet and freeze until firm (at least 3-4 hours). Transfer to a freezer bag, and they'll keep for at least a month.