Just for Tori–Guinness Cookies (Recipe)

Since you don’t like cake….here’s to you Tori

Chocolate Guinness Cookies
Makes ~24 cookies.

INGREDIENTS

Guinness syrup

• 2 bottles of Guinness (12 oz each)
• 5 tbsp sugar

Cookies

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1/2 a vanilla pod, scraped)
• 1/3 cup prepared Guinness syrup
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda [NOTE: If you're using Dutch-process (aka pre-alkalized) cocoa powder, you should use baking POWDER instead. Otherwise you'll end up with oven-baked pancakes.]

1 tbsp powdered (confectioner's) sugar for pretty

METHOD

Set out your butter and egg first to allow them to start warming up to room temperature.

For the Guinness syrup, pour both bottles of beer into a small saucepan and add the sugar. Set the pan over medium-high heat and bring the liquid to a boil, stirring to help the sugar dissolve. When the liquid hits a boil, lower the heat to a busy simmer and let the liquid reduce to a syrup, stirring more than occasionally but less than frequently. It'll take 20 minutes or more -- you're looking for it to become a rich amber color, and gain the consistency of thin honey or thick maple syrup. Also, it'll begin foaming really aggressively when you stir it (more aggressively than that... wait for it...) and will be almost exactly 1/3 cup in volume.

Take the saucepan off the heat and transfer the syrup to a small dish to allow it to cool down.

Get your oven preheating to 350.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine your dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder or soda, and salt) and stir with a whisk to fully incorporate. (This helps break up any clumps and get the leavening agent fully distributed.)

In a large mixing bowl, combine your softened butter (you can just nuke it for a few seconds if, like some authors of this recipe, you forgot to set it out earlier) and your white & brown sugars. Cream them together with an electric blender on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture has lightened in color and begun to hold the wavey shapes that the beaters sculpt it into as they pass through it. Add your vanilla, egg, and Guinness syrup, and blend for another minute or so until everything is incorporated.

Put down the beater! You'll want to use a spoon or spatula for this next part so that you don't overwork the flour. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir gently until no dry pockets remain. The dough will be sticky.

Butter and flour a baking sheet (unless it's REALLY high-quality nonstick). Roll a rounded teaspoonful of dough into a ball in your hands and then flatten it slightly before placing it on the sheet, and repeat until you fill the sheet, leaving a couple inches between each cookie. (If you don't like getting your hands dirty, you can drop the dough onto the sheet directly from the spoon and flatten it slightly once it's on there, but I find that they come off easier when you do the flattening beforehand.)

Pop the sheet in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies look dry and provide a bit of springy resistance when you poke them (carefully, folks) with a fingertip. Remove the sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to continue cooking on it for a couple minutes before transferring them to a rack (preferred) or plate (less preferred) to cool.

For the pretty: Once the cookies are cool to the touch, put maybe a tablespoon of powdered sugar in a fine mesh sieve and hold the sieve over the plate of cookies. Tap the edge of the sieve to dust the powder onto the cookies.

Stout Beer Chicken Thighs (Recipe)

Ha….that almost sounds like a night out in the UK <Wink>.

Anyway, I wanted to post this, as St Pat’s is coming up and what a perfect time to cook with Stout.

I personally will be in LA for a User’s Conference and don’t have time to try this for a few weeks, but there are some more accomplished cooks out there (TommyG, Marsha, Kendra) that would do this better justice than me anyway.  Will any of you three take up the challenge and give this a try?  Send me your pics and I will post.

Enjoy-

Stout beer makes saucy chicken thighs

Braise them with carrots, mushrooms, peas and bacon.

Most health-conscious cooks focus on boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
It makes sense. This ubiquitous piece of the bird is convenient, versatile and virtually fat-free. But there are other options on the same bird. The more flavorful and just as convenient boneless, skinless thighs really should be near the top of your shopping list. Here's why:
While it is true that the humble thigh is fattier than the breast — about 7 grams per 3-ounce cooked portion — that fat brings with it the extra flavor and moisture breasts can so often lack. Plus, the dark meat of the thigh contains the nutritional jackpot of considerably more iron and twice the zinc of white meat.
That extra fat also means it's harder to ruin a chicken thigh recipe, even with quick, high-heat cooking.
Boneless, skinless thighs are just as convenient as breasts, but they do take a bit longer to cook, which makes them well suited to absorb plenty of smokiness on the grill or flavor from a sauce during a stovetop braise.
This recipe for stout-braised chicken thighs, which is perfect for St. Patrick's Day, combines flash browning over high heat and a quick, low-heat braise. By switching around the sauce ingredients, you can turn this method for cooking thighs into an endless variety of dishes
Here, the recipe calls for 3/4 cup of a stout beer and a single strip of chopped bacon to make a smoky, malty sauce that's balanced by the sweetness of peas, carrots and onions, plus the earthiness of mushrooms.
Serve with mashed potatoes or even an Irish colcannon (potatoes mashed with kale or cabbage) to help soak up the sauce.

Stout-braised chicken thighs

Start to finish: 50 minutes (30 minutes active)
Servings: 4.

• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons flour, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 slice bacon, finely chopped
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 3/4 cup baby carrots
• 4 ounces mushrooms, halved
• 3/4 cup stout, such as Guinness
• 3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 3/4 cup frozen baby peas

In a shallow dish, combine 1/4 cup of flour with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and black pepper. Dredge chicken thighs in flour mixture to coat completely, then set on a plate. In a 12-inch, nonstick skillet over medium-high, heat olive oil. Add chicken thighs and cook until well browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a clean plate and set aside.
Add bacon to skillet and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Add onion, carrots and mushrooms and saute until vegetables begin to brown, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle remaining 3 tablespoons flour over vegetables and cook, stirring constantly, another 2 minutes.
Add stout and broth to pan and bring to a boil using a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from bottom of pan. Return thighs to pan, nestling them among vegetables. Reduce heat until liquid is gently simmering, then cover and cook 15 minutes.
Add peas and cook, covered, for 5 minutes more. Uncover pan and simmer 5 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper and serve chicken with vegetables and sauce spooned over top.
Per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 409 calories; 180 calories from fat (44 percent of total calories); 20 g fat (5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 98 mg cholesterol; 21 g carbohydrate; 31 g protein; 2 g fiber; and 397 mg sodium.

Meet Lorna Gobey - A True S&B Hero

Meet Lorna, who recently turned 100.  While this isn’t unusual, lots of people live to 100 nowadays, what she attributes it to is definitely Smokes and Booze material.

Lorna smokes 20 Sterling Superkings Blue cigarettes a day, and has gone through over half-a-million cigarettes since her first one in 1940….the first year of the Blitz of the Battle of Britain.

She attributes her longevity to her fun-loving lifestyle and said her family ''wouldn't dare'' tell her to stop smoking. 

'People try and tell you it's bad for you but my family wouldn't dare ask me to stop. If they did, I'd put them across my lap and give them a slapped bum.

'I like my smokes, a drop of whiskey and Guinness and I still love to play skittles (Bingo). Perhaps it's part of the reason I have lived for so long. I never thought I'd make it to 100, but I have. I'm quite amazed really.''

Her son Bob Fisher, 66, said: ''She smokes faster than the rest of us and still loves a drink. She loves bingo, playing a tune on the mouth organ and riding around town in cars.''

Her favorite drink is a shot of whiskey with a Guinness chaser.  Talk about my kind of woman.  I only can hope that I am at that level when I hit 100.

Happy Birthday Lorna……and may you have many many many more.

Cheers

Article HERE

Paddy Malone's

Last night I surprised my wife and went to Paddy Malone's in Jefferson City with our Friends Jason & Jennifer.

I had never been there, but it had great reviews from other friends.....plus Jennifer had never been to an Irish Pub Environment (other than McNally's in Columbia), so it was looking to be an adventure.

The pub itself is really easy to find, and going to the front door gave a great view of the Capitol Building

Inside didn't disappoint either. The pub is a cross between an Authentic Irish Pub and an Americanized one....but with the flavor very tastefully done. My personal favorite was in the Pub Proper....where all the tabletops had a hand painted "logo" for an Irish City .


Paddy Malone claims to have the best Guinness in Missouri (with great attention to detail), so I decided to kick the night off with that. Debi also went with Guinnes, while Jenn was drinking Amaretto Sours and Jason was having Whiskey and Coke. We also ordered appetizers (Chips and Cheese with Guinness Cheese Sauce, Loaded Tator Tots and the Fried Portabella Mushrooms). We were originally going to work through those and then order real food....but the waitress advised that we wait until we got through the portion size.

The drinks arrived, and I was casually amused with the Shamrock in the foam. I know you are wondering, did the Guinness live up to the hype? I don't know of the best in MO, but I'm pretty sure it's right up there. Perfect temp and very creamy head. When I drank it, the glass striated very well and it arrived ready to go (no waiting for the beer to settle). Since Guinness is my favorite beer on tap.....I know it well, and I was inpressed. Debi said "Very Tasty".

Jenn and Jason liked their drinks (although I can't remember the whiskey in Jason's). Jenn thought the bartender was pretty liberal with booze in her, so that always brings high marks.

Before our food arrived, I followed the Guinness up with a Harp. Again, great temp and very crisp. Service (IMO) was very fast and the waitress was friendly and joked with the table.

When the appetizers arrived, I'm glad our server "scared us off" because there was a lot of food. We all sized an area, I started with the Mushrooms, and dug in. All I can say is Mmmmmm Mmmmmmmm Mmmmmmm (Barak Hussein Obama). Mine was great, the Cheese Sauce was VERY good (with the fries crispilly delicious)and the Tots were not bad. Debi made an astute observation that everyone's favorite was what they started with....so opinions might have been skewed. I tend to think that was the case.

Next round was a Smithwick's, one that I believe I've only had once before. Very good, with a nice Carmel finish. It was hoppier than I expected and that caught me off guard. I loves me some hops....so that was a definite two thumbs up.

After eating, Jason and I explored the patio for cigars. I went with a Gurkha Exotica De Oriente and he had a Crusado from my stock. The patio is the only smoking area of the Pub, but they went to great lengths to accommodate smokers. It is covered, heated and service didn't drop off. They even went out of their way to keep our drinks on our inside tab vs making us run two.

I reviewed their Scotch list, and it too was impressive. I instantly saw Laphroiag and knew what I was drinking for the remainder of the night. I will say, Laphroiag is not for the faint of heart...it is a Peat Bomb in a bottle, and if you are not prepared it can scare you off scotch for life. Jennifer was impressed that adding just a little bit of water smooths out the liquor and really activates the nose. I was in heaven.

Coming back in from Cigars, I went looking for the bathroom...only to find the other section of the bar, where a pickup Irish Music group were playing. Rounding up everyone, we migrated into there and settled in for a couple of sessions. The group was fun to watch and they covered the "Classics". Jenn was in awe, her only forlay into Irish Music had been what is experienced on St Patrick's Day and this was totally different. I did notice that they tended to cover the Chieftains quite a bit, but hey....that doesn't bother me any, and the lead singer tried to always give an explanation of the meaning of each song. Reels, a few hornpipes and some good singing really rounded out the night.


A quick note about the decor of the side room. It's VERY Irish, and is currently being painted with art inspired from the Celtic style, mostly derivatives of animals from the Book of Kells . It's a tight environment and I think this really inspired the guests to participate with the songs. When the room is done, it will be a really nice addition.

Overall, the night was a total success. Good Music, Drinks and Friends made for a great evening. The bill for all four of us was really reasonable (less than $150 with tip, and that is with me drinking a LOT of top shelf scotch) and I would go back again in a heartbeat. If I were to make one recommendation in Jeff City, it would defiantly be..........Paddy Malone's.

Thursday Night Gaming

Ok, lots of friends over for the night as we kicked off the new Ptolus Campaign.

Of course, when friends come over, that means drinking...and tonight was no exception.

There were a plethora of beers/drinks around, so I'll give a brief synopsis. If you attended (or just have an opinion) please leave your drink reviews in the comments sections.

Red Stripe (in the Can) - Much better than I expected. Unusually these regional beers don't translate to can well. I honestly thought it would have a metallic aftertaste (plus I missed the nostalgic short bottle), but I was pleasantly surprised. Good front end maltyness. Made me think of beaches. Thanks TommyGee.

Guinness (in bottle with the Widget) - Ok, I will say it...not that great. If you want to drink Guinness from a bottle, I suggest you go here, otherwise stick with the can (with the original widget) or go to a pub (even better). The flavor seems off, and the initial opening still leaves a bit of a mess. I feel the beer doesn't aerate well enough thought the bottle mouth and there just isn't a comfortable mix. Still not sold on the bottle, so my least favorite of the night. Thanks Randy

Schlafly Pale Ale - Probably my favorite Pale Ale, although usually I drink IPAs for the Hops. Still good enough to be a regular in my fridge and tonight was no exception. This was my staple drink of the evening, and I know others were drinking it too with no complaints. Definitely a mans beer though, something about women not liking hops that I will never understand.....

Mike's Hard Pink Lemonade - Ok, I know what you are saying...FooFoo drink here, but I actually liked this one. I got if for Jill (Debi was drinking Milagro Tequila) because I couldn't find any Mojitos and the fact that it is promoting Breast Cancer Awareness (Save the Ta-Ta's) is always a good thing. I cracked one at the end of the night and thought hmmmm....if I were mowing the lawn, this would be a great thirst quencher. Good tangy bite and very lemony...I'd buy it again.

Gin and Tonic (Bombay and Schweppes Tonic Water) - A classic. What more can you say than that. Glenn and I had one to wrap the night (see what you get for being sarcastic), and it always stands up. I know Debi was upset that I didn't have Diet Tonic Water, but that never tastes right to me. Instead, I just say screw the calories and go with the best of brand. Schweppes.

Finally, there was Harp Lager here....but I didnt get any :( Damn. Oh well, better luck next time on that.