Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting

Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting

1 1/4 cups (280 g) semisweet chocolate chips
5 tbsp (75 g) butter
1/2 cup (125 ml) sour cream
1 tbsp (15 ml) vanilla extract
1/4 tsp (4 g) salt
2 3/4 cups (620 g) powdered sugar

  1. Melt the chocolate and butter together.
  2. Let it cool and blend in the sour cream, vanilla and salt.
  3. Gradually add the sugar beating well until it thickens enough to spread.

Baileys Anglaise

Anglaise-Baileys

Who needs a measuring cup?! And obviously for this batch, I used flavoured Baileys. In this case, Baileys website says that all of their products are made with GF ingredients so there should never be a problem with their liqueurs.

 

This is a simple Anglaise recipe that you can find almost anywhere. There are a few minor tweaks from my restaurant days. In this case, GF is definitely not taste free!

Baileys Anglaise

2 cups (500 ml) whipping cream
1.5 vanilla beans or 4-5 (75 ml) tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup (150 g) white sugar
8 egg yolks
1/2 cup (125 ml) Baileys Irish Cream

  1. Put your cream and fresh vanilla beans in a sauce pan and heat slowly, stirring constantly until bubbles form at edges.

    Anglaise-Cooking

    This would be after I added the egg mix to the cream. Remember you want to continually stir so you don’t cook the eggs or scorch the cream on the bottom. Low heat is the best!

  2. While your cream is coming to just under a boil, whisk together your egg yolks and sugar until they are smooth. Supposedly you should add 1/2 of the milk to the eggs mix and whisk constantly. I usually just add the whole egg mix into the pan since you will be heating it slowly anyways. The point is not to cook the eggs so you should likely make sure you have the pan on a very low heat if you pour it all in.
  3. Continue to heat the sauce, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. If it starts to lump, you’re cooking the eggs and will not have a good sauce.
  4. Once the sauce is done, pull it off the heat and add in the Baileys and whisk it together. Then put it in the fridge immediately to keep those eggs from cooking!
  5. When you’re ready to serve it, it should be a little chilled but not fresh out of the fridge unless you want your hot food to get cold immediately!

 

Bill’s BBQ Sauce

BBQI have never been a huge fan of smoky barbecue sauce or just straight up red BBQ sauce. So I developed a conglomeration that works in the interim … I may soon develop one from scratch but for now this one is GF and spicy, tangy, sweet and a lovely afterbite!

Bill’s BBQ Sauce

1 jar (298 g) Mr. Sauce Honey BBQ
2 tbsp (30 ml) Habanero Tabasco
1/2 cup (125 ml) spicy sweet mustard (a ground mustard is the best if possible)
1/2 cup (120 g) minced garlic
2 tsp (10 g) cilantro

Mix and enjoy!

Pepper Jelly

The jar on the left is Habanero Jelly and on the right is the Jalapeno Jelly. The jelly should last for quite awhile - this jalapeno jelly was still good after three years. Be careful about preparation and sanitation though if you plan on keeping it that long.

The jar on the left is Habanero Jelly and on the right is the Jalapeno Jelly. The jelly should last for quite awhile – this jalapeno jelly was still good after three years. Be careful about preparation and sanitation though if you plan on keeping it that long.

When I was a young warthog, er, when I was a young boy, I loved Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. Grape was my favourite flavour. As I got older, it was a guilty pleasure at times, but of course that was all BCD. So as a guilty pleasure goes, it went out the window.

Of course PBJs are not the only way to enjoy jelly. And it definitely is not a great way to enjoy Pepper Jelly. This spicy sweet goodness goes amazingly well with cream cheese and bagels or a personal favourite is with cheese ball and crackers – obviously both the bagel and crackers would be GF!

Pepper Jelly

2 pounds (900 g) peppers (Habanero for really hot jelly or Jalapeno for a milder jelly)
2.5 cups (625 ml) apple cider vinegar
2 – 1.75 ounce (100 g) packages powdered pectin
10 cups (2.2 kg) sugar

  1. Wearing rubber gloves, take the stem off the top of peppers and puree the peppers as fine as possible in a food processor.
  2. Combine the puree and 4 cups water in a large non-corrodible pot and place over medium heat. When the liquid comes to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Pour the hot puree into a jelly bag or a strainer lined with a dampened cheesecloth. Let the juice drip for an hour, stirring occasionally.

    This would be the straining process. I didn't bother with a cheesecloth because in this case I have a fine mesh colander that works just as well.

    This would be the straining process. I didn’t bother with a cheesecloth because in this case I have a fine mesh colander that works just as well.

  4. Pour the strained juice into a non-corrodible pot; there should be approximately 4 cups. Add water equal to this amount. Add the vinegar and pectin, stir well.
  5. Bring to a full boil and add the sugar. Bring the contents to a boil that cannot be stirred down and stir for 1 minute.
  6. Immediately ladle the hot liquid into hot sterilized jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace, and seal. Refrigerate any jars that do not seal and use within 2 weeks. Note – if you don’t like the colour, you can add a little food colouring. That won’t alter the taste or texture.

 Precautions:

  • Do not forget to use gloves. If you don’t and you get the pepper oils on your hands, do not rub any sensitive parts. And rinsing with water will not lessen the effects of the oils; the water will only spread the oils.
  • Non-corrodible means stainless steel or nonstick, not copper.
  • You need an assembly line to pour, cover and seal ... be prepared, because you should have it sealed in a jar quickly to encourage a proper seal and set.

    You need an assembly line to pour, cover and seal … be prepared, because you should have it sealed in a jar quickly to encourage a proper seal and set.

    It’s best to seal the jars in a hot water bath and I typically boil the jars to sterilize them. You can find instructions on how to do both online in multiple places.

Bailey’s Ganache

This is about what it should look like once you're ready to start cooling.

This is about what it should look like once you’re ready to start cooling.

Typically a chocolate ganache is used to enrobe a cake in a sweet chocolate frosting that hardens into a smooth glossy shell. It’s really simple to make a ganache, making your cake look pretty and easy to decorate if that’s the way you want to go!

This recipe utilizes Bailey’s Irish Cream or any other Irish Cream instead of whipping (heavy) cream. Additionally if you decide to use cream, you could technically use any other type of chips such as white chocolate or butterscotch – just keep the proportions the same.

Irish Cream Ganache

3/4 cup (188 ml) Bailey’s Irish Cream
1 cup (180 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips

  1. Heat the cream in a sauce pan until it just starts to boil. You’ll want to stir it regularly since you don’t want the cream to burn onto the bottom of the pan.
  2. Once it boils, add in the chips and remove from heat. Stir until the chips melt and the mixture is smooth.
  3. Give it a few minutes to cool and then pour over your cake!

Cola Cajun BBQ Sauce

So I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of regular tomato barbecue sauce. I really enjoy more of the mustard sauce, obviously kicked up. That said, I experimented a while back on a cola barbecue sauce and really hit it out of the park. So here’s one of my favourites barbecue sauces.

Cola Cajun BBQ Sauce

1 cup (240 ml) GF barbecue sauce (something like Mr. Spice‘s Honey BBQ would work)
1 can cola
1 red onion
2 tbsp (30 g) minced garlic
2 tbsp (30 g) Cajun Seasoning
1 tbsp (15 g) chili flakes
1 tbsp (15 g) butter

  1. This is really simple. Dice your onions and fry them up with everything but the barbecue sauce and the cola.
  2. When the onions are translucent, pour in the cola and the sauce. Mix thoroughly and let simmer for at least half an hour to an hour – depending on how thick you want the sauce to be. The longer it simmers the thicker it will become.