Pumpkin Divine

By far one of my favorite holiday drinks! It's sweet with great fall spices and a pleasant kick. When making multiple servings I mix up a batch of the spices in a little bowl. Other than the pumpkin butter you should have all these things on hand!

Pumpkin Divine

(two servings)

3 oz vodka

3 oz pumpkin butter

1.5 oz triple sec

1.5 oz simple syrup

pinch each of: cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and ground ginger

1) Pour all ingredients into a shaker of ice.

2) Shake - a lot.

3) Strain into a martini glass and serve!

Pumpkin Butter

Pumpkin butter, like apple butter and just plain old butter is a great fall treat. Certainly good with breads, in our house it almost always ends up in a Pumpkin Divine.

Pumpkin Butter

1 (29 oz) can pumpkin puree

3/4 c apple juice

2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 1/2 c sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1) Combine pumpkin, apple juice, spices and sugar in a saucepan, stirring. Bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for half an hour. You will want to stir often to avoid bubbly splatters!

2) Store, refrigerated, in a clean container.

The Real Nog

An acquaintance was asking on Twitter what the best booze for nog is, which reminded me I should post this "real nog" recipe! (both recipes courtesy of Velvet Tango Room, via my Dad :) )

Single Serving

1 Egg

0.5 Oz. Simple Syrup

2.5 Oz. Hvy Cream (or Half & Half)

1.5 Oz. Rum

0.5 Oz. Brandy

2–3 Drops Vanilla Extract

Shake all ingredients in shaker filled with ice. Pour off and add ice cubes to cinnamon & sugar lined (rimmed) glass. Top with grated nutmeg.

For a crowd

2 c heavy whipping cream

3/4 c brandy

6 eggs

2/3 c sugar or less depending on preference

1/2 tsp Madagascar vanilla

1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated

2 c milk

1/3 c dark rum

1) Chill everything!

2) Using a stand mixer or blender, beat eggs til frothy.

3) Add sugar, vanilla and nutmeg. Slowly mix in liquor.

4) Slowly add cream and milk.

5) Garnish with nutmeg and serve!

Mini-Gyros

Originally called "lamb pizzettes" or something like that, these are really lamb on tiny pita rounds. Or, as Adam dubbed them, "mini gyros". Part of my weekly experimentation that I pass off as feeding the guys at Populi I thought these were particularly tasty and a good place to start blogging about the backlog of these Friday recipes.

You can use mini pitas split in two, but we don't actually have those in store around here so I bought two bags of five pitas and then used a 2" biscuit cutter to cut five rounds from each pita. Worked like a charm. And for locals wondering where to get some good ground lamb, I really recommend the Anderson Ranch ground lamb sold at the Co-Op.

Mini Gyros

(Yield: 50 rounds)

Olive oil

50 2" pitas

2 scallions, chopped fine

1/4 c chopped fresh mint

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin seed

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbs pine nuts

1 egg

1 lb ground lamb

1 c plain yogurt

2 tsp chile oil (or a good chile hot sauce)

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425

1) Combine the yogurt with the chile oil, 2 tbs of mint and season with salt and pepper. You can make this a day ahead and refrigerate.

2) Lay out the pita rounds on baking sheets and brush lightly with olive oil. Bake for about 6-8 minutes, or until just lightly toasted.

3) Combine half of the mint (2 tbs) with the scallions, cumin, cinnamon, pine nuts, egg, salt, pepper and lamb. Squish that until well mixed.

4) Spread a rounded tsp of lamb on each pita in an even layer. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the lamb is cooked.

5) Top the cooked mini gyros with a teaspoon of the yogurt mixture and serve.