New Year’s Eve Treat: Holiday Cheese Spread

December 29, 2018 / theblindpig11 / 1 Comment

holiday cheese spread

Our Christmas was filled with laughter, cheer and lots of good drinks and food. In fact, we probably partook in a little too much good food, but we just couldn’t help ourselves! Rhonda made Merry Margaritas and Jingle Gin Punch on Christmas Eve, and Christmas Morning Bread to kick off the day. We loved hearing from many of you through Facebook and texts that tried out Golden Mint Crinkles and Yum Rum Balls. Now we are getting back into our exercise routines and regular life. However, there is another great food and beverage holiday lurking around the corner — NYE! What are your plans for the big evening? In the past we have hosted a fun casino party and served our Pineapple Infused Vodka, but this year we are ringing in 2019 quietly at home.

Whether you are hosting a rocking evening or headed out to ring in the new year with friends, we have a quick and easy holiday appetizer that you can serve: Holiday Cheese Spread. This spread only looks complicated and tastes even better. Your friends and family will be very surprised that you whipped this up in a matter of ten minutes.

We adapted this recipe from a recipe we found on www.foodnetwork.com. You will need a pound of cheddar cheese cut into chunks, softened cream cheese, prosecco (oh bummer!), parsley, nutmeg, red pepper, pecans and dried cranberries.

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Place the cheeses, prosecco, parsley, nutmeg and red pepper in a food processor. Process until smooth. Spoon into a bowl. Mix in cranberries and pecans. Cover and chill. We refrigerated ours for a couple of hours so the flavors could blend.

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Place in a serving bowl and voila! Now you have an easy tasty fresh appetizer for your holiday party. We served ours with French bread slices for our photos. Later we ate the remaining spread with crackers. We preferred it with crackers, but you can also serve it with fresh veggies.

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The cranberries and pecans give the spread a more decadent and festive look, and you can drink the rest of the prosecco as you wish! (wink)

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If you are viewing this post in your email, visit us at http://www.theblindpig.blog for a printable version of the recipe for Holiday Cheese Spread.

If you are planning your NYE, here are some other great ideas for New Year’s Drinks:

Pineapple Infused Vodka

Rojo

Zaya Manhattan

Have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve! We will see you in 2019!

Disclaimer: The beverages on this site are meant for adults 21 years of age and older. We do not condone underage drinking and never drink and drive.

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Add Some Punch to Your Holidays

December 23, 2018December 29, 2018 / theblindpig11 / Leave a comment

‘Twas two days before Christmas and all through The Blind Pig home base,

every creature was stirring amid the holiday chase.

The stockings were hung by the chimney in a row,

In hopes that soon everything would be ready to go.

Is it just us or has Christmas come upon us quickly? Today we were still scurrying around buying and wrapping last minute presents, delivering our goody baskets, and sending off one last Christmas card. We hope that your holidays are festive, relaxing and fun. To make your holidays extra delicious, we have one final holiday recipe to share with you: Jingle Gin Punch.

Jingle Gin Punch

We were a little hesitant about sharing a punch recipe with you. Punches tend to be overly sweet and sipping one cup is all that we can usually take. However, we think that you and your guests will be pleasantly surprised with the citrus blend of blood oranges, navel oranges, lemons and limes in this gin based punch topped off with a little sparkling wine.

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To make this punch we used Malfy Sicilian Blood Orange Gin. Yummo! Open this bottle up and take a sniff of that citrusy goodness. This is the sister to Malfy Limone that we shared with you in our Gin and Tonic recipe. The Malfy Sicilian Blood Orange gives this punch a beautiful color and is very inviting when garnished with slices of oranges, limes and lemons. You might be thinking, “Wait, Rhonda and Craig, I’m not a gin drinker.” Hey, we get it, but after trying this recipe, you just might become one!

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So here’s what you need to rush out and buy for the Jingle Gin Punch, which was named by Blind Piglet #2 by the way. You will need sugar, fresh mint sprigs, vanilla beans, Malfy Sicilian Blood Orange Gin, fresh lemon juice, dry sparkling wine, and water. Hint: The vanilla beans were a bit difficult for us (Rhonda) to find. We finally tracked some down at Sprouts. However, if you don’t have a Sprouts or a Whole Foods in your area, add a teaspoon of vanilla to the recipe.

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Start by making some simple syrup. We’ve made this before for other recipes like our Zaya Mojito recipe. Place two cups of water in a saucepan with 2 cups of granulated sugar on medium heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add mint and a vanilla bean sliced length wise, so the flavor can blend with the simple syrup. Remember: If you don’t have vanilla beans, you can use vanilla flavor. Set the simple syrup aside to cool.

Combine gin, lemon juice, water, and mint-vanilla syrup. Chill for 4 hours.

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Add gin mixture to punch bowl and top off with sparkling wine. Garnish with mint leaves and citrus slices. Serve up!

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If you are reading this post via email. Visit us at http://www.theblindpig.blog for the full printable recipe for Jingle Gin Punch.

Will you be merry and bright with Jingle Gin Punch this Christmas Eve? We are prepping our Christmas Holiday Bread for Christmas morning. We hope that you have a safe and wonderful Christmas with lots of good drinks, good food, and good friends!

From our Blind Pig Family to yours Merry Christmas!

Photo by Kayla Stiens Photography

Other great holiday recipes you may have missed…

Christmas Morning Bread

Kerrygold Cinnamon Rolls

Kerrygold French Toast

Disclaimer: Beverages on this site are meant for adults 21 years of age and older. We do not condone underage drinking, and never drink and drive.

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Christmas Morning Bread

December 16, 2018December 29, 2018 / theblindpig11 / 1 Comment

One of the best things about Christmas is jumping out of bed early in the morning in anticipation of unwrapping presents under the tree. Since our family usually has a big meal planned for Christmas, we don’t tend to eat a huge breakfast. If you have guests staying with you, it’s nice to put your best foot forward at breakfast — especially on Christmas morning. We are sharing an easy, tasty and fresh recipe with you that will delight all of the members of your family on that joyous holiday morning. Your house guests will think that you went all out just for them. You can smile graciously. No need to tell them how easy this delectable breakfast was to make.

This recipe was a combination of a few recipes that we had found over the years. One recipe was from Taste of Home December 2017 issue and the other was from Southern Living December 2009, and then we added in a little twist of our own. This great recipe can be prepped a day ahead and baked fresh in the morning or warmed in the oven. To make Christmas Morning Bread you will need, sugar, cinnamon, frozen bread roll dough, Kerrygold butter, chopped pecans, brown sugar, Templeton Rye whiskey and semisweet baking chocolate bar.

First we started to thaw out our frozen rolls. They were not completely thawed by the time we started to work with the dough, but we think it helped to have the dough slightly thawed. You can make your bread from scratch like Grandma Ruth likes to do, but we opted for the frozen dough which was easier.

Next we combined the sugar and cinnamon. We melted our Kerrygold butter in the microwave. We sprinkled a few of our chopped pecans in the bottom of a sprayed bunt pan. Next we made our whiskey caramel sauce. We placed brown sugar, butter, and whiskey in a small saucepan; brought it to a boil; cooked and stirred for 3 minutes. Then removed from heat to cool.

After about 5 minutes, we poured about 1/3 of caramel in the bottom of the bundt pan with the pecans. This gave the top of our bread a nice sweet glaze.

We prepped our area by having the rolls handy, along with the butter, sugar cinnamon mixture and bundt pan. Next we took a roll. Dipped it in the butter, and then rolled the top 1/2 of the roll in the sugar-cinnamon mixture. We placed the roll in the bottom of the pan. We continued until we had a fairly even layer of rolls on the bottom of the pan. We drizzled caramel mixture and pecans over the first layer of rolls. Then we continued layering the rolls and adding pecans and caramel drizzle over each layer until we had 3-4 layers. Our package of rolls was 3 lbs. We thought, “What the heck. The more the merrier, right?” Wrong. It was too much dough and our rolls overflowed in the oven. Stop at about 2 pounds of dough. (wink)

Next we covered with plastic wrap and placed in a warm toasty spot in our kitchen to rise for about 45 minutes. If you want to bake these Christmas morning, you can cover and chill them in the fridge. We would suggest taking them out and letting them rise slightly before placing in the oven.

When you are ready to bake, place them in an oven that has been preheated to 350 degrees. Make sure to place a baking sheet covered in foil on the bottom oven rack. (Believe us, you do not want to skip this part. We saved ourselves from cleaning up a huge mess by doing this!) Bake bread for 50-55 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes, and then invert on a serving plate.

To make the chocolate whiskey glaze you will need to melt the chocolate in a small microwave safe bowl. We melted ours in small bursts of 30 seconds, so we didn’t over cook. When chocolate is melted, stir in 1/4 cup of whiskey and stir until smooth. Drizzle the chocolate whiskey glaze over the top of the bread.

If you are viewing this post in your email, visit us at http://www.theblindpig.blog for a full printable recipe of Christmas Morning Bread.

When we made our bread in our test kitchen, it did not last long. Blind Piglets #2 and #3 and their friends finished it off pretty quickly. We had a few left overs for the next day, and we think it tasted better on day 2.

Are you going to treat your family Christmas morning? Do you need to impress your mother-in-law? Whether you are staying in or headed out, Christmas Morning Bread will be sure to become one of your family’s holiday favs. Let us know if you try it out. We love hearing what you think!

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December Bonus Post: Merry Margarita!

December 13, 2018 / theblindpig11 / 1 Comment

It’s our favorite time of the month– bonus post time! We have been working on perfecting this recipe for a couple of weeks now, and we feel like we have finally hit the mark. This festive margarita will help you and your friends ring in the holidays with lots of Christmas cheer!

This recipe is very easy. We tried out many different combinations and ended up returning to our tried and true base for our Skinny Agave Margarita. To make the Merry Margarita, you will need cocktail ready agave nectar, Corralejo Reposado Tequila, fresh lime juice, cranberry juice (We used diet cranberry juice.), and mint leaves with fresh cranberries for garnish.

If you are viewing this post in your email, visit our site to get a printable version of the Merry Margarita recipe.

We served our Merry Margarita without ice, but you may want to add some crushed or sonic ice for an ice cold marg and a special touch. This drink is easy to drink with the right amount of cranberry to give the drink a rosy glow, but not overpower the taste. We garnished ours with some fun Christmas tooth picks and alternating mint leaves and cranberries. Try adding some fun salt to the rim or float cranberries in your cocktail. Make it fun and festive

Will you be serving the easy Merry Margarita at your holiday celebrations? Santa needs a little extra cheer, so this is definitely what we are leaving by the tree with some Golden Mint Crinkles! Enjoy the rest of your week. We will see you this weekend when we share a delicious reason that you will want to get out of bed on Christmas morning!

Here are some other holiday cocktails you may want to try–

Three Hot Chocolates with a Twist

Cranberry Rum Slush

Gold Medal Coffee

Midnight Spice

Disclaimer:  The beverages on this site are meant for adults 21 years of age and older.  We do not condone underage drinking, and never drink and drive.

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Saucy Gift Ideas for the Holidays

December 9, 2018December 9, 2018 / theblindpig11 / 1 Comment

We are so glad to see many of you sharing and commenting our latest posts: Golden Mint Crinkles and Yum Rum Balls. ‘Tis the season to share and give, so keep on sharing. This week we have another great idea for giving and sharing this season.

If you are looking for an easy treat to share in a goody bag, with your child’s teacher, the mail man, or just a little something special to add to a gift, Kerrygold Hot Fudge Sauce is a great place to start.

Kerrygold Hot Fudge Sauce is a great addition to a holiday gift basket.

This sauce is a great topping for a variety of treats and desserts. Drizzle some over a sponge cake for a little extra pizzazz. Serve over a bowl of fresh berries. Use it for a yummy ice cream sundae. Warm it up and place in a fondue pot with lots of fun fruit, brownies, marshmallows, or angel food cake dippers. Drizzle some over a pile of pancakes or french toast on Christmas morning. Get creative, and let us know how you used the sauce.

Getting organized took longer than actually making the sauce. First decide how you want to package the sauce. Rhonda went to Hobby Lobby and found a variety of cute little jars and bottles. We have also seen bottles similar to this at World Market, or you can purchase small canning jars at the grocery store. Make sure that the bottles are safe for food, and not just made for decoration. Bring the bottles home and wash them thoroughly. We put ours through the dishwasher on high heat to make sure they were well sanitized. We (Rhonda) found some fun tags, bows and ribbons at Hobby Lobby to dress up the bottles and jars for a festive flair.

You can find a variety of jars and bottles at Hobby Lobby. Make sure they have been thoroughly washed.

Next start the process of making the sauce. You will need a package of unsweetened chocolate baking squares, butter, sugar, milk, vanilla, salt and Kerrygold Irish Cream. We have a variety of variations to this recipe that we will share with you below.

Place the chocolate and butter (We used Kerrygold butter, of course.) in a small saucepan over low heat stirring constantly. Add the sugar and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Add the milk stirring constantly and cook for an addition 3-5 minutes until the chocolate sauce is smooth and creamy. You want to keep the heat on low and do not let the sauce boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, salt and Kerrygold Irish Cream. Yes, it’s that quick and easy!

Kerrygold Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients:
1 -8 oz package of unsweetened chocolate baking squares
1/2 cup of Kerrygold butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 ounce of Kerrygold Irish Cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt

Melt unsweetened chocolate baking squares and butter in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Add 2 cups of sugar and continue to stir for about 30 seconds. Add milk to saucepan and continue to stir until sauce is smooth and creamy. Make sure sugar is dissolved, but do not allow the sauce to boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla, salt and Kerrygold. Cool before placing in container.

Can be refrigerated for up to two weeks. Reheat sauce in microwave prior to serving.

Makes approximately 3 cups.

The sauce is good for up to two weeks when stored in the refrigerator. It is best served warm, so you will want to include that information on your instruction tags to your friends. We made sure to remind our friends to place the sauce in a different container before placing in the microwave.

We love choices and variety, and there are several variations you may choose from for your sauce depending on your taste. For a coffee flavor with your chocolate sauce, substitute the Kerrygold Irish Cream with Cafe Bourghetti Espresso Liqueur. Want a little mint and chocolate? Add Branca Menta in place of the Kerrygold. Caution: Branca Menta is strong, so we would only include half as much Branca Menta as Kerrygold. Feeling a little frisky and want some whiskey? Replace the Kerrygold with Templeton Rye Whiskey. Zaya Rum and chocolate complement each other nicely, as well. So now you have choices to satisfy the range of the taste buds in your rainbow of friends and family.

Try it out this week and let us know if you will be in the spirit of giving some Kerrygold Hot Fudge Sauce this season! It’s time for our December Bonus post this week, so be on the lookout for our Merry Margarita!

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Yum Rum Balls

December 2, 2018December 29, 2018 / theblindpig11 / Leave a comment

Cheers, Friends! You know how we told you that if you get one of our holiday goody bags from us that you were going to get some Golden Mint Crinkles? Well… we kind of ate all of them. Rhonda made an effort. She quickly scooped up extras and put them in the freezer for safe keeping. Unfortunately, the Blind Piglets, and both of us kept sneaking one here and two there, so now there are none left. We told you that was a winning recipe! No worries. We will make more and try to get them in the goody bags before we inhale all of them again.

Today we are sharing another great holiday goody bag treat. Yum Rum Balls! (stop snickering) We’ve made rum balls before, but this recipe seems to have more flavor and flair than other rum ball recipes we’ve tried. We hope that you like it as much as we do. This recipe requires some prep on collecting the ingredients, but is easy to pull together once you are ready to get started.

There are a couple tricky ingredients. The first tricky ingredient is Nabisco Wafer Cookies. We first introduced these to you with the Spirited Chocolate Orange Bars. You don’t find these on the cookie aisle. They are usually placed with the ice cream toppings. The second tricky ingredient is almond paste. We had not used almond paste before, but the cashier at Whole Foods told us that it was baking’s best kept secret. So apparently the secret is now out! Use almond paste for cookies and pie crusts. You can find it on the baking aisle. We bought ours from Whole Foods. When we googled it, we noticed that other grocery stores carry it.

Other ingredients that you need for Yum Rum Balls are: dark chocolate chips, sour cream, vanilla wafer cookies, powdered sugar, cocoa, Zaya Rum, melted butter and lots of sprinkles!

Place chocolate chips in a microwavable bowl, and cook in short bursts of no more than 45 seconds at a time. In between cooking stir until chips are melted with a creamy consistency. It is better to be patient and take this step slow instead of overcooking the chips.

Place the whole box of vanilla wafers in a food processor or blender and blend until you have fine crumbs. Do the same for the box of chocolate wafer cookies.

In a mixer combine the melted chocolate with sour cream and almond paste. Mix on medium until well combined.

In a large bowl combine both cookie crumbs, powdered sugar, cocoa, rum and melted butter. Stir with a large spoon until well combined.

Next add the crumb mixture to the chocolate chip mixture in the mixer. Mix on medium until all ingredients are well blended. The mixture will have a paste-like texture.

Refrigerate the dough for a minimum of an hour and up to 24 hours.

Place sprinkles in a bowl. Using a small scoop, scoop balls of mixture. Remember our trick from our Thin Mentas and Golden Mint Crinkles? Spray your hands with cooking spray to make the handling of the dough easy. Roll dough in your hands to smooth out edges.

Drop balls into the sprinkles. Roll in sprinkles to cover completely. Use hands to press sprinkles into dough and to make sure balls are coated. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes approximately 4 dozen.

If you want to get creative, you can coat the Yum Rum Balls in different colored sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, Heath Bar Crumbs, nuts and more!

If you are viewing this post in email, visit us at http://www.theblindpig.blog for the full printable recipe.

The flavor of the rum rings through in these rum balls that are sweet, but not overly rich. They make a great addition to a holiday tray at a holiday party or added to a goody basket. We promise to save some of these for our goody basket friends. Christmas needs to come quick!

Share this recipe and more with your friends, by telling them about our blog and following us on Instagram and Pinterest!

We are just getting started with the holiday fun around here! Check in with us next week for more great holiday and entertaining ideas.