Baking With Bourbon
Flourless bourbon brownies, photo by Erin Trimble
Tips for adding bourbon to baking recipes, plus flourless chocolate brownies!
As forced hibernation continues throughout the world because of COVID-19 lockdown measures, many people have found themselves returning to a favorite pastime that had been shelved due to, well, the simple lack of time. The art of baking is gaining momentum as the quarantine continues, offering both a goal-driven activity and a way to make more food without going to the store (and here’s what to do if you can’t find yeast, by the way). Let’s face it, there is only so much Netflix one can watch.
While following a recipe to a T is paramount to how the creation turns out, there are ways to add unique flavors and add twists to classic baked goods. We’re talking about bourbon here, folks, and if you have some on hand as a basic quarantine staple like most of us do, then don’t be afraid to bring it into the kitchen!
Taste the bourbon first, and pay attention to flavor
Bourbon’s basic notes of vanilla, caramel and toasted marshmallow make it the perfect recipe addition for making treats like brownies, cookies, cakes and pies. In fact, according to Linda Ruffenach, author of How to Be a Bourbon Badass and founder of the Whisky Chicks social group, bourbon makes a great substitute for vanilla in most recipes.
One of her favorite dishes to make with bourbon — which is both easy and tasty, she says — is her Flourless Chocolate Brownies (recipe below), but she also enjoys taking traditional recipes like Pineapple Upside Down Cake and modernizing them with different fruits, like banana, and adding bourbon.
Ruffenach says she chooses which bourbon to add to her recipes based on flavor profile. “I think about sweetness versus spice,” she explains. “My go to for most of my baking is Old Forester 86 or JTS Brown [from Heaven Hill]. If I want to have a little extra spice or punch, I might use Old Grand-Dad Bottled in Bond.”
Don’t overdo it (and think about who’s having a taste)
If there is any secret to baking with bourbon, Ruffenach says just don’t go overboard. “I have found that moderation is generally better,” she says. “You do not want the bourbon to overpower the dessert, plus the alcohol in bourbon can compromise the science in baking where the end result is not what you want.”
Chef Bobby Benjamin at Butchertpwn Grocery
Renowned Kentucky Chef John Castro, whose most recent stint was at Bardstown Bourbon Company, agrees with her on this key point. The secret to cooking with bourbon, he says, is “a playful spirit and an ego that that will allow you to know when it’s better just to drink it.”
Chef Castro adds that bourbon isn’t easier to work with than other spirits, since the flavors can sometimes get cooked out of the dish, but if you use it in something like affogato, an Italian coffee-based dessert that does not require baking, “it can be more true to the flavor of the brand, although it usually needs some tempering to make it palatable,” he says. “Just like adding a mixer to a cocktail.”
Some of his favorite recipes to make using bourbon include cakes, pies and desserts that span many cultures. “The criteria for this is usually ‘Better to eat’ or ‘Better to drink’? … and then you have to remember: Oh yeah, not for kids,” he adds.
Still don’t feel like baking? You can purchase bourbon-baked goods online.
It’s not too hard to find bourbon-flavored goods these days — it seems to appear in everything from hand soap to hot sauce. But one Kentucky-based bakery is fine-tuning the art of baking with bourbon, making it a staple in many of the pastries and desserts it offers.
The Butchertown Grocery Bakery, which opened in 2019 as an offshoot of the popular Butchertown Grocery restaurant in the Butchertown neighborhood of Louisville, Ky., is spearheaded by Chef Bobby Benjamin and Pastry Chef Barbara Turner. Some of their most famous menu concoctions include Bourbon & Salted Caramel Cupcakes, Bourbon Barrel & Smoked Sugar Cookies and Old Fashioned Candy Bars. Both establishments have been doing what they can during the epidemic, including offering curbside pickup and delivery.
Chef Benjamin, who says he bakes with bourbon on a weekly basis, believes bourbon goes hand in hand with desserts. “Bourbon is great to work with,” he explains. “Our favorite items on the menu to make with it are Banana Bread Pudding with Bourbon Maple, Bourbon Barrel Ice Cream and Bourbon Candied Pecans.”
The secret, he says, is to use 100-proof bourbons and sample the product as you go.
Yes, you heard that right.
“Always drink bourbon,” he adds. “One ounce for you, and one ounce for me.”
Linda Ruffenach, photo by Dick Arnspiger
Linda Ruffenach’s Flourless Chocolate Brownies
Preheat oven to 350F.
Spray an 8x8 nonstick pan with cooking spray and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
In a small saucepan on low heat, melt together
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup (1 stick) of butter
Add
¾ cup of sugar
Stir on low heat until sugar melts.
Blend in
2 tablespoons bourbon of choice (try a robust one with vanilla notes, like Knob Creek, here)
Remove from heat and whisk in, one by one
3 eggs until fully blended
Add
½ cup sifted cocoa
Blend until the batter is smooth.
photo by Erin Trimble
Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 25-35 minutes. The center of the cake will be slightly firm but not hard. Be careful not to overbake.
For the glaze
melt
¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 ½ tablespoons of butter
Once melted remove from heat and add
1 ½ teaspoons of milk
1 ½ teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon bourbon (use the same bourbon used for the brownie base)
Stir until smooth and glossy. Once cake is fully cooled, pour glaze in the middle of the cake and spread evenly over the cake. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
In a separate bowl, mix together 2 teaspoons of smoked salt and 2 teaspoons smoked sugar (there are bourbon versions of these too, but use whatever you can find, such as coarse sea salt or Maldon salt). Coarse demerara (large crystal raw) is a good sub for the sugar.
When you are ready to serve, slide a knife around the sides of the pan and cut into small squares. This is an incredibly rich cake so we recommend ¼ - ½ inch squares. Dip the glazed side of each brownie into the sugar salt mixture and serve.