Tag Archives: champagne recipes

Pear Royale

Kicking off my series of Thanksgiving recipes with a the perfect festive fall cocktail, Pear Royale. Easy to make with pear simple syrup and your favorite champagne! Follow along all month as I share recipes to make a delicious Thanksgiving feast!

From by the bay, wishing you bubbly food memories!

Maryann

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Pear Royale

Ingredients

  • 1 glass of champagne
  • 1 tablespoon pear simple syrup ( recipe follows)
  • optional: thin pear slices

Directions

In a champagne flute  add the pear simple syrup, top with champagne.

Pear Simple Syrup

Ingredients
3 pears
2 cups water
2 cups sugar

optional: pear slices to garnish

Directions

Peel, core and cube pears. Place in a medium saucepan with water and sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.  Use a potato masher to mash pear.  Use a fine mesh sieve to strain mixture pressing the liquid through with a back of a spoon and cool. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use. Keeps for a week.

Champagne Cookies

I was looking to make something special for New Year’s Eve and decided to adapt my German Wine Cookie recipe by using champagne in place of the wine. I cut the cookies into the shape of champagne corks and decorated them with a little edible glitz. I love the result and you will too! The recipe is super simple, so give it a try,
From by the bay wishing everyone a wonderful 2013 and a New Year filled with joyous food memories with your friends and family!
Maryann

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Ingredients For Cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup fine granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup dry champagne
2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups  all-purpose flour

Ingredients For  Icing

1 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons whole milk
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
plus sprinkles or decorative sugar 

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla and champagne. Add 2 1/2 cups flour and mix well. Dough will be stiff. If not sprinkle a little more flour in and mix well. Roll out dough, on well-floured pastry sheet, to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutter.  I prefer to use a champagne cork cookie cutter. Bake on a non-stick cookie sheet for 10 minute, until bottoms just start to brown. Once cookies have cooled, make icing by combining above ingredients. Frost cookies and  top with decorative sugar and or sprinkles, Let icing harden on cookies by sitting on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. 

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Cocktails by the Bay – Forever Blue

Article first published as Cocktails By the Bay – Forever Blue on Technorati.

My parents were of the Mad Men generation, where cocktails were the standard and they always had a name. My parents had an interesting library of books, among them were exercising with Jack Lalanne , Betty Crocker Cookbooks and Better Homes and Gardens – the Garden Book. Tucked in the corner there sat two tiny  pink books called  A Guide to Pink Elephants. I loved to flip through these little books looking at pictures of cocktails, not really understanding a thing about them. As an adult I rejected the idea of  mixed drinks with names as corny and old fashioned,that is, until I arrived to Hong Kong for the first time. There I was sitting at the hotel bar with sweeping views of the Hong Kong Harbor and a menu just filled with cocktails that had names. It changed my whole perspective. It appears that mixed drinks are making a resurgence, so how could I resist coming up with a few cocktails for summer here by the bay? Of course, they needed to have blue curacoa as an ingredient. What could be better than sipping on a cool drink that looks as cool as the water you are sitting next too. Move over Don Drapper.

From by the bay wishing you the bluest of food memories!
Maryann
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Forever Blue Bay Cocktail
 
Take one champagne flute, add 2 teaspoons blue curacoa, 1 squeeze of orange juice and top off with champagne. Give a quick stir and enjoy!
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Cool Blue Bay
Take a glass and add 1 tablespoon blue curacoa, 4 tablespoons vodka, 1/2 cup limeade and 1/2 cup club soda. Add a slice of lime. Make sure all ingredients are cold , stir and drink!