Brown Butter Peach Shakes

We are a committed smoothie family, but every so often I find myself with a freezer full of ice cream leaving me nowhere to store the vodka. that needs using up... hence these indulgent shakes.

But the real reason for these shakes is my Dad's peaches.  My father planted a peach tree in his garden about 40 years ago.  It was a tiny little grafted weed when he planted it, on the left as you look out of the French windows at the back of the old house, between the cherry tree and the apple tree.  It's been loving tended by my Dad's strong hands all these years. It's been used and abused by his children and grandchildren. We've been crashing into it on our bikes, kicking footballs into it, colliding with it as we ran to catch a cricket ball, swinging from the branches, picking the infant fruit to piff at each other and generally taking it for granted for over four decades and it keeps giving us the most delicious fruit. My Dad's peaches were my mothers favourite fruit.  They are legendary and superb picked and eaten straight from the tree... but adding brown butter and ice cream isn't a bad option either.




Brown Butter Peach Shakes
slightly adapted from here
Makes 2

30g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 small or 2 large peaches cut into quarters
400ml vanilla ice cream
200ml cold milk
2 shortbread cookies (I used my Lemon Coconut Shortbread Cookies)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon for sprinkling

Heat the butter in a frying pan over medium heat until it starts to go brown and smell nutty.  Add the sugar and peaches and cook until the peaches soften.  The time it takes will depend on what type of peach you're using and how ripe they are.  Mine only took 4 -5 minutes.  Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely.

Put the peaches and all the pan juices into a blender along with the ice cream and milk and blitz until smooth and thick.  Pour into two large glasses.

Crush the cookies until you have a rubble.  Sprinkle the top of the shakes with crumbled ccokies and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino

One last hurrah for winter!

Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino
Serves 2 (Makes almost 700ml of Pumpkin Spice Syrup which you can store in the refrigerator for more Pumpkin Spice Lattes, yay!)

For the Pumpkin Spice Syrup: 
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
3 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 whole nutmeg

For the Frappuccinos:
250ml milk (I used low fat)
125ml espresso, cold
1/2 cup ice
4 tablespoons pumpkin puree
4 tablespoons Pumpkin Spice Syrup
Whipped cream for serving
Pumpkin pie spice for garnish

Make the Pumpkin Spice Syrup:
Put the water and sugar into a medium saucepan and bring to boil. Once the sugar has dissolved add the spices and simmer the mixture for about 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer. Leave to cool, then chill in the refrigerator.

Make the Frappuccinos:
Put the milk, espresso, ice, pumpkin puree and the Pumpkin Spice Syrup into a blender and blitz until smooth. pour into two glasses and top with piped whipped cream and sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice.

Palomas

My friends at Spoonful of Foodies and I are putting together a Date Night menu over the next few days. Each blogger prepared a course for a special occasion dinner and, as I chose the pre-dinner drink, I'm the first cab off the rank with my Pamola cocktail. A refreshing, appetite-sharpening, pretty pink sip to enjoy with nibbles. Not too pretty for guys though, it's a tequila-based drink after all. 

Palomas
adapted from bon appétit
Makes 2

120ml silver tequila
30ml  fresh lime juice
Pink grapefruit soda
Pink Himalaya salt for the rim
Slice of pink grapefruit for garnish

Pour some salt on a small plate. Rub the rims of two tall glasses with grapefruit juice and then dip the rims into the salt. Fill the glasses with ice, pour the tequila and lime juice over the ice and top with the pink grapefruit soda. Garnish with a slice of pink grapefruit.

And here's the rest of the menu:

Roasted Spicy Chickpeas with Lemon Aioli from BakesinSlippers

Garlic Bread Rolls from House of Bakes

Arugula, Pear and Raspberry Salad from The Chef Next Door

Apricot Gazpacho from The Complete Savourist

Crock Pot Spaghetti Bolognese from The Lazy Mom's Cooking Blog

Fruit and Goat Cheese Tarts from casa de la Cargill

Almond Lace Napoleons from Pearls + Girls

After Dinner Coffee Cocktail from My Simple Kitchen

Espresso Martini

I feel a mega coffee buzz coming on.

Espresso Martini
Makes 1

30ml espresso (1 shot)
2 tablespoons coffee liqueur (I used Kahlua)
30ml vodka
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add all the ingredients and shake vigorously. Strain into a martini glass.

Spiced Caramel Milk

I'm not sure what my weekend has in store for me yet. There's market day on Saturday and watching my sons play football on Sunday morning, but the rest of the time is unplanned thus far. One thing I do know, is that I'll be taking time-out for one of these. A big splodge of caramel dwelling at the bottom of a glass of warm, delicately perfumed milk. I'll be inhaling it, literally and figuratively. However you spend your weekend, I hope it's delicious. x

BTW: I jammed my thumb in the dishwasher... just in case you were wondering.



Spiced Caramel Milk
slightly adapted from Donna Hay
Makes 1

2 tablespoons caramel sauce (I used Bonne Maman)
Pinch salt (I used Pink Himalaya salt)
1 cup milk
1 cinnamon stick
Freshly ground nutmeg

Spoon the caramel sauce into the base of a glass and add the pinch of salt.

Heat the milk and cinnamon stick in a small saucepan until it almost boils. Remove the cinnamon stick, strain into the glass. Sprinkle with nutmeg and serve with a spoon.

Mexican Hot Chocolate

According to my 11 year old son, drinking this is like "living in a Mexican dream".  Which is high praise indeed given that he is somewhat of a hot chocolate connoisseur. Happy Cinco de Mayo.



Mexican Hot Chocolate
slightly adapted from Food Network
Makes 2

500ml milk (I used low fat)
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
100g dark chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 long cinnamon sticks for stirring

Put all the ingredients except the cinnamon sticks, into a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar and chocolate have melted. Use a stick blender to blitz and make it a bit frothy. Pour into mugs and add the cinnamon sticks.

Blackberry Syrup Milkshake

  

I grew up with two older brothers and two younger sisters. On summer holidays, we would walk to the local swimming pool and spend our afternoons there. We spent hours in the sun, jumping off the big diving board, bombing each other and lying in the sun. My oldest brother Mark, was given some money so that we could all buy a treat from the cafe. While Mark would always choose a Choc Wedge, my other brother Geoff would get a soft drink and my two little sisters Susan and Liza would get icypoles, I would inevitably get a Pink Drink. I don't know what was in the Pink Drink, probably commercial syrup filled with artificial colours and flavours, but it was heaven to me. It was always served up icy cold and in a great big red and white striped paper cup with a thick red straw standing up in the centre of it. This is my version of the Pink Drink. When I drink it, I could be 12 years old again.

Blackberry Syrup Milkshake

Makes 1

For the Blackberry Syrup:

250g blackberries (fresh or frozen)
Juice and finely grated zest of an orange
Juice and finely grated zest of a lemon
1/3 cup caster sugar

For the Milkshake:

1 scoop vanilla ice cream (or two *wink*)

1 cup milk

3 tablespoons blackberry syrup (or more if you prefer)

Whipped cream for serving

Extra blackberry syrup for drizzling

Make the Blackberry Syrup:

Put all the ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a lively simmer and cook until the blackberries have softened and the liquid becomes syrupy and coats the back of a spoon, about 6 - 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Once cool, pour it into a blender and blitz until it becomes a puree. Push it through a sieve to get rid of the seeds and skins and then pop the syrup into the fridge to cool.

Make the Milkshake:

Put all the ingredients except the whipped cream and extra syrup into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a large glass, top with whipped cream and drizzle with extra syrup.