Derby Day Dip!

  

This "Derby Day Dip" is just perfect to serve for your Derby party!  This is a layered dip, served chilled, but it has the components of the Kentucky Hot Brown...you know turkey, cheesy goodness, bacon and tomato!   It is delicious and sort of addicting!

 You can serve with chips or spread it on crackers.  If you want it to be even more like a Hot Brown, serve with toasted banquettes.  

Here is what you need for this yummy dip:

 

8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tsp. chicken bullion (the powdered type)

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (use an 1/8 if you don't like the heat)

1/2 cup diced turkey breast ( I used a good deli turkey)

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese

3 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

1 tomato, seeded and diced

 

In a mixing bowl, blend the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise until it's smooth.  Add the chicken bullion and cayenne pepper and blend.  Set this aside to give the bullion time to dissolve while you prepare the other ingredients. 

 

When you have you other ingredient ready.  Spread the cream cheese mixture in a 1 quart serving dish or you can spread it in a pie plate.  Next, sprinkle with the diced turkey breast.  Now put the shredded Parmesan cheese and then the shredded Swiss cheese.  If you are preparing this the day before, I would stop here and refrigerate. 

 

Then right before serving sprinkle with the bacon and diced tomatoes!

 

This is really good on crackers or with chips like Frito scoops or Ruffles!

Derby Day Dip or whatever day you want something different to snack on!

 

 





Kentucky Bourbon Pound Cake!

This is the "Kentucky Bourbon Pound Cake"!  It is a classic Kentucky recipe that has been around for years and years.   As I have said before, all good bourbon is born and raised in Kentucky...period.  

 It's one of the things we do here unlike anyplace else in the world.  We have certain things we excel at in Kentucky...basketball, horses, country ham, and bourbon being a few of them. 

Right around this time of year they all sort of come together and get showcased.  We go from March Madness right on into Derby Week the first week in May.  During Derby Week, the food at various events will most always include recipes made with country ham and bourbon in some form.  

Most really good Kentucky cooks have to have bourbon for certain recipes.  Even the most strict Southern Baptist teetotaller, like my mother, has that bottle of good Kentucky bourbon tucked back out of sight in the cabinet for such occasions.  

 For some things, there just is no substitute that gives that flavor.  I really think bourbon sets Kentucky cooking apart from some other southern cooking and makes it special.  Of course, being a Kentucky girl, born and bred, I would...lol!    This cake is one that is made for Derby events and holidays traditionally. 

Here is what you will need:

1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)

1 cup vegetable or canola oil

3 cups sugar

8 eggs, separated

2/3 cup good Kentucky bourbon

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. almond extract

3 cups self rising flour

1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 10 inch tube pan or Bundt pan with nonstick baking spray that contains flour.  I use Baker's Joy.  You can also butter and  flour the pan generously.

Cream the butter, oil and 2 cups of the sugar together in a large mixing bowl until it is light and fluffy.

Add the egg yolks, one at a time beating after each addition.

In a separate bowl, mix the bourbon, vanilla and almond extract.  Alternately add the flour and bourbon mixture to the butter mixture and blend.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the remaining 1 cup of sugar until stiff but not dry.  Make sure your bowl and beaters are clean and dry or the whites won't get stiff. 

Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.  This makes the cake less dense, lighter and more moist.

Sprinkle the nuts around the bottom of your prepared pan.  Pour the batter evenly over the nuts.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees an place the cake pan on a cookie sheet.   Be sure to use the cookie sheet, because if you use a tube pan and it leaks at all or the Bundt pan over flows some, the alcohol in this batter tends to catch on fire in the oven!   The cookie sheet will catch it just in case!    Bake for 1  1/2 hours.  When a pick inserted in the center comes out clean, it's done! 

Remove from the oven and cool completely in the pan.

 Invert onto a cake plate and slice in thin slices to serve.

It's a beautiful thing!





Croissant Bread Pudding with Kentucky Bourbon Sauce!

Bread pudding is a very southern sort of dessert and it's not really hard to make, but it seems like so few people make it anymore.  It's one of the dishes you find served at various Kentucky Derby themed parties and events, usually topped with a Kentucky bourbon sauce, which is just an unbelievably good sauce.  I mean it's butter, sugar, bourbon and vanilla... what's not to like?  If you don't want to use the bourbon, just increase the vanilla to 1 tablespoon.  However, the vanilla is just mainly alcohol also and you do boil this so it all cooks out.  

We are using slightly stale croissants for this  bread pudding, but you can make bread pudding out of almost any type bread.  I will say the croissants work wonderfully for a bread pudding because of their flaky layers and light texture.   The croissants just really soak up the custard and it settles in all of the little nooks and crannies.  Do I sound a little too excited about this recipe?  I really am, because it is just one of the best bread puddings I have tried and I just don't think there is any way to mess it up.   Here is what you will need:

9 small bakery croissants or 6 of the large croissants (slightly stale ones work best)

1 cup raisins (optional)

10 eggs

5 cups half and half

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

pinch of salt

2 tsp. of vanilla

Kentucky Bourbon Sauce

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 Tbs. white corn syrup

1/4 cup good Kentucky bourbon

1 tsp. baking soda

 Cut the croissants lengthwise.  Place the bottoms in a 9"x13" dish that has been sprayed well with nonstick spray, preferably for baking.  Sprinkle each half with raisins if you are using them. 

Place the top halves back on each croissant. 

In a mixing bowl, mix the eggs, half and half cream, sugars, cinnamon, vanilla and salt.  Pour evenly over the croissants.  Allow to sit for about 15 minutes to absorb some of the custard.  Press each croissant down in the liquid a couple of times. 

 

 Place the baking dish on a large cookie sheet and cover with foil.  With a knife, cut some small vents in the foil all over.  Place in a preheated 325 degree oven for 1 hour.  Remove the foil and turn the oven up to 350.  Cook for 25 to 30 minutes at that temperature.  The pudding will puff and start to brown.  If it starts to get too brown, lay the foil back over the top loosely and it will prevent it from burning.

This is what it will look like after it sits out of the oven for a bit. 

  

When it's out of the oven, start the bourbon sauce.  Place the butter, sugar, buttermilk, vanilla, corn syrup and bourbon in a deep saucepan and cook on medium until it's all melted and incorporated.  Add the baking soda and bring to a boil for 1 minute.  The reaction of the baking soda will make this bubble and roll, so be careful or it will boil over.  Stir continuously after you add the baking soda and if it  bubbles too much remove it from the heat until it settles back down.   Once it boils for 1 minute, it's ready to serve.  Serve over the still warm bread pudding with a dollop of whipped cream.  This is also good the next day right out of the refrigerator, cold or you can reheat it. 

Croissant Bread Pudding!