Blood Orange and Lavender Curd

I always look forward to blood orange season. These little jewels brighten the starkness of the mid-winter snow and ice. After trudging through the snow, I arrive home with my precious cargo. I take off my snow boots, my snow covered coat and hat and hang them above the heater to dry. I set the oranges in a hanging basket in the window and I begin to search around the kitchen for inspiration. While searching through cupboards, pantry and spice racks, I see hanging above the basket a bunch of dried lavender, plucked from my garden on a warm summer day. After flipping through over 20 curd recipes, I came up with my recipe for Blood Orange and Lavender Curd. This lovely curd is perfect for cakes, pastries, pies, or slathered on a fresh baked piece of rye bread. 

What You'll Need:
zest of 2 blood oranges
1 cup fresh blood orange juice (about 4 oranges should do the trick)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cups butter, cut into pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons dried lavender flowers
6 egg yolks

1. Place all the ingredients in the top of a double boiler (or do what I do and use a metal bowl on top of a sauce pot filled with about 2" of water).
2. Cook over high heat and whisk until the butter is melted and the ingredients are combined. Once the butter has melted, cook, whisking constantly, for another 10 minutes until thickened. 
3. To test if the curd is done, coat the back of a wooden spoon with the curd and draw a line with your finger. If the curd falls back in on the line, it is not ready. However, if the line stays clear, the curd is ready.
4. Pour the curd over a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. This curd can be canned and kept for 1 year, or refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Yield: About 3 cups

"Old Fashioned" Oatmeal Cookies

What could be better then the perfect combination of my favorite cocktail and my favorite cookie? These "Old Fashioned" Oatmeal cookies are just that - deliciously sweet with a zesty bite from the whiskey and orange zest, but still heartily earthy with the oats and dried cherries. These cookies are fun and playful and sure to get a few chuckles of approval from your friends.

What You'll Need:

½ cup butter

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons Angostura bitters

3 tablespoons whiskey

1 tablespoon fresh squeezed orange juice

½ teaspoon orange zest

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups oats

1 cup dried cherries

1. Preheat your oven to 350.
2. Using an electric or stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until combined.
3. Add the egg and continue to beat until the batter is light and fluffy.
4. Add the bitters, whiskey, orange juice and zest until mixture is thoroughly combined.
5. In a separate bowl, add the flour, soda, powder and salt. Whisk to combine.
6. Add the dry mixture to the wet in 2 parts, beating after each addition until thoroughly combined.
7. Mix in the oats and cherries until fully incorporated into the batter.
8. Using a tablespoon, dollop out each cookie onto a greased cookie sheet. Be sure to space them about 1" apart so they do not run into each other as they bake.
9. Bake for 11-14 minutes until golden brown on the bottom.

Devour alongside an old fashioned made with your favorite whiskey!

Yield: about 24 cookies