3.21.2010

Sweeten Up Your Day with Macallan ... and a Give-Away!

I recently attended a Macallan tasting at the W Hotel, courtesy of my lovely friend Julie. While I certainly enjoy the occasional Scotch on the rocks, I have never been too discerning of my whisky.

That has all changed.

After sampling different varieties of Macallan single malt Highland Scotch I developed a true appreciation for the nuances of a finely crafted whisky. A few drinks and I was in love. I now recognize the value of the subtle notes of flavor, the depth and richness and the smooth texture of Macallan. After talk of my other love, dessert, Macallan’s ambassador Eden Algie urged me to experiment with Macallan in my dessert adventures.

Through playful experimentation and one too many drinks I discovered that Macallan is not only lovely as a drink to pair with desserts, but it also offers a sophisticated marriage with sweets.

Scotch is either single malt - meaning it comes from one distillery - or a blend of different whiskies. Scotch lovers usually favor single malts because of their smoothness. Macallan offers a variety of single malt Scotches. The Macallan 12 is matured in Spanish sherry oak casks. The Fine Oak varieties are triple aged in European sherry oak casks, American sherry oak casks and American bourbon oak casks. The difference between the two is found in their color and flavor composition.

I tested the Macallan Fine Oak 15 and the Macallan 12 in two different desserts. Tell me what you think.

Maple Macallan Glazed Donuts

Donuts are irresistible. Doughy, sweet, fried, they are all the things that comfort me. I decided to try my hand at making donuts at home. They were easier than I thought. I made both fried donut holes and baked donuts. I found that the maple Macallan glaze paired best with the donut holes. The dense cakey texture of the baked donuts overpowered the delicate flavor of the glaze. I used the Macallan 12 for the glaze because it is sweet and distinctive. This Macallan has big vanilla and toffee characteristics that complimented the maple and the donut.

The glaze was so fantastic I could eat it alone. Bursting with a syrupy rich flavor, the subtle Macallan essence washes over the tongue. This makes for a decadent breakfast with a nice cup of tea or a nice finish to a meal when accompanied by a glass of Macallan 12.

Traditional Scottish Honey Cake with Macallan

When researching Scottish desserts, I found that honey seemed to be a prominent ingredient. I decided to make a traditional Scottish honey cake. What came out of my oven was transcendent. The edges of the cake were slightly crisp and super buttery. The cake was studded with hints of refreshing citrus. It was nutty and luxurious with a faint woozy bite. With this recipe I used the Macallan Fine Oak 15, which is light, mellow, and subtly floral. This whisky has soft notes of spice and fresh zesty elements that balance nicely with the assertive honey glow of the cake. I dusted the cake with powdered sugar and light cascade of orange blossom honey rather than the citrus butter cream in the recipe. For added pleasure enjoy this cake with a glass of Macallan 15.

Did I mention there is a give away? I have a little present for you… leave me a comment telling me which recipe you liked best or leave me a recipe you think would pair well with some Macallan and I might send you a bottle of Macallan Fine Oak 10. For another chance to win, follow @EdenAlgie on twitter and leave me ANOTHER comment letting me know you are following him. Winners will be selected using random.org. Good luck!



Maple Macallan Glaze (adapted from Gourmet)

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter


2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons whipping cream

2 tablespoons Macallan 12

6 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted

Melt butter with maple syrup and cream in heavy small saucepan. Remove from heat. Add powdered sugar and and Macallan and whisk until mixture is smooth. Allow glaze to cool until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Dip doughnuts into glaze or drizzle glaze over doughnuts.


Scottish Honey Whisky Cake

Ingredients:

6 oz self-rising flour

6 oz butter

3 eggs

4 tablespoons Scotch

6oz light brown sugar

zest of 1 small orange

2 tsp honey

confectioners sugar and honey (topping to taste)

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the orange zest and honey and mix until incorporates. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Scrape down sides of bowl and add half of the flour and mix. Pour in Scotch and fold into mixture. Add remaining flour and fold together.

Grease 6 muffin tins or two mini loaf pans and pour in batter. For loaf pans bake of 20-25 minutes in oven at 375 or until cake is golden brown. For cupcakes bake at 275 for 18-20 minutes or until a light golden brown. Place on wire rack to cool.

74 comments:

  1. Mmm donuts, but I prefer the Macallan. And hey I'm following @EdenAlgie.

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  2. Bought one of my best friends a pricey bottle of Macallan for his birthday and didn't get a chance to try it...thinking this might be my chance ;)

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  3. As a grad student, I'm a little too broke to buy myself a bottle of Macallan (although I bought my friend a bottle of Macallan 15 for his birthday and it was delicious) for baking purposes, although the recipes sound great. I am following @EdenAlgie, though!

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  4. Let's be honest, I'll eat/drink anything with a little Macallan's in it, but those donuts look amazing! As someone else posted, Macallan's is a bit pricey for a poor student like myself, so this giveaway is fantastic :)

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  5. Oh, and I'm following @EdenAlgie.

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  6. I follow-and if you keep on with the donuts, I'll follow you until the ends of the earth! I've never had Macallan's, I'd love to try it!

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  7. Those doughnuts look incredible.

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  8. Wow the cake recipie was amazing! and I too am following @edenalgie

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  9. If you are in the Miami area this week there is a Macallan tasting. You can register at www.celebratethemacallan.com. You have to enter a Miami zipcode.

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  10. I'm torn, both look equally as delicious - can we get samples to pick a favorite? For the sake of the thread, I'll choose donuts!

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  11. Lol, had no idea you're a scotch drinker. Ever tried a hot toddy pudding cake? It has scotch INSIDE and I'm sure it would pair well with a nice glass of it too.

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  12. Traditional Scottish Honey Cake with Macallan sounds like the way to go and I've been following @EdenAlgie since his visit here to Phoenix! Love "The MacAllan" for any occasion.

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  13. Bob- The donuts are the perfect marriage of the two! A delicious sweet donut with the flavor of Macallan :)

    Shabnam- My fingers are crossed for you!

    Katie- Good Luck!

    Domenica- It is pricey but oh so tasty!

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  14. Those donut holes look amazing! Love the idea of combining the two!

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  15. I love both recipes but can probably make the Macallan maple glaze more easily. And, yes, I've been following @EdenAlgie. I love him and his accent. Hey he's not wearing his usual plaid in that picture!

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  16. My favorite recipe would be the Traditional Scottish Honey Cake. They look so moist and delicious! My hubby would marry me all over again if I won and made those cakes! ;-)

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  17. Try Macallan Chocolate Pudding! http://www.recipezaar.com/Macallan-Whiskey-Chocolate-Pudding-280629
    Thanks for Glaze recipe!

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  18. Um, booze and donuts? Sounds like a typical sunday morning in my house. Love that recipe.

    And, yes, I'm following @edenalgie on the twitters. So pick me please!

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  19. I'm following @EdenAlgie. thanks for the suggestion!

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  20. Um WOW. Those donuts look AH-MAZING! I can't believe you made them!!! Maybe I should be hitting you up after Lent is over instead of the bakery case at Joan's/Huckleberry...

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  21. I definitely like the macallan glazed donuts (but may just be because I love donuts :P ). What an awesome recipe idea!

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  22. I'm gonna have to try some of these. Oh, and I'm definitely following @EdenAlgie

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  23. Hey I'm still following @EdenAlgie! :)

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  24. I'm just a sad diabetic that would love some carb free scotch!

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  25. If you like Macallan try a scotch called Abelour. My wife was making "no mai fan" from her grandmothers recipe. You may know it from dim sum. Its glutenous rice with sausage, shrimp that is steamed. Well she said it called for whisky and she used some from the cabinet. I thought WTF the only whisky I have is a $50 of 18 year old glen livet! Come to find out it called for Chinese cooking wine, and whiskey was just a bad translation!LOL

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  26. Omg! Both recipes look amazing! And of course I'm following @EdenAlgie :)

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  27. I'm following the ever enthusiastic @EdenAlgie.

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  28. The donuts look fantastic!

    breannesbellavita at gmail dot com

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  29. How about chocolate cigars with scotch? I just hope it doesn't require lots of scotch becauce it hurts to see good liquor used in cooking. Maybe just a splash?

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  30. I'm loving the maple glazed donut recipe using Macallan! I've been binging on donuts recently, thanks to finals week!

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  31. Maureen's chocolate pudding sounds delicious, too.

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  32. I vote for the Maple Macallan Glazed Donuts because I love maple donuts more than any other donut in the world.

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  33. sign me up for the honey cake! *drool...

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  34. The cake wins! It has a touch of spirit, honey and citrus in it, so it's clearly the one to snack on. :) It looks like an easy recipe to replicate too!

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  35. Mmm Mmm mmmm..! Glaze me up some of them donuts every morning. Delicious.... =)

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  36. the honey cake looks the bees knees...and the donuts look like a hole lotta fun too!
    I am also following @EdenAlgie

    Lavinia Turnbull

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  37. hehe i LOVE donut holes! they are so much better than donuts ;)

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  38. Hi, I think I would make the doughnuts.... but would all that frosting make my family just a little tipsy?

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  39. I'm following @EdenAlgie. I'm a poor waiter who loves some Macallan's, a most deserved contestant. Donuts look great!

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  40. mmmmmm, I want a honey cake w/ some Macallan spiked coffee.....

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  41. I love scotch. Scotchy scotch scotch.

    The donuts look most awesomest to me!

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  42. Inspired by the lady Gaga video,
    I would try the scotch with a honeybun haha.

    I've been obsessed with them lately.

    -Carlos Damas

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  43. Yummmmm u know if u make it for me then ill eat it!

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  44. You had me at MACALLAN

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  45. Talk about taking very good ingredients and doing very little to them! Bourbon and vanilla milkshakes, move over! Macallan Honey Cake is here!!!

    This wonderful post reminds me of a time in Rome many years ago, when after an amazing meal the waiter brought an affogato di gelato, which I had known to be gelato drowned in cold espresso. But in this case, a small bowl of dark chocolate gelato was brought next to a shot of single malt scotch whiskey. He then dumped the whiskey over the gelato and walked away....it was heaven. Thank you for reminding us of the many ways good whiskey can improve our lives!

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  46. Oh, the Scottish Honey Cake looks gorgeous! that's one I'd definitely try!

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  47. And now following @EdenAlgie on twitter. Thanks for the opportunity to win this!

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  48. Vanilla and toffee? Yes, please. The Maple Macallan Glaze sounds so good right now.

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  49. Following @EdenAlgie now. Good stuff.

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  50. I've been following you for a while, thanks for the great contest and all the best!

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  51. Following Eden Algie. These look delicious. It's nice to see whisky being used in cuisine. Mostly its entrees with meat and stuff (salmon with whisky sauce is awesome) but it's rare to see a scotch incorporated into a dessert, especially a baked dessert. Definitely going to have to try to make this. A shame I'm a terrible baker.

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  52. This goes back to what I've always thought. Scotch IS a breakfast food. I'll have to try with donuts though.

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  53. I am following him on Twitter too.

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  54. Those glazed donuts rock!!

    -Aaron

    aaronshand@hotmail.com

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  55. I'll be making the honey cake this weekend - we attended the tasting here in Atlanta last week - excellent presentation! Just wish it had been quieter, I missed about half of it. Ah well, I guess that means I need to catch them next time around too!

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  56. I love donuts, but that honey cake (sans the nut topping, as I'm allergic) looks heavenly so I'd have to go with that.

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  57. And I, @cheshster, am now following @EdenAlgie.

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  58. im (@acumen) following @EdenAlgie

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  59. i'd have to say the doughnuts, but maybe just the scotch

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  60. I've never thought about doughnuts and scotch but it's definitely on the to do list. The glaze recipe sounds great!

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  61. Wow. The donuts look awesome! I think I'm going to have to try that myself.

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  62. Also, I'm following @EdenAlgie (I'm @ink_slinger, if you need confirmation).

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  63. The honey whiskey cake sounds awesome!

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  64. This sounds amazing! The Scots would love this idea! Whiskey+donuts= pure genius!

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  65. The whisky donuts sound like winners to me.

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  66. Also, following @EdenAlgie (as @sibuduh). These all look good, really, especially since I've been in Oman since October :P

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  67. Yes please! I would love to try these out.

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  68. Great post. What about a recipe for making the doughnuts?

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