Pine Valley Bramble Recipes

Steps:

• Add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda to a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Add milk, gin, melted butter, lemon juice, zest and egg to a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined and slightly lumpy.
• Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray or brush with melted butter. Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup batter to the skillet for each pancake. Cook until golden brown on the bottom and bubbles begin to form on the surface, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook until golden brown on reverse side, about 2 more minutes. Transfer to a plate and continue with remaining batter.
• Add the heavy cream and maple syrup to a large chilled bowl. Mix until stiff peaks form using a hand mixer. Add mint and fold to combine.
• Spread the whipped cream on each pancake.
• Stack the pancakes with cream and a few blackberries followed by another pancake with cream and berries. Continue in this manner, finishing with cream and berries on top. Serve!

Steps:

• Put the rum, half-and-half, sherry and ice cream in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a rocks glass. Pipe the meringue on top of the drink, then use a kitchen blowtorch to brown the meringue.
• Place the whites in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
• In a heavy-bottomed saucepot, combine the cream of tartar, 1 cup of the sugar and 1/4 cup water and place over medium-high heat. Cook until the syrup registers 245 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
• While the syrup is cooking, whip the egg whites to soft peaks, then gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and whip to stiff peaks.
• When the syrup reaches the correct temperature, turn the mixer to medium high and slowly pour the syrup down the side of the bowl (avoiding the whisk) into the meringue. Beat for 1 to 2 minutes, then lower the speed to medium and mix until the meringue is cooled, 6 to 8 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract.
• Use the meringue to top a pie or for baked Alaska. Or bake into meringue cookies.

Steps:

• Put the gin, grapefruit juice, lemon juice, Simple Syrup, Chartreuse and orange bitters in a cocktail shaker, add large ice and shake vigorously. Double-strain into a Nick and Nora glass (or other cocktail glass) and garnish with a grapefruit peel twist.
• Combine the sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and let cool completely. Keep covered in the refrigerator up to 1 month.

Steps:

• Combine the sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and let cool to room temperature.
• In a rocks glass, muddle 4 of the blackberries, 1/2 mint sprig and 1 ounce of the cooled simple syrup. Add 2 ounces of the vodka and 3 ounces of the blackberry juice, and fill with crushed ice. Stir gently. Top off with 2 ounces of the club soda. Garnish with a blackberry and a mint sprig.

Steps:

• For the crepes: In a blender, add the milk, eggs, melted butter and 1/4 cup water; blend to combine. Add the flour, sugar and salt and blend, scraping down the sides of the blender as needed, until smooth, about 1 minute. Cover and let the batter rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.
• Re-blend the batter just before cooking. Heat a nonstick crepe pan or 10-inch nonstick sauté pan over medium heat. Coat the pan with a small amount of butter and allow it to froth and bubble. Ladle about 1/4 cup batter into the center of the pan and lift and swirl to spread the batter evenly over the bottom of the pan in a circular motion. When the crepe begins to set, the edges get a little lacy and the bottom gets a little color, about 1 minute, carefully flip with a spatula. Continue cooking until lightly browned on the second side, about 45 seconds. Transfer to a plate or sheet pan. Repeat until the batter is used up, stacking the crepes as made. (You should have about 8 crepes.)
• For the sauce: In a 10-inch skillet, bring the juice to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add the sugar and continue to simmer until the juice reduces down by two-thirds, or until thickened, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Melt half the butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add half the orange segments, half the zest strips and half the reduced orange juice and allow the orange segments to soften and the liquid to reduce, about 1 minute. Fold each crepe in half, and then in half again to form triangles. Add half the folded crepes to the sauce in a single layer, then allow them to be gently coated in the sauce. Flip and coat the other side. Add half the orange liqueur to the pan and allow it to reduce slightly. Pour half the cognac into the pan, then tip the pan to catch the flame and ignite the sauce. (Alternatively, use a long stick lighter to ignite the liquor.) Allow the flame to burn off the alcohol. Transfer the crepes to plates and serve with the Whipped Crème Fraîche. Repeat the process with the remaining ingredients to make 2 more servings.
• Lightly whisk the crème fraîche and vanilla paste in a chilled bowl until the crème fraîche is slightly loosened up and the vanilla is incorporated. Chill until ready to use.

Steps:

• In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake together the first three ingredients and strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice (see below), mounded high. Drizzle crème de mûre over the top and garnish with a slice of lemon, two blackberries and a short straw.
• And, to make simple syrup, stir together equal measures of hot water and sugar, cool to room temperature and store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Steps:

• Shake the gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup in a cocktail shaker with a good handful of ice cubes then strain into a rocks glass full of crushed ice. Drizzle the crème de mure over the top so it 'bleeds' into the drink. Garnish with the lemon slice and blackberry, if using.3 TWISTSFresh fruit brambleThis drink is one to make when the hedgerows are groaning with ripe fruit. Start by muddling 6 blackberries in a rocks glass. Add 50ml gin, 25ml lemon juice, 25ml sugar syrup and fill the glass two thirds full with crushed ice. Mix with a long-handled spoon. Top with more crushed ice, a garnish and paper straws.Bramble royaleGo glam with your bramble by adding a splash of champagne to the mix. Just make the drink as normal but reduce the amount of crushed ice by about a third to leave room for the fizz. Then top with 25-50ml of champagne, mix gently, add a bit more crushed ice, garnish and serve.Peach sourThe classic 'sour' formula that the bramble sticks to is easy to adapt by switching out the liqueur. Try 12.5ml of crème de peche instead of crème de mure - it might not look quite as eye-catching as the bloodshot bramble but it will taste just as delicious.