Top 10 Best Ways to Enjoy RumChata

I have loved RumChata since the moment I tried it, which, was someone else’s idea as I hadn't heard of it until then. So, thank you Chef Greg Schiesser… Once I tried it, my mind began whirling with ideas of how to try it in virtually everything. Cocktails, cooking, baking, you name it and I was pouring it in, on and around. And, when I like something this much, I start telling everyone and sharing with them ~ spreading the love, so to speak.

Here are my Top 10 ways to enjoy the cream-based liqueur. It is similar in style to Bailey’s Irish Crème, but rum instead and with cinnamon-y goodness.

1. Straight over ice~ Keep it simple.

2. French Toast~ Dipped in RumChata instead of milk only makes any brunch better. There is an official recipe, but I felt it diluted the RumChata flavor too much so instead just replaced the milk in my normal recipe and it worked great.

3. Winter Warm up~ Using hot cocoa packets for a quick hot drink, mix with RumChata and pour into saucepan. Heat thoroughly, pour into cups and enjoy while sitting by the fireplace.

4. Morning Wake up~ Make your morning java as normal then pour in RumChata instead of creamer, stir and enjoy. You can also pour RumChata into ice cube tray, freeze and use with normal coffee over the ice cubes in a glass for iced coffee deluxe.

5. Cheesecake~ Yes… cheesecake. Do I really need to say anymore than that? Here’s the recipe:

RumChata Cheesecake (from website)

15 graham crackers, crushed

2 tbs butter, melted

32 oz cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup RumChata

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tbs vanilla extract

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 9" spring form pan. In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Press into the bottom of the pan. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Slowly blend in RumChata and eggs. Mix in sour cream, vanilla, and flour until smooth. Pour filling over prepared crust. Bake for 1 hour. Turn off oven and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 to 6 hours to prevent cracking. Chill in the refrigerator until serving.

6. Whipped Cream~ This is actually how I tasted it first. While at Chef Greg’s Canvas and Cuisine class at Indiana Grand casino, he poured it into an aerosol can and created whipped topping for individual pumpkin tarts. Feel free to put the whipped cream in your hot chocolate also.

7. Kentucky Cocktail~ Pour 3 parts RumChata to 1 part favorite bourbon into Boston shaker with ice. Shake, pour into short glass and enjoy while betting on the thoroughbreds.

8. Cupcakes~ Okay, you could also use it on cake, so whichever is your favorite. I like it in the icing for spice cupcakes, or a bourbon icing on RumChata cupcakes.

RumChata Frosting (from RumChata website)

1 cup unsalted butter

3-4 cups confectioners sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 T vanilla

(up to) 4 T RumChata

Cream butter at medium speed for 2-3 minutes. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and mix at low speed until incorporated. Add vanilla, salt and 2 tablespoons RumChata and mix at high speed for 3 minutes, adding more sugar and RumChata until desired consistency is reached. Frost as desired.

9. Hot Tub Cocktail~ Pour (3 parts RumChata to 1 part Pisa, 1 part vodka) into Boston shaker with ice, Pisa liqueur, a splash of milk and caramel vodka, shake vigorously and pour into tall glass of ice or strain into martini glass.

10. Fruit Dip~ I use this in whipped cream form as a fruit dip and use bananas, apple slices and other fruits for a change of pace from the typical fruit dip. Okay, I also dip gingersnap cookies in it ~

Elizabeth J. Musgrave writes two magazine food and wine columns: Destination Dining and White Linen & Corks,and is a travel, features, food and wine writer, travel and food photographer, and performing arts and restaurant critic. Catch her as the Travel & Leisure Adviser on FOX59 Morning News Show. She also is a speaker, consultant and trainer for hospitality, travel and luxury businesses, P.R., and tourism groups, as well as a radio and television guest and host. Follow her on Twitter @GottaGo, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Fair Food 2009

It’s that marvelous, wonderful time of the year again – state and county fair time. The 4-H projects are turned in for judging, ribbons are distributed and displayed, rides are bolted together and, best of all, concession booths start selling fair food.

Fair Food Time!

Fair food is in a food group all its own and probably not on the nutritional food pyramid. Much of it started as real food, and then metamorphosed into junk food on steroids. Noir movie director Tim Burton couldn’t come up with the weird extremes which have been taken with once reasonably edible stuff. Nothing is too
far out, nothing is off limits, and anything healthy can, and will, be turned into the sinful delights we dream
about the rest of the year.

So what’s out there? The common pineapple whip ice cream, corn dogs and walking tacos have been upstaged by the truly weird. First, the Snickers candy bar was deep fried, then Oreos, then Twinkies...

OK, here’s the list of food gone crazy at the fairs which I have heard about, seen in person or actually eaten.
First, the kabob items, because at fairs, if the food item isn’t drowned in a vat of hot oil, it’s skewered, right?

Salad on a stick

Salad on a stick – someone figured out how to put lettuce on a skewer. Healthier, true, but where do the croutons fit into this picture? Pineapple spears, Carmellows, caramel-covered marshmallows, and cheesecake
wedges are now on sticks. The newest kabobs to hit the circuit are chocolate-covered peanut butter rounds, chocolate-covered Key Lime pie and frozen s’mores. The last item is, of course, drizzled with chocolate, caramel or other sweet toppings.

Pretzel rods are being dipped in chocolate or caramel, fish are in tacos and mashed-potato martinis are hitting the midway this year.

What’s being batter-dipped and deep-fried? Frog legs, banana pudding wraps and Pop Tarts. Hot dogs are now being wrapped in a zucchini skin, deep fried and called, what else, zucchini weenie. Say that three
times fast.

Deep-fried chocolate-covered strawberry

Chocolate-covered bacon is also deep fried now, as are Jelly Belly jelly beans, Spam, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese-filled sausages, Tootsie Rolls, alligator meat, Pepsi, Coke and, drum roll please, White Castle hamburgers. Yep, the little square guys are battered and oiled up for a fast-track heart attack.

The healthier fare being given the royal-oil treatment are strawberries, pineapple and bananas. Avocados, carrots and green beans have not entered the concession zone, as far as I know. However, there’s always next year.

If you have a favorite fair food, share it with me by emailing a note to elizabeth@gottago.us. Me, I will be right here, figuring out how to deep fry cotton candy.

Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated columnist, travel writer and theater critic. Catch her as Indy’s Arts & Entertainment Adviser on 93 WIBC and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and at gottago.us. Comments can be sent to elizabeth@gottago.us.