Goslings Rum adapted this rom Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman (photo #6).

It’s an iced brown sugar cake made with pineapple, coconut, and lots of rum, rum, rum (photo #1)!

Goslings Black Seal (photo #2) is a full-flavored dark, barrel-aged rum blended in Bermuda from different triple pot-distilled rums.

The raw rum distillates come from Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad, Caribbean islands where the sugar cane grows.

The blended rum is then aged for 3 to 6 years in re-charred American oak barrels previously used to age bourbon.

The result is a rum with a rich, intricate flavor, well balanced with notes of sweet spices, stewed fruits, and vanilla.

Gosling’s Black Seal rum is Bermuda’s largest export!

If you don’t have Gosling’s but do have spiced rum, you can substitute it.

However, a bottle of Gosling’s Black Seal will enable you to make the popular Dark ‘n Stormy cocktail.

The recipe follows, but first:

> The history of the Piña Colada and the original recipe.

> The history of cake and the different types of cakes.

> June is Caribbean Heritage Month.
 
 
RECIPE: PIÑA COLADA CAKE

 
Ingredients For The Brown Sugar Cake

 
Ingredients For The Pineapple Filling

 
Ingredients For Coconut Buttercream

 
Garnish

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Butter three 9-inch/22cm cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper and butter the parchment as well.

2. SIFT together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the large bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk gently to combine. Add the brown sugar, butter, and 1½ cups of buttermilk to the dry ingredients. With the mixer on low…

3. BLEND the ingredients to incorporate. Then raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

4. WHISK the eggs with the remaining ¼ cup buttermilk and the vanilla, and add to the batter in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl well and beating only long enough to incorporate between additions. Divide the batter between the 3 pans.

5. BAKE for 25-28 minutes or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the layers cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks, carefully peel off the parchment, and allow to cool completely.

6. MAKE the frosting. Place the egg white in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Combine the sugar and water in a small, heavy saucepan and place over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil and cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 238°F on a candy thermometer.

7. BEAT the egg whites briefly at medium speed. Slowly add the hot syrup to the egg whites in a thin stream, being careful to avoid the beaters. Continue to whip until the meringue has cooled. With the mixer on low speed…

8. GRADUALLY add the butter, a few tablespoons at a time, and continue to beat until a smooth, fluffy frosting forms.

9. ADD the coconut milk approximately 4 tablespoons at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl well after each addition. Add the coconut extract and mix until smooth.

10. MAKE the pineapple filling. Combine the crushed pineapple, sugar, and lime juice in a large nonreactive skillet (enamel, nonstick, or stainless steel, but not aluminum, copper, or iron). Add the vanilla bean, including the pod. Warm over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, 2 to 3 minutes.

11. RAISE the heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, until the juices have almost completely evaporated and the pineapple has a jamlike consistency. Remove from the heat and discard the vanilla pod.

12. LET the pineapple filling cool completely before proceeding. (It can be made a day ahead and refrigerated. Return it to room temperature before using.)

[1] Gosling’s variation on a Pina Colada cake (photos #1 and #2 Gosling’s Rum).

[2] Gosling’s Black Seal, a dark rum, is Bermuda’s largest export.

[3] Fresh pineapple wedges and toasted coconut garnish this cake, which uses a coconut cake as its base. Here’s the recipe (photo © Cakes By Courtney).

[4] How about a Pina Colada ice cream cake? This one adds some mango. Here’s the recipe (photo © Taste | Australia).

[5] This Pina Colada cake covered the sides with toasted coconut and decorates the top with piped buttercream pineapples. Here’s the recipe (photo © Treats San Francisco).

[6] Sky-High Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes, which inspired this recipe. You can get it from your local bookseller or from Amazon (photo © Chronicle Books).

14. ADD the second layer, sprinkle with more rum, and cover it with the remaining filling. Top with the third layer, flat side up, and sprinkle with the remaining rum.

15. FROST the top and sides of the cake with the coconut buttercream. Decorate with coconut shreds and thin slices of pineapple.

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[1] These watermelon ice cream bars are made without an ice cream machine (photos #1, #2, #4 © The National Watermelon Promotion Board).

[2] Homemade watermelon juice is simple: Just pulse watermelon cubes in a blender.

[3] A glass of watermelon juice is a refreshing snack (photo © Hyhoon 1210 | Dreamstime).

[4] How about a watermelon ice cream float? Here’s the recipe.

[5] Seedless watermelons are much easier for making juice, and have just as much flavor as the seeded variety* (photo © Good Eggs).

Not surprisingly, July is National Watermelon Month. We love watermelon in many ways, from beverages to relishes to simple slices for snacks and pickled watermelon rind for the leftover. But we’ve never come across a watermelon ice cream recipe.

Now here it is, and you don’t need an ice cream machine.

Find more sweet summer recipe ideas at Watermelon.org.

> The history of watermelon.
 
 
RECIPE #1: WATERMELON ICE CREAM BARS

This recipe has a number of steps, but the result is a delightful dessert with nuanced flavors. Watermelon gelato is layered with a whipped cream watermelon fruit curd, and set over a graham cracker crust.

The garnish for this recipe is fresh basil leaves. But if you have the inclination (we did!) and a bit more time, candied basil leaves.
 
Ingredients For 8 Bars

For The Watermelon Curd

 
For The Crust

 
For The Whipped Cream

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the watermelon curd. In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the watermelon juice, lime juice, honey, and salt. Stir to combine, then add the eggs.

2. PLACE the pan over medium heat and cook, adding the cubed butter and stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

3. IMMEDIATELY REMOVE remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. Cool completely in the refrigerator.

4. MAKE the crust. Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a food processor, pulse the graham crackers until rough crumbs form. Add the honey, salt, and melted butter; pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand.

5. LINE an 8-by-8-inch pan with parchment paper, then press the graham cracker mixture into the bottom of the pan in an even layer. Bake the crust for about 10 minutes, or until it just beginning to brown. Allow the crust to cool completely.

6. MAKE the whipped cream: When crust and curd are completely cooled, whip the cream in a large bowl, until stiff peaks form.

7. GENTLY PUSH the cream to one side of the bowl and pour in the watermelon curd. Using a spatula, gently fold the cream and watermelon curd together until no streaks are visible.

8. POUR the creamy watermelon mixture over graham cracker crust. Freeze the dessert completely, for 4-6 hours or overnight. When ready to serve…

9. LOOSEN the sides with a small spatula or butter knife. Turn out onto a cutting board and use a large spatula to flip so the graham cracker crust is on the bottom. Cut into eight bars and top each with a basil leaf.
 
 
RECIPE #2: WATERMELON JUICE

Watermelon juice is so delicious, and the lowest in calories among the fruit juices. It’s easier to make this recipe with seedless watermelon (photo #5), so you don’t have to pick out the seeds before blending the fruit.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PROCESS 2-3 cups of watermelon at a time in a blender, until smooth.

2. STRAIN into serving pitcher or other container. Note that if you decide not to strain it, the juice will need to be stirred until blended prior to serving.
 
 
________________

*Some people claim that seeded watermelons have a better flavor than seedless varieties. This isn’t so. The flavor and sweetness of a watermelon is determined by many different factors, such as the variety, climate and soil where it was grown, and when it was harvested.

Seeded watermelons are less expensive, and people who like to chew the seeds will get many nutrients from them.

Seedless watermelons were bred some 50 years ago by altering the number of chromosomes (this was natural breeding, NOT genetic modification).

Watermelon trivia: The seeds are called pips, the industry term for a small, hard fruit seed especially, one of a several-seeded fleshy fruit like watermelon. [source].

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July 9th is Argentina’s Independence Day, Día de la Independencia. The independence of Argentina from Spain was declared on July 9th, 1816. Celebrate with this blender chimichurri sauce recipe and your favorite grilled food.

Chimichurri (chih-mee-CHOO-ree) is Argentina’s national condiment. In Spanish, it’s a salsa (each Latin American country has its own salsa recipes).

In Argentina, chimichurri is the must-serve sauce with steak, but is equally delicious with anything grilled or roasted: chicken, fish, lamb, pork, vegetables, and potatoes.

This yummy blender chimichurri sauce recipe is from Colavita Recipes.

It couldn’t be simpler to make in your blender or food processor.

The recipe follows, but first:

> The history of chimichurri sauce.

> A additional chimichurri recipe.

> How to create your signature chimichurri sauce.

> 21 ways to use chimichurri sauce.
 
 
RECIPE: BLENDER CHIMICHURRI SAUCE

You can prepare chimichurri a day in advance, and keep it tightly capped in a container in the fridge.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PULSE the oregano, parsley, garlic, vinegar, and olive oil until the mixture resembles a chunky paste.

2. TASTE. Adjust the salt and pepper as desired.

3. ALLOW the flavors to meld for 2 hours. That’s it!
 
 
 
 
 

[1] Easy blender chimichurri sauce (photo © Colavita Recipes).

[2] Chimichurri is the go-to sauce for steak and other grilled meats (photo © Organic Beef Company | Facebook).

[3] Chimichurri is delicious on roasted or grilled vegetables, like potatoes and these roasted beets (photo © Quinciple) | Farm To People).

[1] An elegant ice cream cone (photo © Claudio Hegedus | Wesual | Unsplash).

[2] July is National Blueberry Month, and July 8th is National Blueberry Day. Here’s the recipe for blueberry ice cream (photo © Driscoll’s).

[3] A caramel ice cream sundae (photo © National Honey Board).

July is National Ice Cream Month, and even if it weren’t, the hot weather in July and August gives us a good excuse to indulge in perhaps even more ice cream than in other months.

As if we needed an excuse!

But some people can experience the condition known as brain freeze.

It’s an intense pain in the head that’s caused by eating or drinking something intensely cold.

The scientific term for brain freeze is sphenopalatine ganglion neuralgia.

But you can keep calling it brain freeze or ice cream headache.

Anyone can get brain freeze. Those who eat something ice-cold very quickly may be more likely to get brain freeze.

And those who are susceptible to migraine headaches are also more likely to experience one.

Brain freeze isn’t serious and goes away quickly—in a few seconds or up to two minutes.
 
 
WHAT HAPPENS?

When your body senses sudden, extreme cold in the mouth or throat, it tries to react and warm up.

Blood vessels throughout the head expand to let extra blood into the area for warmth. That quick change in blood vessel size causes sudden pain.

If you experience it for more than a few seconds, try to bring the temperature in your mouth and throat back to normal.

Here are two options to thaw that brain freeze, from Cleveland Clinic:

 
If this happens to you frequently, eat and drink very cold things slowly.

On a personal note, we typically don’t get brain freeze, but we have experienced what we call “face freeze”: a situation where the lower part of the face and mouth becomes ice cold.

One July afternoon, when eating four pints of Wine Cellars Sorbet for a review, our face froze and we were so cold that we had to put on a hat, scarf, and gloves to finish eating.

Why didn’t we just stop eating for a while?

Ah, a professional deadline!
 
 
> The different types of ice cream and other frozen desserts.
 
 
> The history of ice cream.

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July 6th is National Fried Chicken Day. There’s likely no lover of chicken who hasn’t enjoyed plates of fried chicken. But how about fried chicken skins?

The fried chicken skins recipe below is the chicken’s answer to fried pork skins, or chicharrones.

Of late, fried chicken skins have become popular with restaurant chefs, when the nose-to-tail movement began around 10 years ago, encouraging chefs to use all parts of the animal and lessen food waste. Plus, customers love crispy, crunchy chips (as these are, in effect, fried chicken chips).

They make them with flavors from classic Southern style to Asian and Latin American seasonings and beyond.

Chicken skins have long been popular elsewhere, in Japan and throughout Asia. Flavor & The Menu reports that “the KFC in Indonesia offers fried chicken skins that, rumor has it, are better than the french fries.”
 
 
USES FOR FRIED CHICKEN SKINS

In addition to snacking, with or without dips, fried chicken skins can be:

 
Speaking of potato chips, fried chicken skins pair with just about any dip, sweet or savory.

Honey may be messy, but it’s delicious on the fried chicken skins.

While you’re considering which honey to dip, consider chile-infused varieties like Mike’s Hot Honey, and smoked honey like Classic City Bee.

You can purchase ready-made fried chicken chips, and some brands have gone one step further.

Flock Foods makes great chicken skin crisps (photo #5) n several flavors.

Wilde Brands, for example, makes a processed chicken chip that also includes egg whites and bone broth, Certified Paleo and Keto, in five flavors.

> Recipe: Our favorite fried chicken, with crushed Corn Flakes.

> The different cuts of chicken (bet you can’t name all of them).
 
 
RECIPE: FRIED CHICKEN SKINS (ACTUALLY, THEY’RE BAKED)

You can find numerous deep-fried chicken skin recipes, but we like this one because it’s baked (and we really don’t like to deep fry).

Here’s a recipe for fried chicken skins.

Note that you can collect chicken skins in advance, by buying breasts or thighs skin-on, then removing the skins and freezing them. (Then, cook the skinned chicken as you wish. We use skinless thighs and legs to make chicken soup.)

Instead of the seasonings below, you can use any global seasonings: shichimi togarashi, the Japanese seven-spice blend; chipotle; curry; harissa; jerk spice; za’atar; etc.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. REMOVE the skin from the chicken breasts (we use a kitchen scissors to do this). Pat dry and cut the skins in thirds lengthwise. Place them skin-side up in a single layer on the baking sheet.

3. BLEND the seasonings in a small bowl and sprinkle on the chicken skins (you don’t need to use all of it). Cover the skins with another layer of parchment and top with another baking sheet or a roasting pan to press down on the chicken skins.

3. BAKE until the skins are browned and crisp, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove the top baking sheet or roasting pan, and the top layer of parchment paper.

4. TRANSFER the chicken skins to a plate lined with paper towel to cool and crisp up.

[1] Fried chicken skins, dipped in hot honey (photos #1 and #2 © Eugene Dela Cruz | Carson Kitchen | Las Vegas).

[2] Use any seasoning you like, from Southern to Latin American to Asian.

[3] Mike’s Hot Honey, available in Hot and Extra Hot (photo © Mike Hot Honey).

[4] Smoked honey is also a delicious option (photo © Classic City Bee).

[5] We love Flock Chicken Crisps (photo © Flock Foods).

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