Aunty Clare's Chocolate Frog Grog

                                     aunty clare's chocolate frog grog

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A tiny town is Mangalore; so tiny in fact the entire town is comprised of "the pub". My Aunty Clare owned the Mangalore Hotel, where I spent many a school holiday in the hotel kitchen or waitressing in the lounge, occasionally a sheep would wander through the bar... but those stories are for another day. 

mangalore hotel situated two hours north of Melbourne 

When my Aunt and Uncle eventually retired to another nearby town they took with them more scotch whisky than you can imagine. Scotch whisky that turned up in all sorts of desserts, cakes and preserves. You will have to combine the thought of that whisky with Aunty Clare's that day find of "bulk bags of slighty deformed Cadbury's Freddo Frogs" to explain how I found myself in a country kitchen unwrapping chocolate frogs for Aunty Clare who was about to whip up a batch of frog grog.

Frog grog is really just another version of homemade Baileys Irish Cream and you can replace the chocolate frogs with the same weight milk chocolate of choice, but I do love all the shot glasses lined up with their accompanying chocolate frog "chaser". 

I started with the labels... Eat Drink Chic has vintage apothecary labels you can download here. Once downloaded pop the labels into photoshop or art software of choice to customise. 

customise the labels

Cadbury Freddo chocolate frogs 

Aunty Clare's Chocolate Frog Grog

makes just over 2 litres, store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

Ingredients

2 x cans of sweetened condensed milk

1 x can of evaporated milk

1 and 1/2 cups thickened cream (thickened cream in Australia contains a little gelatine, you could use fresh bottled liquid whipping cream instead)

200 grams (7oz) Cadbury Freddo Frogs 

3 cups of Scotch Whisky

1 tsp pure vanilla extract/essence

1 tbl instant expresso coffee dissolved in 1 tbl of boiling water

extra chocolate frogs for serving

Method

Place all your unwrapped frogs in a large heatproof bowl and melt gently over a pot of barely simmering water. 

*tip... avoid overheating by removing frogs from heat when they are two thirds melted and stir to melt remainder. 

Place your bowl of melted frogs on your bench and slowly whisk in the two cans of sweentened condensed milk. Then whisk in the evaporated milk, cream, dissolved coffee and vanilla extract. Once that's all combined finish by whisking in the whisky.

Pour the mixture through a mesh strainer into a large jug and decant into sterilised bottles. Glue on your labels and you are all finished. Best left for at least 24 hours, before enjoying chilled over ice... don't forget the extra frogs! 

You may have seen on facebook that our puppy has been renamed "Gallifrey" and I'm nursing broken ribs at the moment.

I'll be back baking and blogging in May, hope to see you then :)

More of Aunty Clare? Try your hand at making a batch of scotch whisky marmalade for your puddle cupcakes.

Or more Grog? Try Bundy Banana Cupcakes or make yourself a toffee topper... here

Sugar Bark

coffee sugar bark pieces decorate a chocolate "cupcakecino" 

This is for my friend Cindy, who is not going to start spinning toffee threads any time soon ;) An easy alternative to traditional toffee garnishes is sugar bark.

Cons; it doesn't last very long (one hour max) so it has to be made at the last minute

Pros; it's so fast to make (4-6 minutes) with no toffee pot to clean!!

You just need sugar, preferably caster sugar (superfine)... and for clear shards that's all you need. You can also add cinnamon/spices, seeds, cocoa nibs, nuts slivers or like I did instant coffee granules & coffee sugar bits.

Try adding white & black sesame seeds for a garnish for an asian custard dessert, almond slivers look and taste gorgeous in sugar bark or go savoury and pair clear shards with char grilled scallops. 

Method

Line at baking tray with a silicone baking mat (at this point my friend Cindy is going to tell me she doesn't have a silicone baking mat... GOOD GRIEF WOMAN... buy yourself one at K-Mart!!)

Sprinkle caster sugar evenly on the silicone baking mat and bake in a preheated 180c oven for 4 to 6 minutes.

here I've added a few coffee granules and coffee sugar to get a darker/streaky effect 

Alternatively you can grill/broil the sugar... either way keep an eye on the sugar, once it starts to melt it browns quickly. Your aiming for a light to mid amber colour.

thicker sugar on you tray will give you an almost "bubble sugar" look, caster sugar with a little different brown sugar will give you streaks, thin sugar (mine with a coffee granule in it) will give you a clear finish. 

Cool for 15 to 20 minutes, break into shards use immediately. 

That's it you have sugar bark.

Faux Cappuccino

To make a faux cappuccino, push an unwrapped baked cupcake (preferably moist cake like mud cake) into a cappuccino cup, top with sweetened whipped cream, sprinkle with cocoa or drinking chocolate and top with shards of sugar bark. This works well with for individual tiramisu's too.

Happy Baking :)

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