Mostly I play around with custards and creams and sweet baked things. I think it probably stems from my cooking background. I like navigating recipes by assembling building blocks in a cohesive structure that produces an accurate product. For instance I've been working on a blueberry Pound Cake - I look at this as blueberry blocks, cake blocks, and frosting blocks. Then I fit them together in a well balanced manner. I eliminate redundancies, swap ingredients out here and there, and really try to consolidate my efforts into minimal amounts of flavorings. This has worked well for me. This style of mixing, over the years, has in my opinion produced some great recipes. It's methodical and effective.

About a month ago I started doing testings with FLV Bourbon. This has been an enjoyable ride. I had always just used TFA Kentucky Bourbon when I needed some warmth and bite in my bakeries, and it had worked well. This FLV Bourbon was new and fun, and in combination with TFA Kentucky Bourbon these two can really crank out home runs.

At this point I receive text messages on a daily basis to see what new bakeries I have “brewing”. I like to try and mix up a few new things every week to keep people's interest. The recipe I'll get to discussing momentarily was a product of testings with FLV Bourbon, and a request made by one of my good friends.

It started when I received a message asking for a custom bakery juice that could tick 3 separate boxes.

Bourbon.

Pecans.

Cinnamon.

I was up for, and accepted, the challenge. Immediately my brain went to Cinnamon Rolls. This is something I know pretty well, it's one of my favorite juices that I make. I figured I would just modify the recipe to “add toppings”. Done and done. Easy peasy. Turns out it wasn't.

My initial recipes all seemed so busy. There was too much going on and a lot of different moving parts that I was going to have solidify.

Cinnamon Rolls. I needed buttery cake with some sweet and doughy. Cinnamon Roll bakery block.

Can't have Cinnamon Rolls without icing or frosting. Sweet, sticky, frosting glaze block.

Going to need some nuts and pecans now, for that topping. Buttery, nutty pecan block.

Make it a bourbon frosting? Cool let's add that smoky sweet bourbon block.

This all seemed doable in my head, and I know that it could achieved. In fact, I'm still working on that recipe. But, it got put on the back burner once my recipe was nearing 9 flavorings because it was going to need extended steeping and careful balancing. There was just so much going on. I wanted simple, straightforward and delicious.

Sometimes you just have to change things up.

County Fair, bourbon glazed pecans

County Fair

Co.|Flavor|% :--|:--:|--: FLV|Bourbon|0.75 TFA|Kentucky Bourbon|2.5 FW|Butter Pecan|3 FLV|Rich Cinnamon|0.15 VT|Golden Syrup|1.5 TFA|Toasted Marshmallow|2

Total 9.9% / Steep 7+ days (SnV)

Bourbon Block. Like I stated before, I've been really enjoying the combination of TFA Kentucky Bourbon + FLV Bourbon. Together these guys create a deliciously rich and smokey, sweet blended bourbon flavor. It really works excellently as our glaze in combination with with our “sticky” ingredients.

Glaze Block. VT Golden Syrup + TFA Toasted Marshmallow. We all know and love the wonders of Kentucky Bourbon and Toasted Marshmallow thanks to /u/coop34 . Toasted Marshmallow helps “char” that bourbon and brings smoky sweetness to our glaze along with mouth feel. Golden Syrup makes things stickier and thicker, and also helps elevate our sweetness. It acts as a binder for our cinnamon to create those crunchy cinnamon sweet clusters we find covering our pecans.

Cinnamon Block. FLV Rich Cinnamon. If a recipe calls for cinnamon, 99% of the time I'm using this. It's an unparalleled bakery cinnamon that is sweet and potent.

Pecan Block. FW Butter Pecan. Another concentrate I consider best in class is this one. It's smooth and buttery, it almost has a warm taste. It's decadent and dense and nutty. This is what we attach all of our blocks too. Bourbon and Cinnamon to glaze, and the glaze to the pecans.

That's about it. It can be SnV'd but solidifies over about a week. In my opinion this is pretty straightforward, and reminds me of those bags of pecans you get from the little carts at your local County Fair. Enjoy!