Extract Excitement!

For those of you who know me well, you know I'm a bit of a foodie. I LOVE to cook, eat, and read/watch anything about cooking or eating. I love to try out new recipes and experiment in the kitchen. I'm so thankful that I like to experiment because I have to do a lot of that to try to adapt my favorite recipes to use what we have available in Brazil. While in Brazil, I've learned to make my own version of pancake syrup - a bottle of maple extract from the States makes bottles of syrup...my recipe only uses 1 tea to make 2 cups of syrup. Naturally, I wanted to bring back more maple extract, so I was so excited to run into this very large bottle of it for cheap at an Amish market in Lancaster, PA.

I picked up the maple and also saw this bottle of pecan extract/favor. Immediately I could picture myself adapting my maple syrup recipe to making pecan flavored syrup as well! YUM! I can also use it for making muffins, cinnamon roll icing, and so much more. I could taste the possibilities and couldn't resist the great price.

As I was at the counter I began chatting with the woman running the stand, telling her how I live in Brazil and wanted to bring back some flavors that would allow me to satisfy my cravings for my favorite foods. Then....she introduced me to the real treasure!! She showed me these tiny bottles of about 30 different flavors of extract! The bottles are only 1 fl dram (.125 oz) but are super concentrated. Each DROP in the bottle is equal to a teaspoon of the more watered down, normal extracts. Each bottle has about 25 drops according to her and only cost about $1! My mind started spinning and mouth watering at the idea of easily fitting these bottles in our suitcases and whipping up tons of recipes in Brazil. I CRAVE blueberries in Brazil and this would allow me to put the flavor in muffins, crumb toppings, and much more...

I bought 3 blueberries but I thought I would expand my horizons and try out raspberry, blackberry and cherry. I can even add a drop to a pitcher of iced tea or put it in cakes!!

But wait...there's more foodie excitement/possibilities for an ex-patriot chef! Jeyson and I love flavored creamer in our coffee but it's not available in Brazil. Over time I started experimenting with a homemade version. Just throw in a blender: 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1 1/2 cups of whole milk and blend. This is the basic recipe but then you can add any flavor to it you can dream of. 1 tea of van, 1 tea of cinnamon, 1 Tb hot chocolate mix, a big squirt of caramel syrup for ice cream, 1 tea peppermint, or even spices for pumpkin pie to make a pumpkin spice. But when I saw these:

I knew I couldn't pass them up! Yay for many bottles of homemade butterscotch, English toffee, Bavarian creme, and Eggnog flavored creamer. And why not use the fruit flavors for creamer too? A cherry + almond flavor (we have that in Brazil) = amaretto ....blueberry flavored creamer? yum!

See?? I told you I'm a foodie and I'll be one happy coffee drinker/baker/syrup maker in Brazil! I can't wait to try them out! Thank you Amish country for understanding what's necessary to cook from scratch!!