The dog days of summer are upon us and there’s nothing more that I want to do than stay inside with a good book, blast my little A/C because I live in New England and the monsters up here don’t believe in central air conditioning, and get a little drunk in the privacy of my own home. Cream of the Crop by Alice Clayton and Covers & Cocktails fulfills two of those wishes.
Ever since I started this column, I’ve been dying to do a take on a White Russian. It’s one of my favorite drinks. It’s silky and delicious and nearly tricks me into thinking I’m getting a decent dose of calcium. “Does a Body Good” (the drink I’ve named for Cream of the Crop) is a salted caramel White Russian. Because come on. Look at that cover. I had to include dairy of some sort.
The hero, Oscar Mendoza, is a dairy farmer and is a man of few words, but he might be one of my favorite Clayton heroes to date. He also makes the heroine’s favorite cheese and I love cheese. Currently, I have five different kinds in my fridge.
The heroine, Natalie, is an ad exec in New York. And opposites attract stories between city girls and country boys are one of my favorite tropes. I threw in some extra caffeine and a dash of caramel as an ode to the things that fuels most Manhattanites: Starbucks.
If you’re hoping to read Cream of the Crop, the lovely staff at Gallery Books has offered up a copy to giveaway!
Shopping list:
Vodka
Coffee liqueur (I used Kahlua)
Heavy cream
Espresso or coffee for brewing
Caramel syrup
Coarse salt (optional – for garnish)
Proportions:
2 oz vodka
1 oz Kahlua (or another coffee liqueur of your choice)
1 oz heavy cream
1 oz espresso
2 tbsp caramel syrup
Directions:
- Essentially throw everything in a shaker full of ice. Funny story: I couldn’t find my shaker for some reason, only to realize later on that it was full of some awesome Dijon ranch salad dressing I made (happy to share the recipe if anyone wants). So instead, I threw everything in a Tupperware container that had no corresponding lid. Finding one with a lid took longer than it did to make this drink.
- Put some extra syrup along the rim of your glass and garnish with salt, like you would with a margarita.
- Pour drink carefully into glass.
Modifications and notes:
- I brewed the espresso ahead of time and kept it in the fridge. I recommend it being cold when you use it. Alternatively, you can use your favorite flavored coffee.
- If you want a strong caramel flavor, use more syrup. Or substitute heavy cream for a caramel flavored creamer.
- The only salt I had in the house was coarse sea salt and I don’t recommend that because it is waaaay salty. To be honest, I may forgo the rim job (lol).
- If you want to pretty-up your glass, you could make designs with caramel syrup on the inside of the glass before you pour in the drink. Definitely refrigerate your syrup if you’re going to do this; that way the syrup is stiffer and easier to work with (lol again – I’ll be here all week).
- I bought my caramel syrup in the sundae fixings, but you’re welcome to make your own!
We also have one (1) copy of Cream of the Crop to giveaway to one lucky winner!
All you have to do to enter is leave a comment and tell us what blue collar hero is your favorite. I grew up in a big dairy farm town in Florida. I never thought of dairy farmers as sexy before this book, but I can appreciate a man who works with his hands. The giveaway will end Sunday, July 17, 2016 at noon EST, so get your comments in before then!
Standard disclaimers apply. We are not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Open to US/Canadian residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18 and ready to get your hands dirty. Knowledge of tractor driving is a plus, though not required. And please, the cows are ladies and expect to be treated as such!
UPDATE: And our winner is IW! IW, keep an eye on your inbox and thanks to all who participated!
My favorite blue collar would be handymen. For so many obvious reasons 🙂
Cliche I know, but anything to do with rural life (rancher, cowboy, farmer). You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl!
Horse breeder
My father was an auto mechanic. So I’ll go with that.
I use similar ingredients to make a White Russian milkshake. Vodka, Kahlua, Baileys, half and half. Add it all to the blender with a few scoops of coffee flavored ice cream. I’ll have to try the caramel syrup next time.
My favorite blue collars hero is a mechanic
Definitely a carpenter. Preferably one who looks like Harrison Ford (have you all seen the picture of young carpenter Harrison Ford with no shirt, beard, and goofy hat? Good stuff).
My first boyfriend was a mechanic and I still have fond memories, so I’llet use that.
I use the butterscotch syrup with milk in my coffee everytime I drink it. Funnily enough, despite my love for all things salted caramel, I’ve never done that to my coffee. Must remedy that posthaste. The booze is just a bonus.
Amanda please do include the dressing recipe- I’m always on the lookout for new ways to dress up my salads. Anything really to make them more appetizing.
Also, if anyone has a decent pepper parmesan, please, please post it.
A buddy of mine works in a nuclear power plant. Still as cute as he was in high school and a whole lot smarter than Homer.
I’m going with carpenters. Building stuff is hot. And as someone with an older house that could use some remodeling, having a handy guy like that around would be sweet.
As soon as I read the opening sentence, I knew I had to comment to express my agreement: NEW ENGLAND MONSTERS. Seriously! Central air conditioning is so great! As I sit here with my window unit puttering away seemingly ineffectually…
I don’t have an answer to the “blue collar hero” question, but I just wanted to lament the lack of cool air.
I think mechanic, though carpenter is a close second. I love my mechanic – he is older and now works out of a shop on his property. He is nice looking and pleasant and honest and smells like cars. Should my husband and his wife suddenly disappear, well, sadly, I would not be the only woman in town checking him out.
Very specifically – Xander Keaton in The Obsession (Nora Roberts). Auto mechanic who’s the lead singer in a local band. I just loved him!
Carpenter. My old house needs such a fix up…and that would be so much easier if I could get a fix-up with a cute carpenter!
I’m going to go with mechanic because I just spent $1000 on car repairs yesterday. I love the idea of a carpenter to fix my house and build me bookshelves, but I’ve had friends married to carpenters and electricians who could never get anything in their own houses fixed. (Hey, I get it, I don’t do law when I come home if I can help it)
And I’m trying this cocktail this weekend, but with some sort of chocolate beverage instead of espresso.
Farmer because I need to eat healthy food!
@kitkat9000: The recipe comes for Chrissy Teigen’s Cravings cookbook. It keeps pretty well!
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
The thing I love about this recipe is that I already have most of the ingredients around, save for the buttermilk.
The drink and the book both look yummy! Give me a farmer and/or cowboy hero.
I think a general handyman type is always good. Two reasons: watching someone fix and/or build something is always kind of hot, and if you have a guy that can fix stuff for you, than you don’t have to spend money paying someone to fix stuff, and you have more money for books.
I’m a pragmatist.
I’ll cast my vote for a carpenter. That drink looks delicious. Stay cool!
Definitely carpenters. But really any occupation that means wearing old worn in the right places jeans. Yummy. I really like the cover of this book.
I’m not sure it counts but there is just something about firefighters!!
Favorite blue collar type worker would be someone who works with their hands and works outside. Rancher, farmer, construction. Thanks for the chance!
Carpenters, hands down and singing the Four Tops’ version of IF I WERE A CARPENTER. A close second would be someone who isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty through physical work; he/she will rule the world.
@Amanda: Have you tried powdered buttermilk? It keeps nearly forever in the refrigerator; you add the powder to the dry ingredients and a corresponding amount of water to the wet. I have had tremendous success with it and how often do we keep buttermilk (or make some with regular milk and vinegar or lemon juice) on hand anyway? Your recipe sounds delicious.
@Darlynne: I had no idea powdered buttermilk existed! That’s extremely helpful. And I assume it’d be with the other powdered milk and not in some random aisle. (I had to buy key lime juice one time and could not find it anywhere, so I ordered it from Amazon. Then discovered last week that they keep it in the fancy “organic” section.)
@Amanda: It’s Cultured Buttermilk by Saco and it’s in the baking aisle with the condensed and other milk(s).
It’s a toss up between carpenter and farmer.
Carpenters are intriguing because they do things that are necessary and have room to be truly artistic and beautiful. We has a good family friend who didn’t even have a high school diploma, but he could envision and build the most beautiful log homes. And furniture. And useful ranch stuff (because he was also a rancher).
Mike Rowe, in any of his dirty, dirty jobs. 😉
Handyman!!!!!! Definately!
I so want to win this book. Just saying.
The blue-collar heroes I love are those who demonstrate that one doesn’t need to go to college to make a living. I’ve read ones about mechanics, carpenters, general handymen, farmers.
Then they are those blue collar folk who just work for honorable purposes such as in Lori Foster’s Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor, a series I’ve read over and over. My favorite among those is Jackson Savor.
Thanks for the dressing recipe, except for the honey, it sounds wonderful.
As for Saco’s dried buttermilk. I have found that it is best to store it in a glass container and please make sure you copy the instructions for reconstitution it so you don’t lose it.
I am currently finishing up reading Cream of the Crop and am loving it!!!! I imagine Jason Moma as Oscar….. Mmmmmm. And this drink sounds amazing. I will have to try it this weekend.
Do fire fighters count as blue collar? If yes then I vote that. Or mechanics. I’m not really entering to win the book b/c I have it. But Natalie is kind of my spirit animal and I love her, so I had to comment.
@Liz: Natalie is totally one of my favorite heroines that I’ve read in a while. And part of me wants to go back and re-read it again so I can imagine Jason Momoa. 😛
I loved Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck in Armageddon (come on, who doesn’t love Harry Stamper?) so driller for me (is that actually a job? or is it called something else?).
In my town, the firemen are Hot Hot Hot so they are my favorite blue collar heroes!
(Though the Harrison Ford carpenter idea is a close second!!)
Totally firefighters (Griff Muir from Damon Suede’s HOT HEAD in particular), though I do love corn farmer Mai Kearns from Edmond Manning’s KING MAI too…
My husband! Farmers are hot!
A very good friend of mine works a desk job for the DOL, but dreams of taking over his parents’ farm in New Hampshire someday. His favorite thing is going home for long weekends to work on various project: clearing a patch of land for a new crop, prepping the felled trees for use to build a new hot house, building that hot house, taking care of bees while dressed in netting from head to toe (just his head really, but still…) and scraping some fresh honey. Of course, he takes numerous pictures and sends them to us all. Our group of friends are all city people happiest among concrete and computers, but each time he shares his pics, we all want to go with him for a weekend to play in the dirt. If I had a blue collar hero, it would be him, John the farmer, twenty years from now, planting tomatoes in an old hot house he built with his own hands and keeping bees.
My favorite blue collar hero? Anyone Nora Roberts writes. Also Shannon Stacey.
(Count me out of the giveaway, just sharing my opinion…)
Construction worker. I like a man who knows how to handle his sledgehammer. Heh.