A smoked bone-in half ham, baked and finished with a glaze of Maker's Mark whisky, Creole mustard, pepper jelly and lemon juice.

Whiskey Glazed Baked Ham

My favorite baked ham, hands down, has always been what is probably the most classic southern baked ham - a brown sugar and mustard glazed ham with a Coca-Cola pan sauce. It is so good! Still, like everything else, I do enjoy mixing it up occasionally and this whiskey-glazed ham is a mighty fine version too!

Sliced whiskey-glazed baked ham, pictured here with cornbread from the recipe in my cookbook, purple hull peas from the freezer, and my favorite steamed broccoli recipe. {affil link}

A cup of hot chocolate, spiked with Kahlua if you like, and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne.

Spiked and Spiced Hot Chocolate

This Spiked and Spiced Hot Chocolate came about thanks to the frigid cold weather that moved into most of the eastern part of this country last weekend, including the deepest of The Deep South, and my apparent need to warm up from the inside out. It was bone-chilling cold for this southern gal, and although I was wearing two pairs of sweats, two long sleeved shirts, socks and slippers, and had the central heat going, none of it seemed to help at all. It was definitely a hot chocolate kind of night, and we have another couple of those heading in tonight for the weekend. Just in time for that last minute Christmas shopping, brrrr!

I love hot chocolate and when I want it, I usually break out a saucepan and make the good ole familiar and well loved, old fashioned Hershey's cocoa recipe that many of us have been making all of our lives. This time, there on the counter sat these inviting packages of semi-sweet chocolate chips waiting for holiday treats, and just begging for a feature spot in a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

I also had those nice roasted McCormick spices in the cabinet from our BlogHer Food swag, so I thought why not spice things up a bit too? And of course, why not a little pinch of cayenne pepper to help boost up the good ole circulation while we are at it?  What resulted was a delicious blend of spicy flavor, all of which complimented the chocolaty goodness. I probably used somewhere in the middle of 1/8 and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne and it was a very nice, healthy lip tinglier.  Feeling adventurous? Go ahead and stir in a bit of Kahlua or bourbon.  Give it a try!

Sazerac Cocktail

Photo MSNBC

The official cocktail of New Orleans as of 2008, the Sazerac Cocktail was made famous at the Sazerack Bar at the New Orleans Roosevelt Hotel. Herbsaint is an anise flavored liqueur invented in New Orleans back in the 1930s, when absinthe was banned.

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Sazerac Cocktail
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

Absinthe or Herbsaint
Lemon peel strip
2 shots of rye whiskey
1 shot glass of simple syrup
3 to 4 dashes of bitters

Rim an old fashioned glass with absinthe or Herbsaint. Twist the lemon peel to release the essential oils and add it to the rim of the glass. Add the whiskey, simple syrup and bitters to a cocktail shaker filled with ice chunks and stir or if you don't mind the froth, shake. Strain into the glass. Drop the peel into the glass if you like.

Makes one.

Variation: Substitute cognac for the rye whiskey, or use a mixture of cognac and whiskey. Do not, however, substitute bourbon for the rye whiskey - it is too sweet. Wild Turkey, Jim Bean, and Old Overholt, are a few brands of rye whiskey.

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