The Tootsie Roll Martini is a chocolate and orange burst of cocktail enjoyment that will curl your tootsies. It's a fun cocktail that will take you back to your childhood, but don't be deceived, it's got an adult kick.
Do not leave out the dash of salt, this helps balance the sweetness of the three spirits used.
The TOOTSIE ROLL MARTINI
INGREDIENTS
1 Ounce Chocolate Vodka
1 Ounce Dark Creme de Cacao
1/3 Ounce of Grand Marnier
Garnish: Dash of Sea Salt, Mini Tootsie Rolls
DIRECTIONS
Chill your cocktail glass in the freezer.
Combine the Vodka, Creme de Cacao and Grand Marnier in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake until well chilled.
Strain into the cold glass, skewer the mini Tootsie Roll on a cocktail pick, drop in and serve.
Voiceover Video with Ingredients & Instructions:
National Tootsie Roll Day is February 23rd and, in case you're interested, here's a little Tootsie Roll history.
I absolutely love Snicker's Bars - they've been one of my favorite candy bars for decades. This SNICKERS MARTINI is truly one of my favorite dessert martinis - chocolate-y, nutty and creamy, just like the candy bar!
Surprise your guests at your next cocktail party - serve up a Snicker's Martiniand watch their eyes light up! In fact, try having a Candy Bar Martini Party with all my candy/candy bar martini recipes posted this month - below is a fun Martini Art Cartoon that you can get on tees & gear to lend your martini party some Pin Up Girl flair!
The PEANUT BUTTER CUP-A-TINI is made with Castries Peanut Rum Creme which is really unique and truly 'peanutty' tasting. If you can't find the Castries, you can substitute Frangelico which is a hazelnut liqueur, but the Castries really brings the peanut flavor home.
Did I say Peanut Butter and Jelly Martini? PB & J as a Cocktail? Sure, why not? It never hurts to have a little fun at happy hour.
This is an updated recipe using Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey. I got a bottle as a gift and, surprisingly, really liked it. Weirdly, whiskey and peanut butter make good friends, who knew?
This is truly a unique cocktail, it's a bit like peanut butter and jelly with a whiskey back.
The PB&J MARTINI INGREDIENTS
2 Oz. Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey
1 Oz. Chambord
1/2 Oz. Heavy Cream
Garnish: Peanut Butter Rim, Mini PB&J Sandwich
DIRECTIONS Pipe some peanut butter on the rim of a cocktail glass then chill glass in freezer.
Shake ingredients with ice then strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish and serve.
VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND DIRECTIONS:
National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day is celebrated each year on April 2nd.
This one is a lovely Chocolate Martini that works well as a dessert too! Don't forget to garnish it with your mini Milky Way Bars®!
The MILKY WAY MARTINI INGREDIENTS
1 Oz. Caramel Vodka
1 Oz. Dark Crème de Cacao
1/2 Oz. Irish Cream Liqueur
Garnish: Caramel Syrup and Cocoa Powder Rim, Mini Milky Way Candy Bar
Tools: Cocktail Shaker
Glass: Cocktail or Coupe
DIRECTIONS
Dip glass rim in caramel syrup, then into cocoa powder.
Chill glass in freezer.
Add all the ingredients to an ice filled cocktail shaker and shake until chilled.
Strain into the chilled glass, garnish and serve.
I'm sure you've looked at the cloudy ice made in your home freezer and compared it to the crystal clear ice you buy, haven't you? The reason your home made ice is cloudy is from air bubbles trapped in the ice as it freezes and from the minerals in the tap water you're probably using! It would be nice to have that beautiful clear ice for your drinks and it's not as hard as you would think.
I was watching "Food Detectives" on the Food Network with host Ted Allen when he addressed this problem and gave directions on how to make your own crystal clear ice:
First, you have to use DISTILLED WATER. It has no minerals like your tap water.
Then you boil the water and let it cool down - TWICE.
Fill your ice cube tray sections one third of the way and freeze that layer.
Repeat this 3 times until your trays are filled.
When you pop your ice you will see that you have some beautiful clear ice cubes for your cocktails!
Thanks Ted! Ted Allen, of Queer Eye fame, is also the host of CHOPPED on The Food Network.
Today's Candy Martini is THE CANDY CORN MARTINI - a truly sweet martini that will bring back the memories of those little corn nuggets of sugar. I've made mine a chocolate candy corn martini because I am a chocoholic!
Enjoy and have fun with this one!
Posting birthday/celebration martinis for my birthday month seems to be tying in nicely with my other blogs and events - must be a birthday present from the gods. I made a shaker of my Candy Bar-tini's to go with the Pop Art Cupcakes I got inspired to bake and decorate - and those were inspired by my gourmet cupcake run and my Pop Art Cupcake art. I'm going to be in a sugar coma by the end of the month, lol.
Anyhoo, the Candy Apple Martini uses the same flavor/scent signatures of the Ripe Raspberry Candy Apple perfume - Raspberry (liqueur) and Apple (vodka and Apple Pucker). When I opened the perfumes the first time my first reaction was they smelled like my apple martinis, lol. Now I can wear a fragrance that matches my martinis - how Martini Diva is that, lol?
If you're an Apple Martini fan you're going to love this candy martini and the candied apple slice you float on top is a nice little treat to top it off!
Yesterday was my 59th birthday - the last one before the big 60. I wanted to have a birthday of some planned fun and some spontaneous fun and you can read a short itnerary (with photos) at The PopArtDiva Blog today - don't miss the photo of my cool POP ART TOES!
The Elderflower Martini had a lovely nose on it - just before you sipped you caught that flower essence which really added to the flavor. I could taste the elderflower essence quite nicely and it was well paired with the citrus vodka and cranberry for a very unique and refreshing martini! Audrey and I both gave the taste a thumbs up!
I was a bit disappointed in the presentation - an $11 martini (about average pricing these days) should at least have a minimum garnish of a lemon twist or something and this martini came as a Plain Jane. To me presentation is a big part of enjoying food and a martini garnish is part of the fun of drinking a martini! Ideally I would like to have seen a lovely edible white flower floating on top! Maybe not the Elderflower itself as those are hard to come by unless you're in the Alps at exactly the right two weeks according to St. Germain's website, lol. But any delicate edible flower would have been a perfect garnish.
I am intrigued by this new flower liquor and am anxious to try out some concoctions myself as soon as I can get my hand on a bottle!
Kudos to the bartender at the Harbor Grill for a unique martini taste experience and a hello to the sweet waitress who overheard us talking about my birthday and brought me an excellent Birthday Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulee all lit up with a candle without ever being asked AND NO SINGING OF HAPPY BIRTHDAY, THANK YOU! P.S. The steamed clams were decent too! I'll definitely be back to try out another featured martini and more seafood.
I'll be back to my birthday celebration martinis for January next week - I'm doing candy inspired martinis right now so check this month's previous posts and keep an eye out for upcoming sweet treat martinis!
Tomorrow is my birthday so I'm uploading my next Candy Martini today because I'm going out to play all day tomorrow so. . . . here is The Candy Bar-Tini. This is a delicious Chocolate and Caramel flavored martini that really taste like a liquid $100,000 Grand Bar - just not crunchy, lol. You could rim the glass with crushed rice crispies if you wanted that crunch!
As mentioned, this is my birthday month and so I'm celebrating by posting some fun Candy Inspired Martini Recipes all January! Last week I started with The Almond Joy Martini and today I am treating you to the After Eight Mint-Tini, a chocolate and mint dream of a martini!
Next month - what else??? VALENTINE MARTINIS GALORE and lovely tapas to complement them! Speaking of Valentine's Day:
There are some really fun candy inspired martinis out there and the Almond Joy Martini is one of my favorites. I actually like the martini better than the candy bar, how can you go wrong with chocolate, coconut, almonds and booze?
January is my birthday month so I will be celebrating all month long by posting some of my favorite martinis on all new recipe cards as well as some new martinis I'm developing for my own birthday parties. Yes, I said parties, plural. For some reason my birthday seems to spread out over the entire month of January - not bad, huh?
I've been giving you free martini recipes for years now on my fun recipe cards with my art from PopArtDiva.com and TheMartiniDiva Boutique. I know many of you print them out for yourselves but I also have a number of people who utilize them for making great gifts for their friends. They will download a series of them, print them out and wrap them up in a pretty bow and drop them in a hand painted martini glass or shaker - these make great hostess gifts.
I thought you might like to have a Martini Tip Card to go with your sets so here it is - My first Birthday Martini Gift to you!
If you or someone you know is celebrating a birthday this month (or any month) - or if they or you just like cupcakes! - stop by and check out my new POP ART CUPCAKES and POP ART BIRTHDAY CUPCAKES and pick them up a nice Pop Art Cupcake t-shirt, poster, cup, card, cap, apron or even a pair of shoes!
Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful, safe and fun filled New Year's Eve.
I also hope you didn't over indulge and wake up with a hangover BUT if you just couldn't turn down that 3rd cocktail here's some hangover facts and fiction to help your through the day:
THERE'S GOT TO BE A MORNING AFTER?
HANGOVERS, HANGOVER CURES - Facts, Fiction, What Works, What Doesn't
WHAT IS A HANGOVER?
The medical term for a hangover is Veisalgia, from the Norwegian word for "uneasiness following debauchery" (kveis) and the Greek word for "pain" (algia). A hangover, aside from being one of the most miserable things you can suffer, is basically your body's reaction to the large amount of chemicals and toxins from the liquor you poured into it the night before. (P. S. don't you just love the word debauchery?)
There are a lot of chemicals in booze that are toxic. These toxic impurities are called Congeners Some alcohols have greater amounts (wine) than others (vodka), but all of them have some. While pure alcohol or ethanol is supposedly toxin free that's not what you were drinking last night. Humans cannot consume "pure" ethanol.
If you were not drinking your booze "over" (a shot of a liquor over ice aka "on the rocks") then you were mixing it with something - juice, tonic, water, colas and even other types of alcohol. More toxins are introduced with each additional ingredient and you face the issue of chemical reactions between the ingredients. Your liver will be working overtime to get rid of these toxins by flushing them out and this leads to dehydration. Welcome to 2010, you are dehydrated!
Alcohol can disrupt your brain function - it is a drug, after all! Therefore your REM (rapid eye movement) sleep can be badly affected and REM sleep is where you get your deepest rest. Yup, you are now dehydrated and sleep deprived.
Alcohol causes your blood vessels to expand, which can lead to headaches. So, you are dehydrated, sleep deprived and your head feels like it's going to do an "exorcist" and twist right off your neck.
Wondering why you have the shakes this morning? Contrary to popular thought, alcohol does not raise your blood sugar, it can actually lower your blood glucose. Alcohol inhibits the liver from making glucose, so if you haven't eaten, you run the risk of low blood glucose (hypoglycemia). Now, you're dehydrated, sleep deprived, have a headache and you've got tremors!
Alcohol irritates the lining of your stomach, increases the production of stomach acid and delays stomach emptying. Great Ghost of a Guzzling Gatsby, you are now dehydrated, sleep deprived, have a splitting headache, you're shaking more than a fiver on the Richter scale and your burning tummy is threatening to jump completely out of your body. Happy New Year. You have a hangover.
HOW DO YOU STOP THE MISERY?
PRE-TREATING A HANGOVER
It's actually too late now but if you thought you could stave off a hangover by pre-treating yourself, think again. Taking a pain killer before you go out to party will not stop a hangover. In fact, taking certain pain killers, acetaminophen in particular, can actually cause permanent liver damage! Relatively low doses of acetaminophen taken with large amounts of alcohol has been documented to have caused several deaths. Aspirin is a blood thinner and can cause additional stomach irritation. Remember that pain killers are drugs and alcohol is also a drug, mixing drugs is dangerous.
The British Medical Journal of 2005 concluded that other forms of hangover "pre-treatments", including taking fructose or dietary supplements (such as yeast based preparations) don't work either. Their conclusion: "No compelling evidence exists to suggest that any conventional or complementary intervention is effective for preventing or treating alcohol hangover."
Eating before you go drinking will help to slow down the body's absorption of the alcohol but it will not stop it. A little food in your stomach if you're having a drink or two can alleviate stomach irritation. But no food will cure a hangover*.
Sorry Charlie, unless you can hire Superman to turn back time so you can ABSTAIN or DRINK IN MODERATION, there is nothing that will prevent that hangover.
I WANT TO DIE, WILL NOTHING HELP?
What will and what won't make you feel better when you wake up with your head pounding, your mouth drier than the Sahara and your stomach threatening to erupt like Vesuvius?
HAIR OF THE DOG: The oldest known hangover "cure" is to mix yourself a Bloody Mary, drink a Beer, tipple a little brandy in the morning coffee. Okay, this actually does work a bit because the alcohol will numb you a bit to the misery. BUT, and that's a big BUT - drinking in the morning to ease the effects of drinking at night is kind of like throwing oil on a fire, doing this often is an indication you have a drinking problem. It's a short cut to becoming addicted. Your liver needs to detox from the effects of the demands you're making on it from the night before. Resist the temptation to use alcohol to cure alcohol induced pain!
OVER THE COUNTER HANGOVER CURES: Okay, didn't you read that article from The British Medical Journal of 2005 I gave you above? No? Go back and read it again. Most "hangover cures" are simply a few vitamins and supplements with the directions to drink a full glass of water with each dose - it's the water that is most helpful as it serves to rehydrate your body.
*FOOD CURES: You might not have any interest in any kind of food right now but some foods can help you recover quicker and some can make the situation worse.
Coffee is a vasoconstrictor and can temporarily improve your headache by decreasing the size of your blood vessels but it is a diuretic which will dehydrate you even more.
Eggs contain cysteine which is supposed to help the liver break down the toxin acetaldehye (one of those Cogeners we talked about) but that's not proven. Besides, have you ever been able to even look at an egg in the throws of a hangover?
Bananas, Kiwis, any foods rich in potassium can be helpful because you depleted that helpful body salt with your alcohol induced dehydration.
Fruits and fruit juices aid in re-hydrating you.
No, Burnt Toast does not work. This fiction was based on the idea that activated charcoal is used to treat some forms of toxic poisonings. Unfortunately, that black piece of toast is not activated charcoal.
Fat, Grease and fried foods do not help you the "morning after" and might actually increase any stomach irritation, but if you eat something before you drink it does slow down the body's metabolizing of the alcohol a bit. Maybe Mexican food laced with hot sauce or a vat of lard might not be the best choices?
Water. Drink lots of it. You need to rehydrate and you need a vehicle to carry all those toxins out of your liver and body.
Gatorade - These potassium and sodium (and sometimes sugar) enriched drinks are best because they are mostly WATER, but it doesn't hurt they have some of the minerals you need to replace when dehydrated.
VITAMINS can't hurt you though I found no conclusive studies that they help except for one reference to vitamin C. According to Vincent Zannoni, PhD, professor of pharmacology at the University of Michigan, "In our tests, people who took vitamin C beforehand weren't as severely affected by alcohol as those who didn't take it," because it helps to speed up the clearing of the toxins from your body. Like I said, can't hurt.
IN CONCLUSION and Disillusion!
The best cure is simply suffer the indignity, hydrate and sleep it off. I look at a hangover as Mother Nature's warning not to abuse alcohol. Let's face it, feeling really crappy after you do something is a good deterrent to doing it again! Or it might be if you haven't killed all your brain cells by drinking too much.
If you want to know more about hangovers - and you can keep your head spinning down to read it - one of the best articles I found on a hangover was "Biological Impacts of Alcohol Use: An Overview"
