LET'S DRINK TO NATIONAL CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE DAY!

 I love chocolate souffle and always order one when I'm dining out if I have a chance. It's one of those things I can bake but choose not to because they're basically a pain to make. Love to eat them, hate to bake them. So, because I'm always doing cocktails inspired by food holidays, I wondered if I could manage to recreate some of the airy fluffiness of a classic chocolate souffle.

With that in mind, I incorporated the soul of the chocolate souffle - chocolate and fluffy eggs - and proceeded from there. The result was surprisingly like drinking a glass of chocolate souffle, and you don't even need a spoon.

The

CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE

MARTINI

INGREDIENTS

1-1/2 Oz Chocolate Vodka

1/2 Oz Dark Creme de Cacao

1/4 Oz Cake Vodka

2 Oz Half & Half

1 Egg White

(or 2 tbsp. pasteurized egg white)

Garnish: Sugar Rim, Dark Chocolate Squiggles*

Tools: Cocktail Shaker

DIRECTIONS

Rim glass with sugar and chill in the freezer.

Dry shake (no ice) the ingredients first to emulsify and build the foam.

Add ice to the shaker and shake again until chilled.

Pour into the chilled cocktail glass, add the squiggles to garnish and serve.

Voiceover Video with Ingredients & Directions:

* To make the Dark Chocolate Squiggles

Melt a cup of dark chocolate chips or pieces in a double boiler or the microwave.

Spoon the melted chocolate into a piping bag (I just use a baggie then cut off one corner).

Pipe some squiggly lines onto wax or parchment paper and allow these to cool in the refrigerator until ready to use.

National Chocolate Souffle Day is February 28th.

Updated February 2022

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STRAWBERRY COCKTAILS

STRAWBERRY
COCKTAILS

Beach Bum Tiki Drink
Hard Strawberry Lemon-Limeade
Pimm's Berry Cup
Pink Squirrel
Sparkling Heart Cocktail
Sparkling Skeleton Sangria
Strawberry Basil Vodka Tonic
Strawberry Blueberry Margarita
Strawberry Pina Coladas
Chocolate Strawberry Redeux
Frozen Strawberry Banana Daiquiris
LICUADOS DE MAYO Cocktail
Twisted Fairytale Fizz
Sangria Strawberry Bites
Chocolate Strawberry Redeux

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Martini
Strawberry Valentini

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Cocktail

Sassy Strawberry Martini

Strawberries and Cream Martini 
 Strawberry Balsamic Martini
Strawberry Basil Moscato Cocktail
Strawberry Cheesecake Martini
Strawberry Cilantro Martini
Strawberry Colada Martini
Strawberry Tiki Pina Coladas
Strawberry Martini

Strawberry Parfait Martini
Strawberry Shortcake Martini
Strawberry Sundae Martini
Strawberry Watermelon Martini
Strawberry Basil Lemontini
Blackberry Strawberry Mint Martini

And try out one of these Strawberry Tiny Foods:

Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Mini Strawberry Pizzas

STRAWBERRY FACTS:

• Strawberries have been seen as symbols of purity and longevity for centuries.
• Strawberries are in the same family as the rose flower (Rosaceae).
• It's said that Madame Tallien, a French noblewoman at the time of Napoleon, used to bathe regularly in strawberry juice, using 22 pounds per basin!
• In Belgium there's a museum dedicated entirely to strawberries, The Musee De La Fraise.
• Strawberries have excellent health benefits and are full of antioxidants.

Updated 2-2019
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IT'S NATIONAL KAHLUA DAY with Caviar & Truffles!

TRUFFLES, CAVIAR & CREAM!
I went all out for National Kahlua Day 

with this Edible Cocktail!

WHITE RUSSIAN TRUFFLE CUPS
with ESPRESSO CAVIAR

(Recipe & Instructions Here)

This takes a typical, boring White Russian Cocktail (Kahlua, Vodka & Cream) and steps it up into haute cuisine. Heck, it steps it up into a piece of art on a plate!  Imagine a deep, dark chocolate Kahlua Truffle stuffed with a Whipped Cream Egg that oozes out sweetness when you bite into it, balanced by Espresso Caviar that bursts a bit of strong coffee bitterness onto your tongue for balance!

All plated up like a piece of abstract art for some visual culture to boot!

I took a little molecular mixology and fed my inner chocoholic with this one!

HAPPY NATIONAL KAHLUA DAY
or should I say White Russian Truffle Espresso Day?

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The BANANA BREAD MARTINI Cocktail Recipe

That's right - I threw the ingredients from banana bread in a blender and made a Banana Bread Martini.

OK, maybe not ALL the same ingredients, I didn't put in flour, eggs, sugar or butter but I did use Cake Vodka.  And, no, there's no chunks of pecans but I did add a splash of my Homemade Candied Pecan Liqueur, then I topped it off with a dash of the same spices and slid a nice little slice of banana on the rim.

Lift this baby up and it smells just like banana bread, maybe not exactly like Mom's ... but it's better 'cuz it's got BOOZE!

THE 

BANANA BREAD
MARTINI

INGREDIENTS
1/2 Oz. Cake Vodka
1/2 Oz. Candied Pecan Liqueur
1/2 Oz. 99 Bananas Liqueur

Garnish: Banana slices, Dash of Nutmeg & Cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice, shake until chilled, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish and serve.

Voiceover Video with Ingredients & Instructions:

Updated 2-2022

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MUCHO MARGARITA RECIPES!

Frozen, over ice, with fruit or without, everybody loves a Margarita and I'm  no exception. Here are a few of the ways I've enjoyed them.

Check back often because I'm always doing more.

LOTS & LOTS OF
MARGARITA RECIPES

CHOCOLATE MARGARITA
CILANTRO MARGARITA
SOLAR ECLIPSE MARGARITA
MARGHERITA PIZZA MARGARITA
BLACKBERRY OVER THE CLIFF MARTINI-RITA

The CHERRY MARGARITA
CRANBERRY MARGARITA

BLOOD ORANGE MARGARITA

FROZEN MEZCAL COCONUT MARGARITA

PINK CADILLAC MARGARITA
POMEGRANATE MARGARITA
HATCHCHILETA MARGARITA

BLUEBERRY MARGARITA-TINI
PEACH MARGARITA
GRILLED PINEAPPLE MEZCAL MARGARITA

SPICY WATERMELON MARGARITA

STRAWBERRY BLUEBERRY MARGARITA

THE MARGARITAVILLE MARTINI
MONSTROUS RITA-TINI MARTINI
LOADED CACTUS SLIDERITAS
BEER MARGARITAS
BLUE CRYSTAL MARGARITA

February 22nd is National Margarita Day.

Check out my CLASSIC MARGARITA RECIPE ART on Prints, Clothing, Home Decor and other Fine Gifts at MartiniDivaBoutique.com:

Updated 9-2021

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Homemade BLUEBERRY VODKA & LIQUEUR (Cordial)

LOOKS GOOD, RIGHT?
Blueberry Liqueur + Dash of Blueberry Bitters!
Updated November 19, 2015

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE

BLUEBERRY VODKA & BLUEBERRY LIQUEUR

What do you do with a Barrel of Blueberries?

YOU TURN THEM INTO BOOZE! 
Recipes for Homemade Blueberry Vodka and Blueberry Liqueur:

BLUEBERRY VODKA RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
1 - 750 ml. Bottle of Vodka
1 Full Cup of Blueberries, Slightly Mashed

TOOLS
Quart Size Mason Jar
Large Metal Strainer
Cheesecloth
1 Quart Bowl
Funnel

DIRECTIONS:
1. Mash your fresh blueberries to release their flavor.
2. Put them into your Mason Jar.
3. Pour the vodka over the berries.
4. Seal up with the lid.
5. Store in the fridge for a minimum of 2 weeks and up to a month.
6. Shake every day or two.
7. Strain through a cheesecloth lined strainer into a clean bowl.
8. Pour back into original bottle or a decorative bottle, label & enjoy.

After I got through bottling up my Blueberry Vodka I still had some blueberries left and about a cup and a half of vodka staring at me from the bottle so...

BLUEBERRY LIQUEUR RECIPE
enhanced with lemon, fresh ginger, cilantro & mint! 

INGREDIENTS
1-1/2 C. Vodka
1 C. Fresh, Blueberries, Halved
Handful of Whole Blueberries
1/2 Tsp. Grated Fresh Ginger
3 Lemon Twists
1 Tsp. Chopped Cilantro Stalks
4 Leaves of Fresh Mint, Chopped Loose
1/4 C. Sugar (+/- depending on your tastes)


TOOLS
Quart Size Mason Jar
Large Metal Strainer
Cheesecloth
2 Quart Bowl
Funnel

DIRECTIONS:
Combine all the ingredients together in an infusing jar. Cap off, store in a cool, dark place and allow to infuse for a minimum of a week.  Shake jar every day and check for flavor intensity every few days after the first week.

The times here are minimum.  The longer you infuse, the deeper your blueberry and other flavors will be.  I've never made it to two months and I was tasting a pretty nice flavor within a week, but I left it to distill for a whole month, filtered it and let it sit for another 2 weeks and the flavor was even deeper with the fruitiness of the blueberry at the front, followed close by the lemon then hitting you on the back with the ginger, cilantro and mint! Just PERFECT!!!

Now, you wouldn't think I could do anything more with blueberries but you're wrong!  I still had enough left over to make
BLUEBERRY SALSA and BLUEBERRY NACHOS!

My tongue might be blue but I'm not after all those blueberry antioxidants!

Cheers!
 

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ACADEMY AWARD OSCAR MARTINIS

COCKTAILS for The OSCARS

Good luck to all the nominees!

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HEIRLOOM TOMATO VODKA INFUSION RECIPE INFOGRAPHIC

HEIRLOOM TOMATO MARTINI

INGREDIENTS

2 Oz. Heirloom Tomato Vodka*
Juice of 1/2 Fresh Lime
3 Mini Heirloom Tomatoes
4 Fresh Basil Leaves
Pinch of Smoked Paprika
3 Tablespoons of Sugar
1Oz. Club Soda
Lime Twist

DIRECTIONS:
Mix the paprika and sugar together in a flat  plate.
Rim your martini glass with some lime juice, then dip in the sugar.
Chill your glass in the freezer.
Muddle the lime juice, 3 of the basil leaves and a teaspoon of the sugar & paprika mix in the bottom of your cocktail shaker.

Add one cup of ice then pour in the tomato vodka and shake until well chilled.
Add a splash of club soda, stir then strain through a mesh strainer into your chilled martini glass.

Garnish with the mini tomatoes, 1 basil leaf and a lime wedge.

Try out my other
BLOODY MARY RECIPES

Updated 9-2016

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The case of the Mistaken MARZIPAN MARTINI

I love licorice and I also love liquorice liqueurs. One of my favorites is Sambuca, an aromatic liqueur made with anise, star anise, liquorice and elderflowers. When you order Sambuca in Italy it will often come served with coffee beans floating in it. Either seven, representing the Seven hills of Rome, or three, for health, happiness and prosperity or just one coffee bean which is called Sambuca con la mosca or Sambuca with the fly.

It's fun and I love Sambuca with coffee but I had a better idea, one that involved a fun way to play a trick on my friends. Making an olive out of marzipan and serving it in a clear cocktail that looked like a gin martini sounded like a good prank to play. I'd made a marzipan flavored martini before with vanilla vodka and amaretto but it was really sweet and my tastes have changed considerably since then. When I switched to the coffee vodka with Sambuca and bitters I ended up with a much better cocktail.

What was kinda cool too is that the food color in my marzipan olive slowly made the drink look like a dirty martini so anyone arriving late could still be deceived.

You'll notice I specify in the recipe to chill the vodka and the Sambuca as well as the glass. This is so your cocktail will be cold. If you mix Sambuca with ice or water it will most likely louche (turn milky), which would keep the cocktail from being clear and ruin the deception. If you're not trying to play a trick on somebody, feel free to shake the cocktail with ice.

MARZIPAN MARTINI

INGREDIENTS:
2 Oz. Coffee or Espresso Vodka, CHILLED
1/2 Oz. White Sambuca, CHILLED
2 Dashes Chocolate Bitters

GARNISH: Marzipan Olive (marzipan recipe below) or Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans

GLASS: Cocktail  (aka Martini)

TOOL: Cocktail

DIRECTIONS:
Chill your glass in the freezer.
When your glass is well chilled, pour in the chilled coffee or espresso vodka, the chilled Sambuca and stir gently. Tap on the chocolate bitters, garnish and serve.

HANDMADE MARZIPAN
1 - 8 Oz. can of almond paste
1-1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1-1/3 cups sifted confectioners sugar
Gel or Paste Food Colorings

Candy Glaze:
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup water

DIRECTIONS:
Prepare your glaze ahead of time by bringing the water and corn syrup to a boil and mixing until the sugar dissolves. Once dissolved set aside to cool.
Place your almond paste in a bowl. and add the corn syrup.
Knead in the corn syrup.
Slowly add your food colorings a little at a time until you get the desired color for each section of dough.
Separate the dough into as many sections you need for the colors you want to work with.
Slowly add your food colorings a little at a time until you get the desire color.
Sculpt into the shapes you desire
Brush on a coating of glaze and set on waxed paper to dry.
Chill in the refrigerator overnight.
Store finished candies in airtight containers.

You can pre-color your marzipan or you can work with uncolored and paint or airbrush on food coloring. In this case I pre-mixed the colors I wanted for each sculpture.

P.S. How adorable is my little Marzipan Candy Olive??

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CUPID'S SHOTS - Valentine Cocktail Shots

VALENTINE'S DAY SHOTS

SWEET-TART VALENTINE SHOT

1 Oz. Pomegranate Vodka

1/4 Oz. Lemon Juice

Splash of Grenadine

Lemon Twist

BERRY VALENTINE SHOT

1 Oz. Strawberry Vodka

1 Oz. Raspberry Vodka

Drunken Dried Cherries

CHOCOLATE CHERRY VALENTINE SHOT

1 Oz. Cherry Vodka

1-1/2 Oz. Chocolate Vodka

Maraschino Cherry

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SPICY CHERRY SOUR COCKTAIL to Heat Up Valentine's Day!

Recipe for The

HOT CHA CHA CHERRY MARTINI

or

How to Put the Sweet & The Heat into Happy Hour

for Valentine's Day!

The Hot Cha Cha Cherry Martini is my riff on a Cherry Sour Cocktail, inspired by some great gifts sent to me from Benjamin Twiggs, Purveyors of Fine Cherry Products.  A few weeks ago I was chatting food and cocktails on a Tweetchat when Julie from Benjamin Twiggs and I got to chatting. When she realized I actually created cocktails (and my name wasn't just an indication of what I did for fun), she asked what I might be able to do with some of her company's products.

Oh, Julie, you know not what you let yourself in for!!! First of all, as everyone who reads this blog regularly knows, I adore cherries. Secondly, I will put cherries in just about anything, including cocktails and savory dishes!  So when the package came and I opened it up and found not only their lovely Cherry Juice Concentrate BUT also a jar of their Cherry Pepper Jelly, some Cherry Salsa and a package of Dried Cherries I sort of went into cherry shock!!

I couldn't think what to do first!! Cocktail? Glaze on a Roast? Accent on an h'ors d'oeuvres? Drunken Cherries??? So I pretty much did them all!!

Today I'm posting up the first cocktail I made using the Cherry Concentrate, Cherry Pepper Jelly (as the cocktail sweetener) and the Dried Cherries (soaked in gin for the Drunken Cherry garnish).  To these I added some lovely dry Gin, Lemon Juice and some Chipotle Sauce to add a little extra kick to the Cherry Pepper Jam.

I happened to have a cute Chocolate Valentine Heart I had made and I like chocolate and peppers and cherries so I garnished my own cocktail with this - I ate the Drunken Cherries before I remembered to take the photo, lol.....ah, well, who can blame me??

Buy the recipe card for the HOT CHA CHA CHERRY MARTINI

Updated 2-2017
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MARDI GRAS MARTINI - A Fat Tuesday Cocktail

THROW ME A COCKTAIL, MISTER!

 THE MARDI GRAS MARTINI

for FAT TUESDAY

Mardi Gras = Fat Tuesday = Shrove Tuesday.
Traditionally the day before Lent where you enjoy favorite foods before fasting.

The cocktail most associated with Mardi Gras is probably the famous Hurricane created at Pat O'Brien's in New Orleans. Of course, being a port city with a colorful pirate history, New Orleans is well known for it's rum cocktails and the Hurricane has rum in abundance.

Created during World War II when many spirits were hard to obtain, the Hurricane and many other now famous Mardi Gras cocktails featured rum which was readily available and cheap.

With my martini version I have basically cut down the size of the measurements in order to fit the Hurricane into a martini glass but the flavor is all Carnival.

If you really want to put the Mardi Gras spirit into your martini, wrap one or two strands of Mardi Gras beads around the stem of the glass or toss a gold foiled candy coin into the drink. I had some homemade marzipan so I just garnished mine with a homemade, rainbow marzipan bead.

The

MARDI GRAS

MARTINI

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 Oz. Light Rum

1/2 Oz. Dark Rum

1/4 Oz. 151 Rum

1 Oz. Passionfruit Juice

1 Oz. Orange Juice

1/2 Oz. Fresh Lime Juice

2 Tsp. Homemade Grenadine

Ice

GARNISH: Rainbow Sprinkles, Rainbow Marzipan Bead 

TOOLS: Cocktail Shaker 

GLASS: Cocktail

DIRECTIONS:

Dip the rim of the cocktail glass in some of the pomegranate syrup and then into the rainbow sprinkles, then chill the glass in the freezer.

Shake all the ingredients except the 151 rum with the ice in a cocktail shaker, pour into your cocktail glass then float the 151 rum on top.

Garnish and serve.

WHY IS IT CALLED FAT TUESDAY?

Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday aka Shrove Tuesday. It is the culmination of the Carnival celebration that begins on Epiphany and ends the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday which is the beginning of Lent.

It's called Fat Tuesday because it's the last day before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season and is therefore a day of feasting. The alternate moniker for this Tuesday before Lent is Shrove Tuesday which derives it's name from the verb "to shrive", meaning to obtain absolution for one's sins.

Traditionally celebrated by parades, parties, masked balls and general abandoned merriment where beads and gold coins are tossed from floats, tops are lifted up and decorum is left on the street along with the trash (which, btw, is weighed every year in N'awlins to measure how successful the party was), Mardi Gras is the biggest, longest lasting party on this planet!

Mardi Gras has become associated with New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro but it is celebrated the world over, especially in areas where the Catholic Church held influence.

Let the good times roll (laissez les bon temps rouler).

Updated February 2-2019.

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CHERRY COLA MARTINI - Nostalgia in a cocktail glass!

 Once upon a time, back in the "olden days" of my youth there used to be soda fountains in nearly every neighborhood.  It might have been in the local dime or drug store or in an ice cream parlor, but somewhere within walking distance to most of us there was a place we could stop in and order a Cherry (or vanilla, lemon, chocolate, etc.) "coke".

I'm not talking about some pre-mixed drek in a can here, I'm talking a real flavored soda where the cola syrup mixed with soda water right in front of you as it poured into your glass.  You could ask for flavored colas and they would squirt in some flavored syrup before filling your glass with the soda.

This was in the days before "Coke" when it was still the original "Coca-Cola" and you got some seriously great cola flavor with your fizz!  Maybe in your region you had Pepsi or RC Cola, but you were getting that great, deep cola syrup and you could ask for more or less syrup depending on your preferences!

My favorite of all the flavored colas was cherry.  I have expressed before how much I love cherries and cherry flavored anything and my fountain drink was no exception.  No lemon, vanilla or chocolate for me - give me CHERRY COLA!

I've never liked the pre-mixed cherry flavored colas.  They just aren't the same. I've tried mixing a good cherry syrup into cola but it didn't cut it.  I was bereft of that real cherry cola experience until I got a bottle of Diplomatico Reserva Rum and thought to pour some into my canned cola.  Surprise, surprise! Not only did it taste pretty darn close to those flavored fountain colas of my youth, it had booze in it.

Don't be fooled by the simplicity of this cocktail - this has got the real nostalgia goods!  It's a retro repast for Happy Hour!

The
CHERRY COLA
MARTINI

3 Oz. Coke (or Pepsi or RC or whatever your favorite cola)
1 Oz. Diplomatico Reserva Rum
5  Drunken Cherries
(Rum soaked Maraschino Cherries)*
1/4 Oz. Maraschino Cherry Juice

Into a chilled martini glass pour the Maraschino cherry juice, add the rum, pour in the cola, stir gently then garnish with your Drunken Cherries and enjoy.

* Use my recipe for Homemade Maraschino Cherries but use rum instead of Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur or Bourbon.

Updated 11-2017

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