Hot Watermelon Margarita

HOT WATERMELON MARTINI-RITA

2 Oz. Tequila Blanco
1-1/2 Oz. Watermelon Puree
1/2 Oz. Cointreau
Juice of 1/2 Fresh Lime
1 Tablespoon of Agave Syrup
2 Drops Chipotle Hot Sauce
Pinch of Salt
Sugar and Salt Mixture for Rim

Dip your glass rim in some of the agave syrup then into the sugar and salt mixture. Chill glass in the freezer.  Fill a cocktail shaker with ice then pour in the tequila, the watermelon puree, the Cointreau, lime juice, agave syrup, pinch of salt and the drops of hot sauce. Shake until well chilled, pour into your chilled glass, garnish with a slice of fresh watermelon.  If you'd like, you can add a pinch of salt and couple of extra drops of hot sauce to the watermelon!

Enjoy and Arriba!

Updated 7-2021

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Kahlua Chili Chocolate & Lemoncello Cardamom CUPCAKES

NOW YOU SEE THEM . . .

I've said this before on my food blog, I'm a lazy cook. I spend most of my gastronomic energy on my cocktail creations and I don't have the time nor the inclination to spend the rest of my day slaving over my meals. BUT, I love good food. So, I cheat. As much as possible.

Thus, when I decided to make myself some booze infused cupcakes I used (SHOCK! SHAKING OF FOODIE HEADS! TSK TSK!) boxed chocolate and white cake mixes and canned chocolate butter cream frosting. Then I cranked up the old oven, grabbed a couple o' bottles of cupcake friendly hooch and set to making some moonshined magic in cupcake liners.

For the

CHOCOLATE CHILI KAHLUA CUPCAKES

Cupcakes:

Follow box instructions except: Use cold coffee instead of water and add 2 teaspoons of fresh chili powder to the cake mix. Bake. Cool. Poke holes in the cooled cupcakes then pour a tablespoon or so of Kahlua slowly over the holes allowing it to soak in.

Frosting:

Add 1 teaspoon each of cocoa powder, powdered sugar and chipotle hot sauce to the canned chocolate frosting. I pre-mixed the cocoa, sugar and hot sauce into a paste. 

For the

LEMONCELLO CARDAMOM CUPCAKES

Cupcakes:

Follow box instructions except: Add 3/4 of a teaspoon of ground cardamom to the cake mix. Bake. Cool. Poke holes in the cooled cupcakes then pour a tablespoon or so of homemade LEMONCELLO slowly over the holes allowing it to soak in.

Frosting:

Add the zest of one lemon to the chocolate frosting.

To create the

CHOCOLATE CURLS

Bring a bar of high quality, 70%+ Dark Chocolate to room temperature. Use a y-shaped potato peeler and draw down the narrow side of the bar over a wax or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Chill curls in the fridge. Lick the chocolate off your fingers. Eat the rest of the chocolate bar.

Mix, bake, cool cupcakes. Drizzle booze. Pipe frosting. Sprinkle curls. Do I need to tell you to use cupcake liners? No. I figured not.

The nice thing about drizzling a bit of booze into your cupcakes? They stay moist way longer. And, of course, you get a little buzz!

See? I told you it was easy!

Easy peasy, boozy woozy, happy slappy.

Dij I eat too many?

No, I nidn't, I juss fleels shappy.

. . . NOW YOU DON'T.

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Lilac Blossom Martini

LILAC BLOSSOM MARTINI

1 oz Gin
2 oz Hpnotiq Harmonie
1 splash Lime Juice
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
1/2 Tsp. Lilac Essence
Club Soda / Sparkling Water
Garnish: Lemon Slice
Frozen Raspberries

Twist of Lemon

Combine the gin, Harmonie, lime juice, lilac essence and the bitters in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake until chilled.  Pour into a chilled martini glass, top off with a splash of club soda then garnish with the lemon slice, frozen raspberries and a twist of lemon.

The frozen raspberries are not only a tasty garnish, they help keep your cocktail chilled as you drink it.

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A Little Sin for a Saint Chocolate Martini

 

A LITTLE SIN FOR A SAINT MARTINI

1 Oz. Whipped Cream Vodka

1 Oz. White Creme de Cacao

1 Oz. Pama Pomegranate Liqueur

Cocoa Powder

Square of REALLY GOOD Chocolate.

I have had a very frustrating day so I decided to start happy hour early.  I was poking around my bar and found about an ounce of booze in both my whipped cream vodka and my Pama pomegranate bottles and I remembered this little sweetheart of a cocktail I'd made myself several years ago.

Of course, today being the kind of day it is, I notice I misspelled Creme de Cacao but, frankly my dear, I don't give a hoot.

So, the trash man has two more empty bottles to drag away and I am now sipping this lovely, chocolate infused cocktail to ease my frustrations!

Take that, Monday!

 

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A SPOONFUL OF COSMO

It's always fun to take a classic cocktail and do a little molecular mixology on it.  Here I've taken the basic ingredients of a Cosmopolitan (fresh lime juice, cranberry juice, Cointreau or Triple Sec, citrus vodka) and turned it into a spoonful of happy hour.
I used the reverse spherification technique on the classic Cosmopolitan ingredients of citrus vodka, cranberry juice and Cointreau then put the lime juice in a little pool in the spoon to float the cocktail sphere in.  Note the little mint leaf I added inside the sphere, not a standard Cosmo ingredient but I wanted something floating in the sphere.
These cocktail spheres are a perfect pairing with an amuse bouche; one bite, one sip to go with the bite. These also are a fun way to give folks a little happy hour giggle and they won't get you drunk either. Well, not unless you have a dozen or so.

INGREDIENTS

(These ingredients are equal to ONE cocktail serving. Feel free to multiply)

1 Oz. vodka

1/2 Oz. Cointreau

1 Oz. cranberry juice

1/4 Oz. lime juice

A handful of fresh micro mint leaves

1/2 tsp calcium lactate*

1 tsp sodium alginate*

Purified water

TOOLS

Immersion blender

Pitcher

Measuring spoons

Mini pipette droppers*

Round silicon molds

Freezer

2 Large glass bowls or containers 

Slotted spoon

DIRECTIONS

Measure out cranberry juice and add to pitcher.

Add calcium lactate and blend with immersion blender.

Add vodka and Cointreau (the lime juice will come into play later) – blend again.

Carefully fill the silicon molds with this cocktail solution. I used a small pipette dropper*.

Slide one micro mint leaf in each mold space.

Place in freezer for 12 hours.

15 minutes before serving add sodium alginate to 2 cups of purified water in a large glass bowl. Mix quickly and well with CLEAN immersion blender (because you don't want the calcium lactate and sodium alginate to accidentally mix here).

Place in fridge for 15 minutes. This is your sodium alginate bath.

NOTE: If you are multiplying the recipe this part does not need to be multiplied!)

TO MAKE SPHERES

Remove sodium alginate bath from fridge (it should be somewhat gelatinous in texture by now).

Fill another large glass bowl with 3 cups purified water for your washing bath.

Remove frozen cocktails from freezer.

Pop around four of the frozen cocktail spheres into the sodium alginate bath. Make sure they don’t touch or they will stick to each other. Stir gently occasionally so all sides of the spheres are in contact with the sodium alginate bath.

Keep in sodium alginate bath for 3 to 5 minutes (the longer they stay in the bath the thicker the outside skin) or until spheres have unfrozen.

Scoop out using slotted spoon and dip a few times in the water bath to rinse.

TO ASSEMBLE MOLECULAR COCKTAIL

Place each sphere in serving spoon.

Pipe the 1/4 ounce of fresh lime juice over the sphere.

Serve immediately.

* These can be purchased on Amazon.

National Cosmopolitan Day is May 7th.
 
Updated May 2020 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

The Simpsons DUH-OH MARTINI Cocktail Tribute

The Simpsons is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and, in 2009, it surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest-running American scripted primetime television series in history.  I have been a faithful fan of The Simpsons for the whole run, including the shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show.

I have loved the fun intros that changed every week, the sly and point-on political jabs, the long list of guest stars, the topical story lines and the interrelationships of the dysfunctional but loving family. I've watched as Matt Groening's imaginary characters morphed and changed along with the zeitgeist of the America, bringing insight and laughter along on the ride. For over 30 years this show has made me chortle and I've barely missed an episode.

So today, for your Simpson's viewing pleasure, here is my cocktail homage to The Simpsons:

The

DUH-OH!

Martini

Inspired by and a Tribute to The Simpsons

INGREDIENTS

1-1/2 Oz. Cake Vodka

1Oz. Fresh Orange Juice

1/2 Oz. Fresh Pineapple Juice

1/2 Oz. Half & Half

Garnish: Donut Glaze* with Crushed Butterfinger Bar for Rim

Bright Blue Cotton Candy "Hair" for Garnish

(If you really want to have some fun stick a couple of edible googly eyes on the rim.)

DIRECTIONS

Dip your glass rim in some donut glaze and then into the crushed Butterfingers.

Chill the glass in the freezer.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the ingredients.

Shake vigorously to blend and emulsify the dairy into the drink.

Pour into your chilled glass then top with a Marge Simpson style hunk of blue cotton candy.

Add the googly eyes if you have them and serve.

Donut Glaze Recipe

Mix together:

2 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar

Drop of Vanilla Extract

1 Teaspoon +/- Milk

The Cake Vodka and glaze on rim tastes like Homer's favorite donut, the Butterfinger is for Bart's favorite candy bar, the cotton candy is for Marge's famous hair, the juices and half & half give the cocktail that distinctive Simpson's skin color.  Yes, I left out the Lisa, Maggie and the Simpson pets, Santa's Little Helper and Snowball. Babies and pets don't mix with booze. Oh, come on, Bart is well over 21 by now and Lisa is a goody two-shoes.  P.S. I didn't forget Grandpa either, I just never liked the dingbat old curmudgeon.

Updated 6-2021

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Blackberry Strawberry Mint Martini

    When, and if, I ever have a few fresh berries sitting around leftover from a recipe it's my typical practice to toss them in with some booze for a new cocktail.  Exactly what I did here.   Add a little fresh mint from the garden and you have another great summer fruit martini to enjoy at happy hour.   THE BLACKBERRY STRAWBERRY MINT MARTINI   2 Oz. Strawberry Vodka 1/2 C. Fresh Blackberries 1/2 C. Fresh Strawberries Juice of 1/2 Fresh Lime 4 Mint Leaves Ice   Chill your martini glass in the freezer.  Combine all the ingredients with 1/2 cup of ice in a blender and mix until slushy but smooth.  Pour into your chilled martini glass and garnish with a fresh strawberry, a few blackberries and a sprig of mint.   Cheers, M'Dears & Enjoy!  
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