THANKSGIVING MARTINI - Candied Apple Martini

The

CANDY APPLED MARTINI

Recipe
Updated November 2015

The Candied Apple Martini  (I call it the Candy Appled Martini just to be contrary) is the first of my five Thanksgiving Martinis I'll be posting from now until the day before Thanksgiving.

This is inspired from those hard shelled candy apples we used to get during the fall back in Kansas.  Most candied apples are cinnamon flavored but the ones we had were raspberry flavored and I loved them.  Sadly, I've never found them anywhere again but at least I can enjoy the flavors in this martini!

Many other "candy apple recipes" call for butterscotch schnapps but those end up tasting more like a caramel apple to me, not a candied apple!  I have a ton of caramel apple martinis as well but caramel apples are more Halloween to me than Thanksgiving - though I love them anytime I can get my hands on one.

This is a powerful martini and it's all alcohol so it's a smaller martini - perfect for a 4.5 ounce martini glass.  Enjoy and come back through Thanksgiving for the rest of my Thanksgiving cocktails.

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HOW TO MIX A COCKTAIL: Martinis - Shake, Stir or Roll?

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THE MANY WAYSTO MIX A COCKTAIL  DO I SHAKE, STIR, BLEND or ROLL?

Stirring, Shaking and Blending are probably techniques you are familiar with. Rolling a cocktail is a less used technique that many of you might not have tried. "Rolling" your cocktail dilutes the drink less than other methods and adds less air than shaking. WHEN and HOW to "ROLL" a COCKTAIL:

Rolling is a good technique for cocktails with few ingredients and cocktails served on the rocks (over ice).
To roll your drink you'll need two glasses or one glass and a cocktail shaker

• Fill one glass to the top with ice then add your cocktail ingredients.
• Pour the contents from this glass into another glass or cocktail shaker (no ice needed in second container).
• Return your cocktail ingredients to the original glass.

WHEN TO SHAKE

It's best to shake a cocktail when there are fruit juices involved or when you're using a cream or egg element.  Shaking infuses air into your cocktail which cuts the sometimes cloying sweetness of fruits. The aggressiveness of shaking helps to blend thicker elements, like creams and eggs, into the cocktail for a smoother drinking experience.

WHEN TO STIR

When you are mixing a cocktail made only with spirits, stirring is the preferred method.  Stirring does not add air to your mix like shaking and your drink will stay clear as opposed to the cloudy effect of shaking.  This is why a classic martini of gin and vermouth should be stirred, not shaken. WHEN TO BLEND I believe blending should only be used for "frozen" cocktails (like a margarita or a daiquiri) or cocktails that are difficult to mix any other way.  I use this method for my "Martini Smoothies" to fully incorporate the fruit solids into the drink.  Blending can dilute a cocktail up to 40%, depending on whether you use ice and how much ice is used so you only want to blend when you have ingredients like pieces of fruit, vegetables or other solid ingredients or your ingredients are powerful enough to stand up to the dilution level. Start with less ice - you can always add more but you can't take it out!
When blending a cocktail I will start with my solids (like the fruit pieces) and at least an ounce of juice or liquor and pulse this until pureed.  Then I add my crushed ice and my other ingredients and pulse until I no longer hear chunks of ice against the blades.

WHICH METHOD DILUTES THE DRINK MORE?

This all depends on how long you shake, stir, blend or roll!  A blender, as mentioned above, dilutes the most of all methods and the more ice you use the more diluted your cocktail becomes.  As for the other mixing techniques, the longer the ice is in contact with the drink contents the more water is added.  Shaking tends to chill the drink faster, all things being even.

WHAT'S THE RIGHT WAY TO SHAKE A COCKTAIL?

With all the flair bartending going on these days you might think that shaking requires a six week course at an extreme bartending school.  Flair or extreme bartending is fun and a great way to entertain bar patrons but you don't need to be Tom Cruise's character, Brain Flanagan, in "Cocktail" to properly shake a drink. 

The best method for shaking is to place the shaker in front of you in as upright a position as comfortable for you and shake up and down as rapidly as possible.  The harder and more vigorously you shake, the colder and more mixed your cocktail becomes with less dilution from the ice.  The exception to this is when you are shaking a cocktail with an egg, then you start with a slow shake, gradually speeding up to a vigorous shake - this keeps the foaming down so you don't end up with a cocktail glass full of fluff!

GET YOUR INGREDIENTS IN PLACE

If you want to mix a great cocktail, get your ingredients ready before you start to shake, stir or roll.  Good chefs and bartenders always prepare their "mise en place" before starting to cook.

If your ice is melting in your shaker while you muddle, strain, juice or chop you're going to end up with a watered down cocktail.

WHAT GOES IN FIRST?

The typical order for mixing cocktails is ice, then your base alcohol, then your secondary alcohols, then your mixers or juices.  Layered cocktails are poured by weight with the heaviest element being poured first and the lightest one last so each layer will float on the heavier layer below.  You now have the basic cocktail mixing techniques - ready, set and Shake, Stir, Rattle & Roll!
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Updated 5-13-2025 

HOW TO MAKE BACON FLAVORED VODKA - No, I'm not joking!

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HOW TO PUT PIG IN A BOTTLE or MAKING YOUR OWN BACON INFUSED VODKA   HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
A Fifth of Good Quality Vodka -  Keep the Bottle!
5 – 8 Strips of Bacon, Cooked Crisp and Chopped Up
Coffee Filters, Large Strainer, Sterilized Mason Jars
Optional:  Peppercorns, Garlic Cloves, Herbs
Optional: Decorative Bottle with Cap   HERE'S HOW YOU PUT A PIG IN A BOTTLE:

• Fry your bacon crisp but don’t burn it.  Chop it into pieces small enough to fit into your glass jar.
• Add your optional ingredients – making sure to trim, skin and clean where necessary.
• Shake gently, cap off the bottle and store in a cool, dark location.  It's not necessary to refrigerate as the alcohol acts as an antibacterial pickling agent.
• Allow to sit for three weeks.
• When the “brewing” time is up place your jar in the refrigerator so the fat will float to the top and congeal.
• Remove the congealed fat with a fork or spoon it out.
• Place your funnel on the top of another mason jar, then place the coffee filters (2 or 3 together) into your large strainer and place this into your funnel.
• Pour the bacon infused vodka into the filter lined strainer/funnel set up right back into your original vodka bottle or a fun decorative bottle with a nice cap or cork.

Voila! Now you have Pig in a Bottle! 

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How to Make Herb Flavored and Scented Sugars and Salts

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How to Make Herb Flavored and Scented 
Sugars and Salts

 

Flavored sugars and salts are a wonderful way to add some great rimming mixes and cocktail flavorings to your bar.  They also make great gifts and they're very easy to make at home.  All you need are some fresh herbs of your choice, some sugar or salt, a few jars and some time!

Here's What You'll Need:

2 Cups of Sugar or Salt
10 - 15 Leaves of your herb
Mixing bowl large enough to accommodate the sugar
1 or 2 Sealable "Infusion" Jars (Mason Jars are perfect)
Muddling stick
1 or 2 Decorative Jars that can be tightly sealed
Some Pretty Ribbons or other things to decorate the jars
Printable Labels

Here's What You Do:

Make sure your herb leaves are clean and dry then chop into small pieces.  Place the chopped herbs in your mixing bowl and gently crush them with your muddling stick to release the oils. You can also use a mortar and pestle if you prefer.  The oils are where the scent and flavor reside and "bruising" the leaf will release more of these oils.

When your crushed herbs are ready in the mixing bowl slowly add your sugar and blend in with the herbs so they are nicely distributed throughout the sugar.

Store your herb/sugar mix in an air tight jar and out of direct sunlight for two weeks.  Every 2 or 3 days open the jar and stir up the mixture to help break up any clumping and distribute the herb essence throughout the sugar.  The herbs will slowly dry as they give their flavor to the sugar.

After 2 weeks your sugar will be wonderfully aromatic and ready to put in your decorative jars, decorated and labeled for your bar or as gifts.

Herbal Suggestions:  Mint, Lavender, Basil, Cilantro (I love this on my Cilantro Martinis!),

SPICE IT UP!

You can also flavor sugars and salts with spices, citrus and even some flowers!  Cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise, vanilla beans, cardamom, lemon, lime or orange zest and rose petals make a really unique sugar or salt!

FLAVORING YOUR LIFE

Obviously my first use of these flavored sugars and salts is as a rimmer for my martinis but they're also great for adding subtle flavors to your favorite recipes and foods and flavoring your favorite drinks.  I use flavored salts in my Bloody Martinis, add flavored sugars to my tea, keep smaller jars of the flavored salts (save those empty spice jars!) on my dinner table and will sprinkle the flavored sugars on cupcakes and my buttered toast.
BATH TIME GETS A  LIFT

Go beyond the kitchen and put some great scents in your bath!  Get some Epsom salts and add some herbs to them for an aromatic soak! TIME TO ENJOY!
Get some really cute sealable jars, print up and attach some fun labels, attach a beautiful cloth ribbon and you can set these out and show them off or give them as gifts.  A small set of spice jars with different flavored salts and sugars would make great holiday gifts or be a perfect size to set on your bar! The flavors and scents will last for several months if kept tightly sealed but you probably  won't have them around that long! POP ART MARTINIS 2010

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The Mint Julep Martini & more uses of fresh mint

I was walking Pixel the other day and stopped to talk with my neighbor who was outside pulling weeds - or what he thought was weeds.  Turns out he was yanking out a ton of mint that was growing near his front door!

I immediately informed him he was uprooting a perfectly good herbal gift from Mother Nature and told him all the wonderful things he could do with the spearmint he thought was a weed:

• Obviously you can make some wonderful mint infused martinis!  Today I've posted the Mint Julep Martini, a classic southern bourbon cocktail.
• You can infuse your bourbon and other liquors with mint.
• Muddled fresh mint is a necessity in a mojito!
• You can flavor your teas or even coffee with mint.
• You can create flavored sugars (article on how will be posted tomorrow) for cooking and mixing cocktails.
• You can create flavored simple syrups for your bar.
• Fresh mint is great in salads - I love it in a strawberry salad.
• You can dry the mint and store for use later.
• Crush up some mint leaves and add to water and you can heat this to infuse your home with mint.
• You can create scented salts for your bath.
• Put a few smaller mint leaves in an ice cube tray and fill with water for some fun ice cubes.
• Perfect for a natural breath freshener!
• Sprinkle a few mint leaves in the back of your cabinets to keep out bugs!
• Planting mint around the perimeter of your home will keep the bugs out before they get to your cupboards!

 Of course, I dragged all his pulled up mint home - my mother always said "Waste Not, Want Not"!

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How Big Can a Martini Get Anyway???

Image copyright © by Natalie Phillips 2010. Image used with permission of The Bewildered Brit.

  My friend, Richard, over at  The Bewildered Brit blog is always finding great, fun nostalgia and retro goodies I love to read about - especially since I do some retro blogging myself over at The PopArtDiva Blog on occasion.
So, when I dropped by for a visit and found this giant martini glass I was tickled pink - who wouldn't love a martini glass this size??  Richard ponders just what the cocktail might be in this giant green martini glass with the lime garnish - I'm voting for one of my favorite martinis - The Key Lime Pie Martini which can be easily garnished with a wedge of lime and fits the color of this giant martini perfectly.
It's interesting to note this might not be such a giant martini glass these days - martini glasses seem to be getting larger and larger - Crate and Barrel offers a 13oz. martini glass! I myself happen to have several over sized martini glasses - one large enough to serve a whole bag of chips in!  Lolita even offers some with hand-painted holiday designs.   Once upon a time a standard martini glass would accommodate a gin or vodka martini of around 1.5 to 3 ounces with allowances for dropping in a garnish - about a 4 to 4.5 oz. glass. That was in the days when a martini was gin or vodka with a splash of vermouth, primarily all alcohol. These days designer martinis have changed the rules and martinis and martini glasses come in a range of sizes, not to mention shapes!   There is something to be said for a smaller glass - especially in a classic "up" martini (without ice). A smaller glass allows for a cold drink all the way to the last sip.  The larger the glass the longer it takes to drink the cocktail and the warmer the drink becomes.  But the trend is towards "super sizing", possibly because of the fast food trend, maybe because the price of cocktails seems to be soaring at drinking establishments, or maybe because our society has a belief that "bigger is better".  Many happy hour patrons would agree with this but then I doubt they've ever faced a martini the size of this one at the Party Block Pool Bar in Ocean City, Maryland!   My martini recipes can range from 3 ounces all the way up to 7 ounces depending on the recipe and mixers involved and I have martini glasses in an assortment of sizes - but then I'm a crazed martini glass collector!
I'd sure like to add this one to my collection.  I don't have a cabinet or shelf big enough for it but I can see it on my roof!  
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TROPICAL MARTINIS for a Late Fall Heat Wave!

 

 

 

  You've all been asking me for fall martinis this week, which is reasonable considering it's the first week of November.  What many of you may not be aware of, however, is the heat wave we've been experiencing here in Southern California!  We are being treated to 90 degree temperatures and balmy days reminiscent of the warmest part of summer!
If you think I'm drinking hot apple martinis spiced with cinnamon or a yummy pumpkin pie martini, think again.  I'm grabbing the rums, the fresh tropical fruits and as much ice as I can and making myself some refreshing, cooling martinis to sit out in the warm evenings as I contemplate global warming!
These three got me through this week of record breaking heat and it doesn't have to be warm to enjoy them - they're perfect for the dead of winter when you're snowed in and thinking of sandy beaches and vacations by the sea!
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Updated 8-2016