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??

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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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PROJECT RUNWAY MARTINI - Make It Work!

Another season of fashion hi-jinks, sewing mishaps and back stabbing behavior is on.

You're going to need a cocktail.

Recipe for The PROJECT RUNWAY

MAKE IT WORK MARTINI

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Updated 10-2016

CELEBRATE INAUGURATION DAY - EAT YOUR COCKTAIL!

HAPPY INAUGURATION DAY, MR. PRESIDENT!

The President of the United States officially begins a new term at noon on January 20th.  President Barack Obama and Vice President Biden took their Oaths of Office at noon, Eastern Standard Time.

This calls for a COCKTAIL! And what better than a Rec, White & Blue Cocktail? One you can EAT??

No matter what your party affiliations are, who you voted for or what you think of the State of the Union and Politicos in today's world, we should always celebrate that we have the Right To Vote and choose our leaders!!!

So, wave your flags and rattle your cocktail shakers for

The HOORAY FOR THE RED, WHITE & BLUE COCKTAIL GEL!

CONGRATULATIONS, MR. PRESIDENT & MR. VICE PRESIDENT!

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CHOCOLATE CHERRY CORDIAL MARTINI RECIPE

Updated November 2015

Love these creamy, gooey chocolate cherry cordial candies?

Yeah, me too and I figured out how to get that experience into a martini glass. Aren't I clever? Now you can enjoy this old time classic candy in an adult way as a cocktail.

The
CHOCOLATE CHERRY CORDIAL
MARTINI

INGREDIENTS:
1-1/2 Oz. Three Olives Cherry Vodka
1-1/2 Oz. Three Olives Chocolate Vodka
1-1/2 Oz. Half & Half
1 Oz. Creme de Cacao
Chocolate Cherry Cordial Candies
Homemade Grenadine

TOOLS: Cocktail shaker.

GLASS: Cocktail (martini).

DIRECTIONS:
Chill your cocktail glass in the freezer while you mix your drink.
Add the vodkas, creme de cacao and half & half to a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake until well chilled.
Drizzle a bit of the homemade Grenadine over the top of the cocktail
Slide the chocolate cherry cordial candy on the rim and serve.

Happy Chocolate Cherry Cheers, M'Dears!

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HOT BUTTERED RUM

There's nothing quite as warming on a cold day as a mug of Traditional Hot Buttered Rum. Here's both the traditional style and a few tweaks that are my own personal favorites when I need to take the chill off.

TRADITIONAL 
HOT BUTTERED

RUM RECIPE

Ingredients

1 Tsp. Unsalted Butter

2 Tsp. Brown Sugar

 1/8 Tsp. Each of Allspice, Clove and Nutmeg

2 Oz. Dark Rum

4 Oz. Hot Water

Directions

Add the butter, the brown sugar and the spices to your mug then muddle them into a paste.

Pour in the rum, top off with the hot water, dust with extra spices, add a cinnamon stick, stir and serve.

VOICEOVER VIDEO with Ingredients & Directions

HOW DO I TWEAK THIS?

I replace the hot water with hot cider, add a pinch of sea salt and garnish with a dusting of cinnamon. I've also tried hot pear cider, plum juice and even a mixture of citrus in place of the hot water.

If you're serving this for a party, you can take this same recipe, multiply the ingredients by the number of people you want to serve (I double the number because most people will have two) and put this all in a crock pot to keep warm for your cold weather happy hour.

I also often prepare the Hot Buttered Rum batter ahead of time because that way it's faster to make additional drinks later. To do this I simply multiply the butter, spices and brown sugar times twice the number of drinks I'm planning on serving. Why twice? Because it lasts several weeks if refrigerated AND this Hot Buttered Rum batter is great on toasted pound cake slices to serve with the drink! It's also perfect on pancakes and waffles.

Now, grab your rum, butter and spices and go warm up your soul.

National Hot Buttered Rum Day is January 17th.

Updated 1-2023

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