IT'S NATIONAL TRUFFLE DAY - Orange Truffle Cocktail Recipe

Some years ago I had a friend over who was in love with chocolate dipped jellied orange sticks. I never went to his house that there weren't some of them out in candy dishes strategically placed near where he sat.  He used to buy them at Trader Joe's so I went out to get some and found that they also had raspberry ones. I bought those instead and he still argues with me to this day about which is better.

To shut him up so he'd leave me and my TJs chocolate raspberry sticks alone, I created this cocktail for him. Turned out to be a freaking great cocktail which tastes exactly like a chocolate covered orange truffle and is much better than his jellied orange sticks! It is, in fact, a favorite of mine and one of my most requested cocktails when I get visitors.

The
ORANGE

TRUFFLE
Cocktail

INGREDIENTS:

1 Oz. Orange Vodka
2 Oz. White Crème de Cacao
1/2 Oz. Orange Liqueur
1 Oz. Heavy Cream

Garnish

Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder and Sugar Rim

Dark Chocolate Dipped Orange Slice*

TOOLS: Cocktail shaker

GLASS: Cocktail (martini) glass or coupe

 

DIRECTIONS:
Dip the rim of the glass in some of the orange liqueur then into the dark cocoa & sugar mixture. 

Chill the glass in the freezer while you make your cocktail.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice then add the orange vodka, white crème de cacao, orange liqueur and the cream and shake until well chilled.
Pour into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with the chocolate dipped orange slice.

VOICEOVER VIDEO with Ingredients & Instructions:

HOW TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE DIPPED ORANGE SLICES

Peel two or three oranges, separate the segments and set these out to dry. 

Melt a cup of dark semisweet chocolate chips in a double boiler until smooth and creamy. (Be careful not to get any moisture in the chocolate or it will seize up.) Yes, you can use a microwave. Simply heat the the chocolate chips in a microwave safe glass or bowl (I used a pyrex measuring cup) at 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until the chips are melted and smooth.

Dip the peeled, dry orange segments halfway into the melted chocolate then place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet until all the orange segments are dipped.

Chill until set in the fridge.

What's a Truffle?

For this cocktail, of course, I'm referring to the chocolate truffle, a confection of a soft chocolate ganache rolled in a dusting of cocoa powder or dipped in chocolate, but this is not the only truffle that's edible out there.  The chocolate truffle is, in fact, a dessert homage to an edible savory fungus that is highly prized in gourmet cuisine.

Truffles are actually the fruiting body of an underground mushroom that grows near the roots of various trees.  Wild truffles of the Tuber genus have been considered the "diamond of the kitchen" by chefs and gourmets for centuries for their deep, earthy flavor and smell.  There are references to the use of truffles in cuisine as far back as the fourth century B.C. and there are mentions of truffles in Roman cooking as well.

Pigs and even some dogs were trained to hunt out these difficult to find delicacies and, until the 1800s, it was only these wild truffles that were available, making this delicacy a very expensive addition to the table. The record price for wild truffles was $330,000 US a kilogram in 2010. These days truffles are being grown commercially, helping to bring the cost down, but the wild truffles are still the gold standard for most gourmands and chefs.

As for the chocolate truffle, whether created by M. Dufour in Chambéry, France in December 1895 or by the famous chef Auguste Escoffier in the 1920s, it was obviously named after the fungal truffle because the dusting of cocoa powder used to set the soft chocolate ganache truffle gave it the earthy appearance of a the coveted wild truffle.

National Truffle Day is May 2nd.

Updated  8-2025

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MAY DAY MARTINI Cocktail Recipe

A LITTLE HISTORY OF MAY DAY

The earliest known celebrations of May Day occurred with the festival of Flora, the Roman Goddess of flowers, as well as the Germanic celebration of Walpurgis Night. May Day also has it's roots in the Gaelic celebration of Beltane (or Beltaine), an Irish and Scottish celebration of the cross-quarter day celebrated on May 1st which marks the midpoint in the Sun's progress between the spring equinox and summer solstice.

Most pagan celebrations were either abandoned or "Christianized" during the process of conversion in Europe and now a more secular version of May Day continues to be observed in Europe and America. Here in America May Day is best known for its tradition of dancing around the Maypole and the crowning of the Queen of the May.

My memories of May Day are very much in tune with these typical celebrations of dancing around a ribbon decorated May Pole, as well as getting edible gifts hung on my door. In fact, my clearest memory of May Day involves getting a construction paper cone of the best butter cookies ever on my doorknob for several years when I was in grade school from a boy named Bruce!

Although most of us today associate May Day with these most modern celebrations, it is also designated as an international workers’ holiday commemorating the day in 1886 when laborers, immigrants, artisans and merchants in Chicago waged a general strike to win the eight-hour work day.

 So today you can celebrate the 8 hour work day and toast to the Queen of May with a glass full of black currants, raspberries and Champagne.

The

May Day

Martini

Ingredients

2 Oz Creme de Cassis

1 Oz Raspberry Liqueur

1/2 Oz Fresh Lime Juice

Champagne

Garnish

Sugar rim

Orange Peel Rose

Directions
Rub glass rim with a lime wedge then dip the glass rim into some rainbow sugar crystals.
Chill glass in the freezer.
Shake the first 3 ingredients with ice then strain into your chilled glass.
Top off with the Champagne.
Garnish with orange peel rose and serve.

VOICEOVER VIDEO with Ingredients & Instructions:

Updated 5-2022
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Today is NATIONAL HONESTY DAY

WOULD I LIE TO YOU?

Today is

NATIONAL HONESTY DAY*

hon·es·ty –noun: 1. the quality or fact of being honest;  uprightness and fairness. 2. truthfulness, sincerity, or frankness. 3. freedom from deceit or fraud.

What better way to keep people honest then shake up a few martinis for some alcohol induced truth? Of course, you'd better be prepared for it because you might hear a few things you won't like or you might blurt out a few things you'll later wish you had kept corked up in your vodka bottle!

Honesty can be a wonderful thing.  It can clear the air and open up new lines of communication, but it can also be brutal, hurtful and mean.  Honesty is one of those virtues that you have to treat with respect, it can't be bandied about indiscriminately because it's a powerful weapon as well as a powerful tool and we should all wield it with care and love.

On the latest episode of BONES there's a storyline about honesty which illustrates my point perfectly. BTW, who here also wants to jump Agent Seeley's "bones"?? Ooops, sorry - but I was just being honest!

Search The Martini Diva Website for Honesty Inducing Martinis by
Name
Flavor
Base Alcohol
Theme
Holiday

HONESTY IS SUCH A LONELY WORD by Billy Joel:

*Ever wondered about where all these special commemorative holidays come from?

Read: NATIONAL WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL IT DAY.

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HOT MAMA MARTINI - A Bloody, Spicy, Dirty Martini

RECIPE FOR THE
HOT MAMA MARTINI

In a typical Bloody Mary you will get your cocktail with a dash of Worcestershire sauce and a drop of Tabasco. With the Hot Mama Martini, I've taken this classic to a totally new level of hot and spicy by bringing chipotle out to play with Mary. I also accessorized the Hot Mama with some spicier and slightly pickled garnishes instead of that dull old celery stick.

Kick it up a bit for Hot and Spicy Food Day!

P.S. Those legs on the graphic are the bottom half of my GIRL IN A MARTINI GLASS 2

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It's NATIONAL BLUEBERRY PIE DAY! Have a Blueberry Pie Cocktail!

April 28th is NATIONAL BLUEBERRY PIE DAY*  
Toast the Day with a

Slice of Blueberry Pie in a Glass:

My Cocktail Recipe for a
BLUEBERRY PIE COCKTAIL

Some Fun Blueberry Facts You Can Share at Happy Hour:

• Blueberries are one of the only foods that are naturally blue.
• The Blueberry is one of the few fruits that are native to North America (along with cranberries and concord grapes).
• Native Americans called them "star berries," because the five points of blueberry blossoms make a star shape.
• Blueberries were commonly used to make pemmican, a jerky type of dried food packed for sustenance on long journeys.
• Early colonists made gray paint out of blueberries by boiling the blueberries in milk.
• The traditional blue paint used in the homes of Shakers was made from blueberry skins, sage blossoms, indigo, and milk.
• Blueberries often change color when cooked, especially when acids like lemon juice or vinegar are introduced. These will cause the blue pigment in the berries to turn reddish.  (Think purple martinis!)
• Blueberry Jelly Bellies were created especially for Ronald Reagan.
• Robert Frost actually wrote a poem about Blueberries.

Some Health Benefits of Blueberries:

• Blueberries contain more antioxidants than most other fruits or vegetables.
• Blueberries are naturally low in both fat and sodium.
• Both domestic and wild blueberries contain brain-saving bioflavonoids, but wild blueberries tend to contain more than the domestic ones.
• The skin of the blueberry contains anthocyanin which helps to account for the blue color as well as being beneficial to health.

Updated 4-2021
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TORCHED CHERRY LIME MARTINI

Get the Recipe and/or Buy the Recipe Card for my

TORCHED CHERRY LIME MARTINI HERE

I've been experimenting with Bacardi Torched Cherry® Rum and have discovered I really like it!  Of course, if you read this blog a lot you already know I love cherries so this rum was kind of a no-brainer for me.  My first martini with the Torched Cherry was actually a daiquiri - The Bing Cherry Daiquiri-Tini - which is a frozen cocktail.  Sweet, cherry-licious and like having an adult cherry slushie -Yum!

For this Torched Cherry Lime Martini I went for a classic cocktail "straight up",  cocktail that is drink that is shaken or stirred with ice and then strained and served without ice in a stemmed glass.  This one has a decidedly tart zing to it which will please those who prefer a less sweet cocktail. Another Yum!

I served this up with a few Torched Cherry Rum soaked Drunken Cherries on a cocktail fork as a garnish:

Kind of makes you wanna do a little Karaoke to Neil Diamond's Cherry Cherry, huh?

Updated March 2016

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The Big One Martini for NATIONAL EARTHQUAKE DAY

IT'S NATIONAL EARTHQUAKE DAY
Every April 26th We Acknowledge That The Earth Can Move Under Our Feet

According to the USGS (United States Geological Survey) there are several million earthquakes every year in the world and of those approximately only twenty percent will be large enough to be felt by humans and only around 100 of them will be large enough to cause damage.

Though you might not be aware of it, the earth is moving underneath your feet everyday. If that's not enough to send you heading towards the martini shaker I don't know what is!

BTW, today is also National Pretzel Day - so grab a bag of pretzels to go with your Big One Earthquake-A-Tini and make sure you have your Earthquake Survival Kit packed and up to date.

Updated  4-2019

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