Wild Hibiscus Martini

Spring is coming, it's time for some Flower Martinis!

I was recently sent some lovely jars of hibiscus flowers packed in syrup from Wild Hibiscus for creating some new and unique cocktails.  Edible flowers are all the rage in the culinary world at the moment, though floral flavors are nothing new to the world of food or drink.  The Bible mentions dandelions as one of the "bitter herbs", the Romans used mallows, roses and violets often in their dishes, teas have been infused with flowers for thousands of years, and the Victorian era was big on fresh flowers in salads.

The resurgence of the popularity of flowers as food* has opened up a surge of creativity in the garnishing and flavoring of cocktails, bringing a whole new bouquet of bounty to happy hour.  In my Hibiscus Martini I have used the unique tartness of the flower to bring a subtle floral flavor to a citrus cocktail.  I also used the hibiscus syrup in place of simple syrup, bringing even more flavor and adding a burst of magenta color!

*Not all flowers species are edible and not all edible flowers are "food quality". Here's a great list of Edible Flowers from Epicurian.com and here's a good article from Chef's Blade on How to find and use edible flowers.

Purchase the WILD HIBISCUS MARTINI RECIPE Here.

updated 8-2016

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CHOCOLATE FIG MARTINI

Updated November 2015

THE CHOCOLATE FIG MARTINI

in collaboration with Pollen Ranch

Recently I was enjoying a tweetchat at HGEATs sponsored by The Hungry Goddess and got hooked up with Pollen Ranch.  They sent me some of their products to play with for making martinis, which makes me happy because I love swag and I love making martinis with them!

Pollen Ranch sent me a bag of their Calming Spice Tea, a package of their FREAKIN' DELISH Shortbread Cookies (which may never make it to a martini!), A bar of their Fig Fennel & Almond Chocolate (which also came close to never making it into a martini) and a tin of their Spicy Fennel Sea Salt.

I just happened to have several bags of dried figs in my cupboard so I decided to go with the chocolate fig bar first and here is what I came up with:

THE CHOCOLATE FIG MARTINI

(You might need to plan ahead a bit for this one)

1 Oz. Fig Liqueur*
1/2 Oz. Dark Creme de Cacao
1/2 Oz. Heavy Cream
1/8+ Tsp. Pollen Ranch Spicy Fennel Sea Salt
1 Pollen Ranch Theo Fig Fennel & Almond Chocolate Bar
1/4 Cup. Dried Fig Pieces
Cocoa Powder

TO MAKE THE FIG LIQUEUR:
*First you must make the fig liqueur. Yes, you can buy Fig Liqueur and there are 3 that I'm aware of: Edmond Briottet Creme de Figue, Briottet Creme de Figue and Boukha Fig Liqueur, but if you can make if for less than upwards of $30 a bottle why wouldn't you? The easiest way to do this is to get 8 ounces of dried figs and infuse these into vodka. I added about 1/8 a cup of sugar to mine but dried figs are very sweet so it's not necessary. You can get the instructions for making vodka infusions at TheMartiniDiva.Com's Fun page article "How to Make Flavor Infused Vodka". You will need at least a week to infuse the fig liqueur.

TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE FIG CANDY:
Next you are going to make a chocolate fig candy by melting the Pollen Ranch chocolate bar, dropping in the 1/4 cup (+/-) of dried fig pieces, then spooning the mixture into candy molds. This will be your garnish. I placed my chocolate onto the tines of a cocktail fork and used this to stir my martini occasionally, adding a little more a deep chocolate flavor.  I then had a nice little chocolate tidbit to pop in my mouth after I finished the martini!

TO MAKE THE MARTINI:
Prepare your martini glass by dipping first in some of the Creme de Cacao then into the cocoa powder and chill this in the freezer. Then pour the Fig Liqueur and the Dark Creme de Cacao over a cup of ice in a cocktail shaker, add the 1/4 Tsp of Pollen Ranch Spicy Fennel Sea Salt and shake until well chilled. Pour this almost to the top of a chilled martini glass then slowly drizzle the heavy cream over the top for a marbled effect. Sprinkle on a bit more of the Spicy Fennel Sea Salt and sit back and enjoy!

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Happy National Banana Cream Pie Day!

HAPPY NATIONAL BANANA CREAM PIE DAY!

What's Better Than a Banana Cream Pie in The Face?
A Banana Cream Pie in your Martini Glass!

 MY OTHER

BANANA COCKTAILS

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Happy National Pig Day - PUT SOME PIG IN A BOTTLE!

It's

NATIONAL PIG DAY!

Put Some PIG in a Bottle!

Click here for the Recipe & Instructions for making Rockin' Bacon Vodka

Oink, Oink!

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Happy National Peanut Butter Lover's Day!

Peanut Butter Lovers Rejoice for Today is the National Peanut Butter Lover's Day!

Yes, today you get to stick your finger in the peanut butter jar

AND you get to drink

PEANUT BUTTER MARTINIS:

What's the nicest thing about Peanut Butter Martinis? They don't stick to the roof of your mouth!

P.S.
You might also be interested in knowing that Van Gogh Vodka will be releasing their PB&J Vodka at the end of March - a peanut butter and (raspberry) jelly flavored spirit set to temp the peanut butter lover for happy hour!  I would love to get my hands on a bottle of this to see if they actually managed to capture the essence of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

Happy National Peanut Butter Lover's Day

from The Martini Diva

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A Cocktail for Leap Day on Leap Year!

Once every four years we get an extra day.  I figure that means we should get an extra martini!

Here's my LEAP DAY MARTINI:

2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce Blue Curacao
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 lemon twist, for garnish

This is my Leap Day Version of the Leap Year Cocktail created by Harry Craddock, for the Leap Year celebrations at the Savoy Hotel, London, on February 29th,

Happy Leap Day!

Updated February 2016.

*According to Gary Regan in his book, "Joy of Mixology"

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Happy National Kahlua Day

Updated November 2015

Happy National Kahlúa Day!

WHAT IS KAHLÚA?

Kahlúa is a rum based coffee liqueur originally produced in Mexico. The name derives from a word which means "house of the Acolhua people". Today there are several flavored versions available as well as a Kahlúa Especial which has a higher alcohol content and is made with higher quality Arabica beans grown in Veracruz, Mexico.

HOW ABOUT WE MAKE SOME?

I've been making my own version of Kahlúa for years, some great versions and some not so great. The first time I made coffee liqueur in the 1970's I ended up with brown sludge from the cheap vodka and instant coffee recipe I tried. The first mistake there was using cheap, the second was using vodka, the third was using instant coffee. I've come a long way since those days and have finally found a great recipe which employs a high quality aged rum, ground beans, real vanilla and Turbinado sugar. This recipe was adapted from a recipe I found on Serious Eats.

HOMEMADE VERSION OF

KAHLUA STYLE COFFEE LIQUEUR

INGREDIENTS:

3 Cups of  Diplomático Reserva Rum

1-1/2 Cup Turbinado Sugar

1 Vanilla Bean

2/3 Cup Espresso Beans, Finely Ground

3 Cups of Water

SPECIAL TOOLS:

Coffee filters, small metal strainer, small saucepan, funnel, Mason jar, infusion jar or bottle, decorative bottle.

DIRECTIONS:

Cold brew the espresso beans by adding them to 2 cups of water in a Mason jar. Shake and refrigerate for 24 hours. Strain through a coffee filter lined metal strainer into the infusion jar. Set aside.

After 24 hours you can then make the Turbinado simple syrup by combining 1-1/2 cups of Turbinado sugar and 1 cup of water in a saucepan. Bring these just to a boil then remove the pan from the heat and allow the syrup to cool and thicken.

Grab the jar that you have your cold brew coffee in and scrape in the beans from the vanilla pod, drop the vanilla pod in as well.  Add in the rum and shake everything up then allow the infusion to steep for a week, shaking at least once a day.

Once the week is up strain out the vanilla beans and pod through a metal strainer and bottle up in a decorative bottle with a sealed cap.

TIP:  You might want to double the recipe.  I went through my first bottle in two days. By the way, this makes a great gift for holidays, birthdays and it's an excellent hostess gift.

As for that photo up top? That's my favorite way to make use of my Homemade Kahlua style liqueur:
WHITE RUSSIAN TRUFFLE CUPS with Espresso Liqueur

You can also make use of it in many of my
COFFEE COCKTAILS
ESPRESSO COCKTAILS
and bake it into these
KAHLUA CUPCAKES

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