This cocktail was 100% inspired by Mexican hot chocolate. It has the cocoa, the spices, and some milk, but I wasn’t sure what to call it because it’s served over ice. Does it count has hot chocolate when it’s not hot?! Whatever we call it, this is delicious and perfect for when you’re gathered around the fireplace this season.
Continue readingSix delicious and dare I say simple DIY infused alcohol recipes. Perfect for a pal or a gal or sippin’ by yourself. These recipes take anywhere from a few minutes, to a few hours, to several days, whichever you pick, you’ll be loved for it!
We’re giving you a solid heads up, so you have a few days to think about what an easy and awesome gift infused alcohol is before gettin’ to it and mixing these up to be ready in time for Valentine’s Day. Don’t worry, we’ll remind you in another couple of weeks.
My only pro tip? Just click on whichever infused alcohol recipes catch your eye tastebuds, read through the post to ensure you have everything on hand for when you’re ready to brew. You’ll also find a great suggestion for your first drink. Cheers!
Since these spirits magically change from a nice deep blue color to pink, they have unicorn written all over them. But I’m on a narwhal kick this year, remember these shakes?! So narwhal it is.
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Hooray, you made it to this day! We’re going to show you how to impress your friends at the next virtual happy hour. And we have a kid-friendly version! Continue reading
We’re popping in today with a quick candy cane flavored vodka. How quick? You’ll be spiking your hot chocolate tonight. Happy Tuesday!
I made a bottle of vanilla vodka last week, as you’ll see below, it’s super easy to do, and it’s even better than the store-bought vanilla varieties because this is made with 100% real vanilla, nothing artificial here… and then we added candy-coated malted eggs.
Truth be told, vanilla vodka has never been on my radar, but since I’ve experimented with making the tea infused and rosemary infused vodkas, vanilla and vodka seemed like an obvious pairing. It wasn’t until after I made it that I wondered what to do with it. Calder said “throw it away”. Thanks. Then I did a Google search and came upon a comment board where multiple people recommended giving it away. What’s wrong with everyone?
It’s been a long time since I’ve had Frangelico or any other hazelnut liqueur, but with nuts as our featured ingredient, it was high time that I tried making my own! While doing some research for this project, I came across a Serious Eats article that encourages anyone interested to make their own rather than buy, and I couldn’t agree more. The pure hazelnut flavor really shines through, and I really appreciate being able to taylor the sweetness to my liking, which is often less than store-bought liqueurs.
After liking what Serious Eats’ encouragement to make the liqueur, I clicked through to their recipe and also liked the simplicity of that, so I used it and that’s what you see reprinted below. Making this liqueur couldn’t be easier, it’s the waiting that’s hard. While I want to say it “only” involves three to four weeks of wait-time, that’s three (or four) too many, and I think you’ll agree once you see my new favorite treat below. I say four weeks, because I was supposed to go on to steps 2 and 3 while our family was in town, and I completely forgot! As a result, I had about an extra week of the hazelnuts steeping in the alcohol, but the flavor is that delicious and strong that I have no regrets… although I’m not sure if I’ll be able to wait that long the second time I make this.
Today we wanted to share an amazingly simple way to turn your average bloody mary into something extraordinary: rosemary vodka!
Making the vodka is so easy, and when paired with our bloody mary recipe below, you’ll be the star of your next brunch (honestly, the bloody mary will be the star, you’ll be drunk). We’ve dressed up the bloody mary with some fresh herbs and cheese stuffed olives, nothing too crazy, but just fun enough to make these bloody marys memorable.
First the vodka ~ I’m going to provide basic instructions, but fom my experience, the process is flexible and can be adjusted based upon how strongly flavored you want your vodka to be.
Place the rosemary and vodka in a clean jar to steep. After a few days, give your vodka a taste. You should be able to taste a hint (or more) of the rosemary flavor. I wanted an intense flavor (and I may have forgotten about this project for a moment), so I let my rosemary steep for over a week. After that amount of time, the rosemary flavor was perfectly present in my bloody mary, but not overwhelming.
Whenever you are happy with the rosemary flavor of your vodka, remove the rosemary sprigs. Be prepared for your vodka to turn a greenish-brown color as the rosemary’s tannins are released ~ while slightly unnerving, the color change really makes it seem like you’ve made a potion!
Now, you could take your vodka and make a basic bloody mary, but why not dress it up a bit? The recipe below simplifies things by using bloody mary mix, but then we splurge on the goat cheese-stuffed olives and the fragrance from the additional fresh herbs.
Stuff your olives with the goat cheese. I used a knife to push the goat cheese into the open end of the olive. It wasn’t pretty, but it was relatively easy.
In a glass filled with ice, add the vodka, bloody mary mix, worchestershire, and horseradish. Stir it well. Arrange the celery stalk and herb sprigs in the glass. Add the lime wedge and skewered olives to the glass’s edge.
Enjoy!
Have you tried your hand at infused vodkas? Have any favorite flavors?
What about your bloody mary, what are your favorite garnishes?
