buttershots

What a Way to End the Night!

Sips

Conventional wisdom suggests that Santa Claus is a devotee of milk (with cookies), hot cocoa and a certain red-canned cola.

Santa's Nightcap Cocktail

But if you ask me, after circumnavigating the globe in one night I’d want something a little stronger to take the edge off.

Which is why we’re devoting the ‘S’ alphatini to the jolly dude in the red suit.

Santa’s Nightcap

2 oz Vanilla Vodka
2 oz Cranberry Juice
1/2 oz  Buttershots
1/2 oz Grenadine
1/4 oz Goldschlager
garnish of icing, coconut flakes and a mini-marshmallow

To prepare your cocktail glass: paint the outer lip of your cocktail glass with icing or a thick sugar syrup and press on coconut flakes (it helps if they’re chopped a little finer than they come in the package). Let rest upside down so the sugar can dry while you mix the drink.

Combine vodka, juice, liqueurs and grenadine in a shaker over ice and ho-ho-ho your way to an icy finish. Strain into a prepared cocktail glass and float a mini-marshmallow on top. Kick off your boots and let the night melt away.

This cocktail is like a spicy cranberry cookie in a glass, made the perfect shade of red by the grenadine, but most of the fun–I admit–is in the presentation. The drink is good on it’s own but with the garnish it looks like an inverted Santa hat and, well, it’s just more fun that way!

Cheers to the Holidays!

You Spin Me Right, Round & Upside Down

Sips

Right Side Up Martini
The same restaurant that served Todd that fabulous Lemon Drop Martini had another item on the menu that I wished I’d ordered instead of the all-alcohol pomegranate martini I nursed for the night. But we didn’t order it, so I have no idea what it tastes like, but it sounded so good I jotted down the description with a plan to try it out back home.

Of course, that was three years ago and I’ve yet to experiment with this cocktail: until now.

First, it had vanilla vodka–something we’d only recently encountered at the time and our favorite form of the otherwise flavorless spirit now. Butterscotch schnapps and pineapple juice rounded out the main ingredients, with a splash of cola to finish it off.

Here’s how we put it together:

The Right Side Up

2 oz Pineapple Juice
1 1/4 oz Vanilla Vodka
1/2 oz Butterscotch Schnapps
1/4 oz Cola

Combine all ingredients in a shaker over ice and turn it right round like a record, baby. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a bruléed bit of pineapple, if you happen to have one around.

I expected it to be syrupy. It isn’t. In fact, it’s a nice, calm little cocktail–definitely sweet, make no mistake–that’s evenly balanced between the alcohols and the juice. The cola gave me pause, at first, but it gives the drink that caramelized flavor without which it’s namesake dessert wouldn’t be the same.

Cheers!

That’s How the Cookie Crumbles

Sips

Oatmeal Cookie CocktailOr, rather, shakes.

Okay, the O-cocktail in this series is another one I’ve been looking forward to getting just right. We first had it ages ago at a tapas-style restaurant. We’d gone there after a late movie and ate (and drank) at the bar. While we weren’t really looking for another full cocktail (we’d each had one a piece–moderation, remember?) the martini list was so tempting, so we asked for this one as a shot. Oh, it was divine, and we’ve worked on the right combination off and on since then.

I think we’ve finally got it right.

Oatmeal Cookie Martini

1.5 oz Irish Cream
1.5 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
3/4 oz Buttershots
3/4 oz Vanilla Vodka
1/2 oz Goldschlager
garnish: cinnamon sugar, raisins

Combine all  liquid ingredients over ice and shake like a mixer creaming cold butter. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass that’s been rimmed with cinnamon sugar. Garnish with a spear of raisins, if that’s how you like your cookie.

There are many versions of this delectable treat floating around the web and I was astonished to see that several called for Jagermeister–not exactly what I like in my oatmeal cookie. One called for amaretto, which I thought was a nice touch, but so far I haven’t see any with vanilla vodka or condensed milk. What can I say, I have a cocktail ingredient type!

I know it’s a little early to be thinking about the big guy in the red suit, but I wonder if I left this out for him instead of regular cookies, would I find a little something extra in my stocking?