chocolate liqueur

Slow, Southern Style

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Black Velvet Cocktail

Black Velvet Cocktail

I’m sure you’ve heard the edict that proclaims white shoes after Labor Day a fashion sin so large you’ll shame 4 generations back if you break it? Frankly, I think white shoes at any time of the year only forgivable if you’re a bride or a toddler in a pageant dress, but that’s just me and the fact that I’m traumatized by the 80s and all those blindingly white stiletto heels (with or without socks). *shudder*

What does this have to do with cocktails? I’m getting there!

Another, lesser-known “rule” is that velvet is fabrica-non-grata after Valentine’s Day. While I’ve yet to read when velvet-season officially opens, I’d hazard a guess that it coincides with the beginning of Christmas (by which I mean the day after Thanksgiving, not mid-October–orange velvet isn’t a good look on, well, anyone).

As we’re barely a month away from Valentine’s and we’ve come to the V of the Alphatini route (like a fork in the road, only a lot less solid), I figured velvet was as good an inspiration as any for this week’s cocktail.

Black Velvet

1 oz Vodka
1 oz Molasses
3/4 oz Coffee Liqueur
1/2 oz Chocolate Liqueur

Combine all ingredients over ice and gyrate until ready to swoon. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Alternately, pour into a lowball glass half-full of crushed ice for Crushed Velvet.

Now, were this not a martini series I probably would have used some of the commercially-available moonshine in this, or at least some dark rum, but I’m sticking by my rules on this one. Besides, I think the molasses adds an interesting touch that even rum wouldn’t give you. The color was incredibly important for this drink and I’m happy it was achieved through means other than massive amounts of food coloring.

Now maybe I can exorcise the song of the same that’s been running through my head all week!

Cheers!

Slip Into Something More Raspberry

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What, no one decided to take up the Quest cocktail challenge? That’s too bad!

Maybe this week’s cocktail will be better suited for you, then, and we’ll keep it short and sweet, to boot! It’s the holidays, after all, and everyone seems to be in a hurry.

Raspberry Slip cocktailChefs love to tell stories–I don’t know, must come with the job–and our chefs at school were no exception. One (who also happened to be an English major before he became a chef) loved to tell us all the odd things they’d come up with to round out the usual cocktail and buffet offerings.

Apparently chocolate-dipped strawberries just weren’t special enough for this one client, they demanded something truly decadent and over-the-top to wow their guests. To appease Miss Picky they dipped hundreds of fresh raspberries into dark chocolate–just the barest tip–and called them Aphrodite’s Nipples. A little risque, sure, but the client loved them. Go figure.

About a year or so I created a simple cocktail based on those little gems for a fundraiser, and today I’m taking it another step and creating a darker, creamier recipe as our ‘R’ martini.

Raspberry Slip

1 1/2 oz Vanilla Vodka
1 1/4 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
3/4 oz Godiva Liqueur
3/4 oz Raspberry Liqueur

Combine all ingredients over ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and slip into a sweet, chocolate-berry languor.

If you’re a fan of those raspberry flavored chocolates that have flooded the market in the last couple years you’ll really like this cocktail.  And if you feel the need to take the even more to the dark side, drizzling some chocolate syrup down the sides of the glass or rimming it with chocolate curls certainly wouldn’t hurt. Or, hey, be decadent and do both! I won’t tell…

50 Shots of America–Wyoming

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Cowboy UP! Cocktail

Cowboy UP! (with sugar cookies and milk)

Dude, we’re up to the 44th state of the Union: Wyoming!

And no, I haven’t confused my states, I know we’ve already done California. I’m not talking surfing, here, I’m talking ranching! Dude ranches, specifically, the first of which was opened in 1879 in Wolf, Wyoming by the Eaton brothers (warning: music plays automatically). Back then, “dude” referred more to dandies than the burn-outs of the Bill & Ted/Big Lebowski era, which makes a lot more sense when you think about Dude Ranches being places for city folk to get away and “play West” the way kids play house.

So, what else is there to know about Big Wyoming? Well, that it is big, for one thing! It’s the 1oth largest state size-wise but it’s the 50th people-wise. Lots of room to spread out (at least on the 3rd that isn’t mountain ranges). There’s also lots of mining and beau-coup tourism (can we say major National Parks? yes, yes we can). On the agricultural side they’ve got beef, hay, sugar beets, wheat, barley and wool.

And then there’s the who Equality thing. With “Equal Rights” as a state motto I suppose it’s no surprise that they were the first state to give women the vote, to allow them to serve in previously male-only occupations (bailiff, justice of the peace) and even the first to elect a woman as governor!

Cowboy UP!

1 Tbsp Shredded Coconut
1/2 oz Dark Rum
1/2 oz Chocolate Liqueur
1/2 oz Hazelnut Liqueur

Muddle the coconut and the rum in the bottom of a mixing glass. Fill with ice, then add the chocolate and hazelnut liqueurs. Shake like a bucking bronco just outta the gate and strain into a chilled cordial glass (miniature bandanna optional).

Wyoming is, among other things, the Cowboy state and all I could think of after that was Cowboy Cookies: oatmeal cookies studded with nuts, raisins, chocolate and coconut. Of course, what goes better with cookies than milk? Unlike most of my drinks, this one doesn’t include any mixer so I’d suggest you chase it with a shot of milk or go ahead and pour it in–either way the drink is delicious.

50 Shots of America–Mississippi

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Muddy Magnolia Shot

Muddy Magnolia

Entering the Union on December 12, 1817, Mississippi became the 20th state to sign on the dotted line.

Thinking of the Magnolia State brings to mind images of plantation homes, cotton fields and the eponymous river. So very strong before the Civil War, top 5 as far as wealth is concerned, it has not fared so well in the century-plus that followed. There were issues, there were changes that didn’t want to be made and when they were made it was at a snail’s pace.

Let’s just leave it at that and move on to some high points and, of course, the cocktail.

Lots of great music came out of the Mississippi Delta–Elvis was born in Tupelo, Jimmy Buffet lived in Mobile for a while… just lots of good music and influence of various sounds around the country.

Other things that started in Mississippi? Root Beer (Biloxi, 1898), lung & heart transplants (U Miss Medical Center, 1963 & ’64, respectively), Rayon fabric (Hazelhurst), the origins of Memorial Day (Columbus, 1866) and Borden’s Condensed Milk (Liberty).

Oh, yeah, you know where this is going!

the Muddy Magnolia

1 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 oz Chocolate Liqueur
1/2 oz Hazelnut Liqueur
1/2 oz White Chocolate Irish Cream

Combine condensed milk and the chocolate and hazelnut liqueurs over ice in a shaker. Shake like a rushing river and strain into a chilled cordial glass. Float the Irish Cream over the back of a bar spoon and, if you want to gild the lily, shake or shave a little cocoa over the top.

I wanted to call this the Mississippi Mud because that’s sorta what I based the recipe on, that ooey-gooey dessert. But there are numerous drink recipes with that name already so I figured we’d go the magnolia route but also pay respect to the past that Mississippi has–both the good and the bad. Silver tarnishes, magnolias might get a little muddy, but the important thing is that they are still the same inside.

Todd’s comments on the drink: very smooth, the warmth hits the back of your throat in a nice way, very nice. And that was on the first sip! Of mine, actually. This drink he actually wanted one of his own 🙂

Butterscotch Schnapps

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Another (brief) walk down memory lane…

At a Victory Weekend in Daytona Beach, November 1994, one of the girls from Miami spent the entire first evening downing a bottle of Buttershots.

Now, it doesn’t seem like butter-flavored (well, technically butterschotch) liqueur would taste very good or be a good idea in general but I have to say, the more I experiment with shots and cocktails that employ it, the more I’m convinced that it is an idea most excellent, indeed. (And, as one of my chef-instructors said: fat makes things taste good! There may not be any fat in butterscotch schnapps, I’m not sure, but the idea is the same.)

At a party a few years back we were making Buttery Nipples (Irish Cream and Butterscotch Schnapps) when someone (not me, I’m afraid, but the details of who, exactly, are a little hazy) decided to add some Godiva liqueur that I’d also brought. Thus was born the Candy Bar “Shot.” Since then I’ve attempted to streamline the ratios and this is what we’ve come up with:

CHF Candy Bar Shot

2 parts Chocolate Liqueur
1 part Butterscotch Schnapps
1 part Irish Cream Liqueur

Combine in the glass of your choice, depending on your thirst. Pouring the Irish Cream over the back of a spoon (layering) is a nice touch but totally impractical if you’re in a hurry for some yum.

Now, more recently Todd and I were out at a local tapas bar and, after each ordering a “safe” cocktail from their martini menu, became intrigued by one of the offerings: the Oatmeal Cookie Martini. Unable to restrain my curiosity the entire evening, I eventually asked our bar mistress if we could try it as a shot. Oh. My. God. I didn’t think it was possible that a mixed drink could taste like a cookie but this did. In fact, it was like eating an oatmeal cookie with an ice-cold milk chaser. So good.

Of course we had to experiment. What follows is our best efforts to date (though I’ve dropped the martini title as there’s no vodka or gin in the drink):

CHF Oatmeal Cookie

3 oz Irish Cream Liqueur
1.5 oz Butterscotch Schnapps
splash of Cinnamon Schnapps (we, and the bar, used Goldschlager)

Combine in a cocktail shaker over ice, preferably crushed, and shake til really cold. Strain into a chilled glass.

You want to be really light with the cinnamon because it can overpower the drink easily and ruin the illusion that you’re drinking a cookie.

Bottoms up!