Christmas Treats: The Chocolate Orange

I was planning on posting this one in the days leading up to Christmas, but things got hectic, and I missed the window.  Ah well.  On the plus side, we spent the holiday in Michigan with my husband's family, and we had a great visit.

This was another cocktail created for the Buckeye vodka event I hosted.  When my brother and I were young our mom would put those chocolate orange balls in our stockings on Christmas morning.  This was my take on those candies.

The Chocolate Orange
Glass: Large cocktail
Method: Shake and double strain
Garnish: Long orange twist


Ingredients:
1 oz Buckeye vodka
.5 oz Cointreau
.5 oz Dark Creme de Cocoa
2 barspoons Orange marmalade
2 oz Heavy cream


Shake with ice and double strain into glass.  Garnish with long orange twist and enjoy!

Peppermint Truffle

First and foremost...Merry Yule!  Tonight is the longest night of the year.  From here on out our days grow longer through the Summer Solstice.  I love more hours of daylight!

Next...I did an event with Buckeye vodka back in October and came up with a bunch of seasonal fall and winter cocktails.  This was one of them, and with just a few days left until Christmas I figured now would be a great time to post this one.

Peppermint Truffle (aka Buckeye Truffle)
Glass: Large Cocktail
Method: Shake and Strain
Garnish: Crushed peppermint rim

Ingredients:
1 oz Buckeye vodka
.75 oz Chambord
.5 oz Dark Creme de Cocoa
.25 oz Monin Frosted Mint syrup
.25 oz Simple syrup
2 oz Heavy cream 

Build ingredients and shake with ice.  Strain into a large cocktail glass that's been rimmed with chocolate syrup and crushed peppermint candies.

Giving back

I have always been a huge fan of restaurants using sales to give back to their communities or the world at large.  When the earthquake and tsunami hit in Japan last week, I knew immediately that I wanted to help out in such a way--every little bit helps, and if people are buying drinks at the restaurant anyway maybe I can entice them to buy one that can also benefit others.  I had already had an alcoholic fauxtini variation on the Shamrock Shake in mind for St. Patrick's Day called the Shaken Shamrock (I've since seen a few recipes doing the same sort of thing...I guess I'm not the only one who thought that might be fun!), and I thought I could go ahead and use both that and maybe a more summery, fruity fauxtini (and I had an extra thing of red sugar I had ordered for the SATC2 and my Eclipse promotions when I worked at Bar Louie that I wanted to use for...something.  A variation on a Lemondrop seemed a good idea).  $5 from each sale is going to the Red Cross for Japan earthquake and tsunami relief.  Today I'm going to post both recipes.  They vary a bit from what I usually like to mix up, but even fruity vodka fauxtinis have their place, in my opinion.  I try really hard not to be too much of a cocktail snob and appreciate that people like what they like, and I want my menus to offer everybody something they will enjoy.

The Shaken Shamrock
Glass:  Large cocktail/martini
Method: Shake and Strain
Garnish:  Whipped cream and a cherry (just like this year's shake)

Ingredients:
1 oz Absolut Vanilia
.75 oz Green Creme de Menthe
.25 oz Creme de Cacao/Cocoa (I had to do a double take when one of my bartenders pointed our that DeKuyper's label now says "Cocoa") 
.25 oz Simple syrup
1 spoonful Vanilla bean ice cream
2 0z Heavy Cream 

Build ingredients in a mixing glass and shake with ice.  Strain into a large cocktail glass and garnish with whipped cream and a cherry.


PAMAdrop
Glass:  Large cocktail/martini
Method: Shake and strain
Garnish: Red sugar rim 

Ingredients:
1 oz Vodka
.5 oz PAMA pomegranate liqueur 
.5 oz House made Pomegranate grenadine (1 part POM Wonderful pomegranate juice and one part sugar, shaken until sugar is dissolved)
1.5 oz Fresh lemon juice
1 oz Simple syrup

Build ingredients in a mixing glass and shake with ice.  Strain into a large cocktail/martini glass rimmed with red sugar.

Lady Godiva's Stand

With Valentine's Day creeping around the corner I've decided to work on a list of special drinks for Valentine's weekend.  Given that Valentine's is typically a chocolate sort of day, I couldn't resist using one of my guilty pleasure liqueurs for the occasion:  Godiva Chocolate (chocolate chocolate...not white chocolate.  Ew, white chocolate).  

I wanted to do something similar to (but not) your run-of-the-mill chocolate martini, so it was clear from the start that I absolutely Was. Not. going to use vodka in this one.  Cognac seemed like a natural choice--the sweetness and flavors would work beautifully together.  This past summer at Tales of the Cocktail, I was introduced to a lovely product called Meukow Vanilla cognac.  As a result, when I was choosing my bar, instead of Korbel or Christian Bros. brandy I chose to use Meukow VS as my go-to brandy/cognac.  The Meukow turned out to be the perfect choice for this cocktail.

Lady Godiva's Stand
Glass:   Large cocktail glass (in the 9-10oz range)
Method:  Shake and strain
Garnish:  Fresh grating of chocolate on surface


.75 oz Meukow VS cognac
.75 oz  Godiva (regular) Chocolate liqueur
.5 oz     DiSaronno Amaretto liqueur
.25 oz   Simple syrup
3 oz      Heavy cream


Shake with ice and strain into a large cocktail glass.  Grate Godiva dark chocolate over the top to garnish (Tip: keep the chocolate bar frozen until ready to use.  This will make for easier grating).


On Naming:  The legend of Lady Godiva's infamous ride to protest her husband's taxation was the base for this name.  I wanted to use "Godiva" in the name since it is such a recognizable brand around Valentine's (and it's in the drink, of course!), but I also really wanted to pay homage to the legend of the woman.  Like Lady Godiva, this is a lovely drink with a bit of backbone to it.