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.

Rose of Eris

Okay...trying to make up a bit for lost time.  Sorry for the sad lack of October posts, guys!  It's been a busy month!

I did a fall cocktail event with Buckeye vodka earlier this month, so be prepared for some more Buckeye vodka recipes over the next month-ish.  Since the fall and winter tend to be more dark liquor months, I tried to incorporate some fall/winter types of flavors into vodka cocktails for them.  This one would be lovely for a Christmas-ish or New Years party.  I'd never even tried quince prior to making this syrup, but I was extremely pleased with the result!


For those of you who don't know about quince fruit, historians and mythologians are pretty certain that it was the "apple" referenced in the Garden of Eden, and any golden apple references in Greek and Roman mythology (like the one Eris inscribed and tossed to Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera that essentially started the Trojan War).  The raw taste is very dry, tart, and somewhere between an apple and a pear.  I also read that they have ties to the rose family--hence the intoxicating scent, I'm guessing.  To get real flavor out of it you want to make it into a syrup or jam, really.  I made a very easy simple syrup.  I peeled and diced three quince fruit and brought it verrrrrrrrrry slowly to a boil with about 30oz sugar and 30oz water (I typically use Store and Pours to measure for my syrups...ha) and then strained out the diced fruit.  The syrup turned a gorgeous pink color with an incredibly intoxicating scent as it simmered.

Rose of Eris 
Glass:  Champagne flute
Method:  Shake and Strain
Garnish:  Long lemon twist

Ingredients:
1 oz Buckeye vodka (Ciroc might be a great substitution for those not in Ohio)
.75 oz Quince simple syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a champagne flute.  Top with prosecco and garnish.  Indulge. 

MxMo LXI: Local Color: Autumn Blaze

I'm situated in the midwest of the States, and while we've got the craft beer thing DOWN (Dear Bell's...I love you and I miss you <3)...the liquor can be a little bit more tricky.  Recently, however, we've exploded with some really nice locally distilled spirits.  I was recently asked by the president of my local USBG chapter if I wanted to help the folks at Buckeye Vodka (based in Dayton, Ohio) with a seasonal cocktail to mix up at the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association's Bar Expo.  I jumped at the chance to help out a local distiller.  From there, I thought it would be fun to host a Mixology Monday that focused on showcasing the "local" liquors of our regular contributors.  I went a little crazy with my contribution and ended up with an almost entirely "local" cocktail, actually...not that that's a bad thing, of course! :-)

About the liquor:  Buckeye vodka is made with softened-four-times, filtered, and distilled water, and then the vodka is ten-times distilled, and it's probably the purest vodka I've ever tasted.  The palate is incredibly clean--practically like purified water turned alcohol!  This is definitely a liquor to use when you don't want to cloud the other flavors in your cocktail/drink.  I don't normally mix with vodka, but I always love a challenge...and challenge myself I did! 

I decided I wanted to go the pumpkin pie spice route, and I read up on a handful of pumpkin spice syrup recipes without finding exactly what I was hoping for...so, I did what I usually do in that situation...wing it.  My recipe (and lots of step-by-step photos) for the syrup and candied bites is below the cocktail recipe.   

I was pretty pleased with the final product, and I had people at the Expo coming over asking, "Is this the pumpkin one?  I've had about ten people tell me I had to come over and try it!" so it must have been a success :-)

 Autumn Blaze
Glass: Large cocktail
Method: Shake and Strain
Garnish: Candied pumpkin bites

Ingredients:
1 egg yolk (I always dryshake the egg without ice before adding the other ingredients)
1.5 oz Buckeye Vodka (from Dayton, Ohio)
1.5 oz Pumpkin Pie Spice syrup (mine used fresh pumpkins from Fairfield, Ohio)
1.5 oz Unfiltered Apple Cider (mine was from Newcomerstown, Ohio)

Shake VERY well with ice to thoroughly incorporate the egg yolk and strain into glass.  Garnish and enjoy!


Pumpkin Pie Spice Syrup and Candied Pumpkin Bites

1 Pie Pumpkin (mine were from a farm in Fairfield, Ohio)
3 cups Light brown sugar
3 cups water
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice blend (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice)

 Gut, peel, and dice your pumpkin.  I recommend half-/three-quarter-inch-ish sized dicing for candied bites that aren't too small, but not so big that they won't soak up a nice amount of spiced syrup in cooking...but it's really personal preference.

 

Mix all of the above together in a deep sauce pan and bring it to a slow boil.  Let it gently boil for about 15 minutes.  Strain out the pumpkin pieces and run the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer to filter out random spice and debris.

The quickest way to dry out your pumpkin pieces is to pre-heat your oven to its lowest setting (mine is 170F), spread the pieces over a baking sheet, and let them sit in the oven for a couple of hours.  Once they're dried out roll/toss them in a blend of granulated sugar and ground cinnamon.  I recommend about a tablespoon of cinnamon per half cup of sugar.

For the round-up check out the MxMo LXI Round-Up post!

Raspberry Breeze

I was so entertained by the outcome of creating this drink that I just had to post the recipe right away.  One of our regulars, as dinner was winding down, asked if I had some time to spare to mix him something new.  After a couple of questions he decided he wanted something not too sweet and with vodka.  Got it.  I went for a twist on a mojito.  The end result made him say, "This tastes like spring!"  Perfect :-D

Raspberry Breeze
Glass:  10 oz Collins
Method:  Muddle, Box
Garnish:  Lime wedge and mint sprig

Muddle
2 lime wedges
6 mint leaves
.25 oz Simple syrup
.5 oz Monin Raspberry syrup (have I mentioned that Jungle Jim's carries an amazing array of Monins?  They do.)

Add and Box:
1.5 oz Ciroc vodka
.25 oz Stoli Razberi vodka
 Top with Gosling's Ginger Beer

Garnish and enjoy!

I walked away for about five minutes and the two girls next to him had decided they had named the drink.  I  was highly entertained for the rest of the evening (and still am, actually).  I won't repeat their name here (it's not a bad name, but sometimes inside jokes are best left as inside jokes ;-)).  I think I made about three or four more between the bar regular and other people around the bar.

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.