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Blueberry Pineapple Margarita

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blueberry pineapple margarita

This summer cocktail is a huge WOW!  Plump blueberries and juicy pineapple combine in a luscious infused tequila laced margarita.  Um.  Wow.  Just wow.  The key to this little sip of sunshine is the infused tequila.  I have infused vodka lots of times with great success and if I am totally honest (which I always try to be) there were some huge failures.  Please don’t even ask about the candy corn infused vodka I tried last halloween. One word.  Disaster.   Happily I am back on the right track with this first try at infused tequila and I’m thrilled with how well it turned out.  Blueberry Pineapple Margarita, Olé!

First things first.  The blueberry and pineapple infused tequila.  Place blueberries and pineapple (cut into chunks) in a clean glass jar.  Pour tequila over the top.  Secure the lid.  Place in a cool dark place for 48 hours or so and there it is!  Magic.  You can strain through a coffee filter into a clean jar and it is ready to use  but remember to keep the blueberries to garnish the margarita.

blueberry pineapple infused tequila

Now for the main event.  The luscious blueberry pineapple margarita.  Years ago (don’t even remember where) I learned that the secret to fantastic margaritas is to use frozen limeade concentrate.  I was skeptical but tried it anyway and wow did it taste great.  Since then “my” secret for flavorful margaritas is to use frozen lemonade and limeade concentrate in the mix.  I added the lemonade on a whim and it really rounded out the flavor.  Since the concentrates are so sweet no other sweetener is needed.  The flavors are bright and fresh and it makes margaritas super easy to pull together.  Like most margaritas there are two ways to go in preparing these.  Either you’ll serve them on the rocks or frozen (blended).  I decided to do the on the rocks version this time around.  It is a straightforward process (shake ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and pour into a glass) with delicious results.  Pour into a frosty glass rimmed with crunchy sugar, garnish with a few marinated blueberries and you are ready for a spectacular evening.

 Here is an important tidbit.  Any fruit which has been used to infuse a spirit will be extra potent as it will absorb the alcohol.  I was reminded of this when photographing the yummy cocktail above.  I wasn’t even thinking and popped a blueberry in my mouth.  Wowza.  So if you select to eat the fruit, take care, it will pack a tequila punch and a half!

Blueberry Pineapple Margarita
 
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Luscious Blueberry and Pineapple infused tequila anchors this delicious cocktail.
Author:
Recipe type: Cocktail
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • Fresh Pineapple cut into chunks
  • Fresh Blueberries
  • 1-2 cups tequila
  • ⅛ cup Grand Marnier (or other orange liquor)
  • ¼ cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
  • ¼ cup frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
  • ¼ cup water
  • Ice
  • Sugar to rim glasses
Instructions
  1. Place blueberries and pineapple chucks in a clean jar (with lid)
  2. Pour tequila over to cover. Seal jar. Place in cool dark place for 48 hours
  3. To prepare margarita classes dip the rim in water and then dip into granulated sugar on a plate to coat the rim. Fill the glass with ice.
  4. For margaritas on the rocks put ½ cup infused tequila into a cocktail shaker
  5. Add Grand Marnier, lemonade and limeade concentrates, water and ice
  6. Shake until well mixed and very cold
  7. Strain into margarita glasses and serve

 

 

 

Godiva White Chocolate Martini

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Godiva White Chocolate Martini

Here it is.  Chocolaty.  Smooth.  Creamy.  Delicious. And it isn’t even Friday.  Normally I do a special cocktail on a Friday evening to wrap up the week and welcome the weekend.  This week I decided that perhaps I would change it up a bit and do a special Wednesday cocktail instead.  Who wouldn’t appreciate a little something special on “hump day”?  Chocolate martinis are one of my favorites in the winter but seem a bit heavy in the heat of summer.  This Godiva white chocolate martini is a lighter version but still packs a chocolaty punch.  Chocolaty and decadent this martini is as smooth as it gets.

Godiva White Chocolate Martini
 
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This packs a smooth chocolaty punch. It is beautiful garnished with a strawberry or simply with chocolate shavings.
Author:
Recipe type: Cocktail
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 3 oz. white chocolate white creme de cacao
  • 2 oz vanilla vodka
  • 1 oz Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur
  • 2 oz. heavy (or whipping) cream
  • Ice
  • A chocolate bar (shave 2 TBLS. shavings) or strawberry for garnish
Instructions
  1. Place ice and cold water in a martini glass
  2. In a cocktail shaker mix all the ingredients except chocolate shavings or strawberry
  3. Add ice
  4. Shake until very cold
  5. Pour the ice/water combination out of the martini glass
  6. Strain into prepared martini glass
  7. garnish with chocolate shavings or strawberry

Godiva White Chocolate Martini

I am sure you have noticed this fun martini glass.  This is a Lolita Martini Glass (Chocolatini).  Talk about party in a glass!  I am pretty sure  you could drink water out of them and it would taste festive.  I have several of these Lolita martini glasses.  I especially like the Valentine’s Day and Halloween versions.

I garnished this with chocolate shavings but this cocktail is even better with a fresh strawberry perched atop the rim of the glass.  Darn.  I wish I had stopped at the store this afternoon!  Cheers and Happy Wednesday!

Bing Cherry Martini

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Bing Cherry Martini

As a follow up to last week’s Wicked White Cherry Martini let me introduce it’s bright red cousin the Bing Cherry Martini. The ingredients may be the same but the taste is not.  This Cherry Martini has a deeper cherry flavor and instead of clear is bright red.  Very festive indeed.  The only think which varies is the technique.  The white version is assembled and served all together.  With the red version the cherries are marinated first bringing more of that cherry flavor (and vibrant red color) into the cocktail.

Bing Cherry Martini
 
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Bright with a vibrant cherry taste this recipe is sure to please on a hot summer evening! Makes 2 cocktails.
Author:
Recipe type: Drinks
Ingredients
  • 1.5 oz. Simple Syrup
  • Juice of 1 Lime
  • 6 Cherries, pitted and cut in half
  • 6 oz. Black Cherry Vodka (I use Effen)
  • Ice
Instructions
  1. Place half the sliced cherries in a mason jar with simple syrup and lime juice. Cover and shake gently. Place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours.
  2. Put ice and cold water in 2 martini glasses to chill.
  3. In a cocktail shaker combine contents of mason jar, black cherry vodka and ice.
  4. Shake, shake, shake until super cold.
  5. Dump out ice water from martini glasses.
  6. Strain cocktail into glasses, garnish with remaining cherries.
  7. Enjoy!

I use Effen vodka, cool bottle don’t you think?  I have also tried their salted caramel vodka (as delicious as it sounds) but still want to try the raspberry and the cucumber.  Just for the record I have no affiliation with Effen, just like the products!

Enjoy!

Wicked White Cherry Martini

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whitecherrymartinicover

I love fruit based cocktails.  Let me say that right out front.  It seems as though they should be easy to throw together.  Not so much.  With fruit cocktails the balance of sweet can easily overpower the drink.  The fruit is sweet right out of the gate and the over addition of agave nectar or simple syrup can easily push it over the edge.  More kid’s fruit drink with alcohol than sophisticated cocktail.  I always seem to be thinking about what great combination I can come up with next.  Like a (slightly) mad scientist concocting a fruity elixir for that Friday night wind down.  Friday you say?  Yep.  That is today.  No big coincidence there.  Let’s get this weekend started!

My Cherry Martini has a couple of incarnations.  One up town, one down town.  One deep red and the other clear.  Both have the same ingredients.  The process to make each is different as is the taste.  The Bada Bing Cherry Martini (the red version) is earthier with a deeper cherry flavor.  The white (Wicked White Cherry Martini) is cleaner with a more sophisticated taste (and a killer look, clear with deep ruby red cherries dead center).  Tonight I am feeling a little more “up town” and so white it is.

When putting any fruit based cocktail together it is really to start by tasting the fruit.  That will have a huge impact on the amount of sweetener (whether simple syrup or agave nectar) which will need to be used.  The cherries I used were sweet but not super sweet and so I used a bit more simple syrup than I would have if the cherries were flat out sweet.  So taste first and mix second!  And remember if the fruit is very sweet then skip the sweetener all together.  This is as much art as science.

Enjoy this Wicked White Cherry Cocktail and have a wonderful weekend!

P.S. Don’t worry I will share the Bing Cherry Martini next Friday!

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Wicked White Cherry Martini
 
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Delicious and utterly wicked this White Cherry Martini will quench that summertime thirst!
Author:
Recipe type: Cocktail
Ingredients
  • ½-1 oz Simple Syrup (according to taste)
  • Splash of Lime juice
  • 3-6 Cherries, pitted and cut in half
  • 2 oz Black Cherry Vodka (I use Effin)
  • Ice
Instructions
  1. Put ice and cold water in a martini glass to chill
  2. Place simple syrup, lime juice, black cherry vodka and ice in a cocktail shaker.
  3. Shake, shake, shake until very cold (if you can barely hold the shaker that is about right)
  4. Pour ice water out of martini glass and strain mixture from cocktail shaker into prepared glass.
  5. Garnish with the cherry halves.
  6. Enjoy!

Simple syrup has the perfect name.  It should be called Super Simple Syrup.  It is a great sweetener for cocktails and keeps for a month in the refrigerator.
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Super Simple Syrup
 
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Super Simple Syrup is an easy to make sweetener perfect for all sorts of cocktails. I make it in a canning jar and keep it in the refrigerator. Will keep for a month.
Author:
Recipe type: Cocktails
Ingredients
  • ½ cup Sugar
  • ½ cup Very Hot Water
Instructions
  1. In a clean mason jar mix the sugar and very hot water. Cover. Shake until sugar completely dissolves.
  2. Let cool completely before using.
  3. Store in refrigerator for up to a month

 

Watermelon Caipirinhas

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Watermelon Caipirinhas

A new take on the traditional Brazilian cocktail!

Today’s World Cup Cocktails are Watermelon Caipirinhas.  It is a variation on the famous Brazilian Caipirinhas which are lime based.  This version has a splash of lime but watermelon is the star.  Fresh and fruity this cocktail is just as light and delicious as the original recipe however it contains a bright snap of juicy watermelon sweetness.

muddler

 

I was asked a question about the muddler I described in the Brazilian Caipirinhas recipe. There are all sorts out there with price points varying widely.  The one I use I picked up in the kitchen aisle of Target.  The only job of a muddler is to mush the ingredients together and so unless you are planning on lots of muddling the wrong end of a wooden spoon works just as well.  I fall into the muddling often crowd and so I am happy to own one.

The process for this cocktail is simple.  Cut 6-7 cubes of watermelon (about 1/2-3/4 cup total).  I find a riper watermelon works the best.  Place the cubes into a cocktail shaker.  There are two routes you can go with the sweetener.  Either 1 oz. Simple Syrup or 1 TBLS. sugar.  I prefer simple syrup (recipe below) but sugar will work fine.  If you are using sugar add it to the watermelon now and muddle together (if adding simple syrup you’ll add it after the watermelon has been muddled).  The watermelon should resemble a puree but not be completely smooth and liquid and the sugar should be dissolved.  Once muddled add the simple syrup if using, 1 tsp. lime juice and 2 oz. Cachaca.  Cachaca is a Brazilian liquor made of sugar cane.  If you don’t have Cachaca you can substitute vodka (which would change it to a Watermelon Caipiroska).

Watermelon Caipirinhas ingredients

Watermelon Caipirinhas

 

Fill the shaker to the top with ice, cover, and shake, shake, shake.  This cocktail needs to be icy cold.  I shake it until I can barely hold onto the shaker for fear of freezing my fingers.  Yes, that cold.

Pour your newly created Watermelon Caipirinhas into a highball glass.  This cocktail does contain some of the watermelon pulp.  If you don’t like that texture make sure you really muddle the watermelon well at the beginning to obtain the consistency you like.  Garnish with a wedge of watermelon and sit back and enjoy!

Simple Syrup

1 cup water + 1 cup sugar.  Heat in a saucepan, stirring.  Bring to a boil and cook until sugar dissolves.  Cool.  Store in a jar in the refrigerator.  (Is wonderful in ice tea)!

Brazilian Caipirinhas

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Brazilian Caipirinhas

There is nothing like Brazilian Caipirinhas to kick off World Cup madness!  I love the World Cup and so this is a time which can’t come quickly enough for me.  As with the Olympics I always try and explore the food and drink not only of the host country but some of those participating in the event.  This World Cup is in Brazil which offers a multitude of wonderful food and drink opportunities to enjoy during this month long celebration.  The first stop on the culinary tour must be Caipirinhas.  Not only is it the National Cocktail of Brazil it is also mind boggling delicious!  It is a powered up limeade for grown ups.  Fruity, ice cold and delicious this is a hot weather cocktail which should be in every well rounded drink rotation.

The foundation of the drink (apart from limes) is a Brazilian hard liquor made from sugar cane called Cachaca.  Really there are only a few ingredients.  Lime, Cachaca, sugar and ice.  Four. That’s it.  There are lots of variations using all sorts of fruits instead of limes which are also delicious, however, I thought today I would make the original lime version.

Brazilian Caipirinhas

 

I allow one lime for each cocktail although limes can vary greatly in size and amount of juice they contain.  The limes I used for mine today were on the small side and so I used a whole one for each cocktail. With a larger lime you may only need 1/2.  Cut the lime in half.  Cut each half into 4 slices.  Muddle the 4 slices with 1 TBLS. sugar in the bottom of a highball glass.  I chose to do this in a cocktail shaker as I like mine extra cold and shaking the muddled lime, sugar, cachaca with ice in the shaker produces a much colder cocktail.

The secret to the muddling is to release not only the juice from the limes but also some of the oil from the peel without destroying it completely.  I do not like a grainy cocktail and so I make sure the sugar really dissolves at this point.  If you don’t have a muddler (which looks like a little baseball bat sometimes with spikes on the bottom) you can use the wrong end of a wooden spoon.  Muddling is really just what is sounds like, pressing and mushing the ingredients together.  Okay, that was the most difficult part of making this cocktail.  Not difficult I know but it gets even easier from here on out.

Next, add ice and top with 2 1/2 ounces cachaca (either into the highball glass or the shaker).  If in the shaker the put the top on and shake away, pour (don’t strain) into a glass and enjoy (If in the highball glass give it a stir and you too can enjoy).

I am sure that Brazilian Caipirinhas will quickly become a summertime favorite just as they are here in our home.  We had a little get together this last weekend and served them with a spicy guacamole.  One word.  Amazing.  Enjoy the World Cup and while you are watching join in the fun with a little taste of Brazil!

Easter Cadbury Creme Egg Martini

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Delicious Easter Cadbury Creme Egg Martini ~ Nesting with Style

One of my favorite Easter treats are Cadbury Creme Eggs.  I look forward to them appearing on store shelves a month or so before Easter each year.  It occurred to me as I gobbled one up last week that perhaps that yummy chocolaty, creamy taste could somehow be transformed into a cocktail. Thus this delicious Easter Cadbury Creme Egg Martini recipe was born!

My first attempt was to infuse vodka with those little chocolate nuggets.  I have infused vodka often with great success…pears, figs, vanilla beans and even allspice.  Yummy concoctions all.     The creme eggs however were a colossal failure.  Cloudy sludge filled liquid.  Not fit for human consumption.  Plan B was far more successful…the flavors of the chocolate treat deconstructed and reassembled in cocktail form.

Cadbury Martini ~ Nesting with Style

I garnished the glass with a gooey rim of the insides of a Cadbury Creme Egg.  This made the cocktail much sweeter than without.  I actually preferred the version without the gooey rim.  I was preferable  overall especially if the cocktail is to be enjoyed with appetizers.  If it is a stand alone at dessert time then the gooey rim is a must try…or do as we did, half with, half without.

Cadbury Creme Egg Martini I Nesting With Style

The base is vanilla vodka.  Added to that Godiva White Chocolate liquor and Creme de Cocoa.  The magic ingredient is the Effen Salted Caramel Vodka.  The depth of flavor it added transformed this from good to amazing.  Finish it off with a splash of heavy cream and you have heaven in a glass.  This is a potent treat…but really we are only having one…right?

 

Cadbury Creme Egg Martini ~ Version 1
 
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A delicious concotion perfect for Easter brunch!
Author:
Recipe type: Cocktail
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 4 oz. Vanilla Vodka
  • 2 oz. White Chocolate liquor (Godiva)
  • 2 oz. Creme de Cocoa
  • 2 oz. Salted Caramel Vodka (I used Effen)
  • Splash of Cream
  • 1 large Cadbury Creme Egg (or two mini)
Instructions
  1. Cut Cadbury Creme Egg in half. Spread gooey insides around edge of two martini glasses (if desired)
  2. Grate outside of chocolate egg onto a plate. Shake to distribute in a single layer and dip tops of martini glasses in shavings. Reserve leftovers.
  3. Mix vodka, white chocolate liquor, creme de cocoa, salted caramel vodka and splash of creme in a cocktail shaker filled with ice
  4. Shake until so cold you can barely hold the shaker...yes, it must be very cold!
  5. Strain into prepared martini glasses. Sprinkle with chocolate shavings.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 2

 

Blackberry Martini Recipe

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 Blackberry Martini Version One

I love a quest.  Right now I am on a quest to find the most delicious Blackberry Martini recipe I can find.  I have scoured the internet and my library of cocktail, mocktail, entertaining and hors d’ouvers cookbooks and have compiled quite a list of drinks.  Some sound yummy and some sound quite non-yummy…or is it un-yummy?  The trick is going to be a cocktail with lots of berry flavor without the cloing sweetness inherent in many of the recipes I have tried.

This is Blackberry Martini version one.  A rather simple concoction of blackberries, vodka, Blackberry liquor, simple syrup and lemon perrier.  Yep.  Lemon Perrier.

Verdit?  It was enjoyable enough.  It had a bit of a kick.  I liked the sparkle but don’t know how much the lemon Perrier added.  I did not like the blackberry bits which ended up floating on the surface of the drink.  And the berry taste wasn’t…well…berry enough.  I think version two might need a kick of another berry…raspberry perhaps.  This is a good one for those that adore blackberries straight up, no chaser.

Blackberry Martini Volume One
 
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Straight up Blackberry flavor in this Blackberry Martini
Author:
Recipe type: Cocktail
Serves: 1.5
Ingredients
  • 5 blackberries
  • 2 Tbls. Blackberry Liquor
  • 2 Tbls. Simple Syrup
  • Splash of Lemon Perrier
  • Ice
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker.
  2. Shake until very cold.
  3. Strain into a chilled martini glass.
  4. Serve!

 

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