Thursday, October 11, 2007

Friday on my Mind

“…….Thursday goes to slow, I got Friday on my mind…” I love that song by The Easybeats and in keeping with it I think it’s time to crack open the sloe gin and make some ‘sloe’ cocktails!

Born on the 4th July is a fantastic Sloe Gin Cocktail you need –

1 part blue curacao
1 part sloe gin
heavy cream.

Take an old fashioned glass & add ice, then put in the blue curacao and then carefully layer on the sloe gin and then the cream. The result should be a stunning red and blue drink with tentacles of white running through it – very impressive.

Then there’s the Sloe Gin Flip – take

1 tablespoon Sloe Gin
2 tablespoons light cream
1 teaspoon powdered sugar
1 whole egg
nutmeg

Throw all of the ingredients, except the nutmeg, into a cocktail shaker with ice, shake vigorously then strain into an old fashioned glass. Sprinkle nutmeg on top, a lot of people love this, personally I like my eggs cooked………

Now my favourite way of drinking Sloe Gin is straight up, not even any ice – delicious……..’Monday morning feels so bad, ev’rybody seems to nag me…………….she looks fine tonight, she looks out of sight to me………….Monday I have Friday on my mind……….’

Ciao

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Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun with Dessert Cocktails

Dessert? Make Mine a Cocktail!

Dessert Cocktails really are a great way to end a meal so let's have a look at some of the delicious recipes I've found for you and see what you think.



Delicious, sweet and creamy, who needs dessert when you can have one of these dessert cocktails? These cocktails even sound like a dessert with names like macaroon and toffee split. Why don't you host a dinner party with a difference and serve up an alcoholic sweet with a twist?

If you are intrigued by the idea of a dessert cocktail then read on. Flavored vodkas, a plethora of other flavored cocktails and the introduction of creamy, fruity cocktails in the 70s and 80s have all led to this millennium's desert cocktail.

A Macaroon Cocktail


A Macaroon (it tastes just like the biscuit)

6 parts vodka
1 part chocolate liqueur
1 part amaretto

Place all of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker, with ice, and shake well, then strain and serve in a martini glass. Serve the martini glass on a saucer or small plate with a couple of plain wafer biscuits.

One Ireland - A Creamy Cocktail


Next up is the One Ireland, I'm not usually a whiskey fan but........

One Ireland

4 parts Irish whiskey
1 part green creme de menthe
small scoop vanilla ice cream

Put all of the ingredients into a blender and blitz until smooth. Serve in a martini glass, again I'd put the glass on a small plate or saucer (this is dessert) and I'd place a mint matchstick across the top of the martini glass.

Chocolate Margarita


Now if you want a really intense chocolate desert cocktail you can't go past a Chocolate Margarita. There are lots of variations on this cocktail, here is my favourite -

Chocolate Margarita

1 ½ oz.Tequila
1 oz. Godiva liquor,
¾ oz. cream or half & half,
1 tlbs Hershey's syrup
2 oz. orange juice,
ice
oreos
sugar syrup

Crush the oreo's, then dip the rims of the martini glasses into sugar syrup and then into the oreo's. Now place the rest of the ingredients into the shaker, shake well and strain carefully into the martini glass without touching the oreos! Serve the glass onto a small plate or saucer and put a couple of oreo's beside it.

Jealousy Cocktail - Minty Heaven in a Glass!


This really is an after-dinner cocktail and if you want a change, you could occasionally flavour the cream with a different liqueur.

Jealousy

1 tsp creme de menthe
1-2 tbsp double cream
2 measures coffee or chocolate liqueur
crushed ice

Step one is to gently beat the mint liqueur into the cream until it's thick. Next step is to pour the coffee liqueur into a very small shot glass and carefully spoon the flavored cream onto the top.

Put the shot glass on a saucer or small dessert plate and have an After Eight Dinner Mint on the side.

Toffee Split Shooter


For another delicious shot you can't go past the Toffee Split.

Toffee Split

Crushed ice
1 measure toffee liqueur
2 measures drambuie

First fill a shot glass with crushed ice. Next pour the drambuie into the glass and then pour in the toffee liqueur carefully from the side of the glass so it layers on top.

This can be served as is or alongside a bowl of vanilla ice-cream as it does make a very nice "adult" ice-cream topping.

More Delicious Dessert Cocktails


A trifle is a quintessentially English dessert made with thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream. It would seem appropriate then to serve this cocktail with a couple of sponge fingers on the side.

Trifle Martini

2 ½ shots blackcurrant vodka
2 shots drambuie
½ shot chambord

Place all of the ingredients together in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass to serve.

Banoffeetini

2 shots vanilla vodka
¾ shot butterscotch schnapps
¾ shot banana liqueur
1 tsp maple syrup
½ shot double cream
½ shot milk
¼ fresh banana

Firstly, mash the banana in the base of a cocktail shaker. Next pour the rest of the ingredients into the shaker, along with ice, and shake. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a dusting of chocolate powder.

This is quite a rich cocktail so a couple of plain biscuits on the side is a great way to serve it. Another way is to have a couple of chocolate covered strawberries on the side.

Use some stylish dessert plates to place your cocktail or shot glasses on. This gives you something to garnish or to add the suggested accompaniments to.

Egg Custard Martini

2 shots vodka
1 ½ shots avocaat
½ shot bourbon
½ shot vanilla vodka
¼ shot sugar syrup

Place all of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker, with ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with grated nutmeg on the top.

Accompany with a shortbread finger.

Zabaglione Martini

2 shots advocaat
1 shot Marsala
1/2 shot Cognac
3/4 shot freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 fresh egg yolk

Shake all of the ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass to serve.

Serve this Italian inspired cocktail with amaretto biscuits.

If you're after more dessert cocktail information then try this book.



Death by Chocolate Cocktail - The Ultimate Chocolate Cocktail!


Chocolate lovers rejoice! This cocktail is appropriately named Death by Chocolate because it is heavy on the chocolate and is sure to kill your craving. Be careful not to overindulge.

With the whipped cream and cherry on the top it even looks like a dessert rather than a rich and delicious drink!

Death by Chocolate

2 scoops chocolate ice cream
1 oz chocolate syrup
1 oz coffee liqueur
1 oz dark creme de cacao
1 oz vodka
whipped cream
maraschino cherry
1 cup crushed ice

Pour all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a hurricane glass or a margarita glass and put whipped cream on the top. Top the cream with a cherry and serve as it is.

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Pancakes, Pancakes, Pancakes

My favourite Tuesday of the year is Shrove Tuesday, because it’s pancake day and I just LOVE pancakes. Just because I happened to think of pancake day, we’re going to have to look at the Irish Pancake

Take ½ shot butterscotch schnapps
½ shot of guiness stout.

Pour the schnapps into a shot glass and then, using a spoon, layer the guiness on top – delicious, this cocktail was apparently created by a barman called Jerry at Pub 32, Cookeville, Tennessee, so it’s a big Cheers to Jerry.

When you’re eating your pancakes, you really need to have a coffee which leads me to one of my favourite Kahlua cocktails (did I mention my dog’s called Kahlua, I absolutely love it) – the Black Russian, check out this –

Black Russian Recipe

A bit of a story to go with the recipe there, my favourite is a tall Black Russian, although I’m also partial to a White Russian as well……….

Well I’m off to make pancakes, Shrove Tuesday is just too long to wait,

Saluté

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Sunday, October 7, 2007

Blue Monday

What better cocktail to start the week with than a Blue Monday, whether you like the Fats Domino or New Order song, I’m sure you’ll love the cocktail…………..don’t drink too many though, there’s work again on Tuesday!!

Blue Monday

2 oz vodka
¼ oz triple sec
¼ oz blue curacao

Throw all of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and give it a good shake (just think of shaking your boss!), strain and serve in a martini glass. Sit, sip (or gulp if it’s been a really bad day) and relax. Monday’s over and only another 4 days of work before the weekend comes around again.

I do love the color blue curacao brings to a drink which is why I love so many of the blue curacao cocktails that are available.   Sometimes, however when you get home from work if it's been a bad day you might want something a little more comforting and for that I turn to Baileys.

Baileys has the creamy, feel-good taste and it plays extremely well with others which means that there's no end of cocktails to enjoy.   A very simple drink with Baileys is simply Baileys with milk, but if you want an extra hit then try chocolate milk (it's not just for the kids anymore!) instead of regular milk - delicious.

Of course Baileys and milk, even if it's chocolate isn't quite enough to call itself a cocktail which is where the Choc Bunny comes into play.   This was based on a cocktail I first tried many moons ago on the Kookaburra Queen while holidaying in Brisbane - I think my changes have improved it considerably however -

Choc Bunny

1 part Baileys
1 part Kahlua
Chocolate milk

Shake the Baileys and Kahlua together with ice and then strain into a highball glass and top up with chocolate milk.

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Saturday, October 6, 2007

The Bar is Open

Hello and welcome to Dream Cocktails,

The bar is open, may I take your order?


Seeing as this is my first post allow me to introduce myself, my name is Lou and I love mixing up cocktails for friends and family (not to mention myself!).   I'll be sharing a plethora of drink recipes for you to enjoy on this blog so if you have any requests be sure to ask.

I love a wide range of cocktails, but one which was a big success at my last get-together with friends was the Blue Lagoon.   This is an old favorite of mine and is great for long summer days as it's a long cocktail which means you can enjoy sipping on far more of these than say a classic martini!

Here's the recipe I use -

Blue Lagoon

2 parts vodka
1 part blue curacao
lemonade

First fill a highball glass with ice, add the vodka and blue curacao and top up with lemonade, give it a quick stir and serve with a straw. The beautiful blue color needs no decoration, so leave the umbrella's alone!

Another hit on that particular occasion was the Fire Engine which is basically a take off of the Tequila Sunrise for those who have unpleasant memories of the Tequila Fairy!

Fire Engine

3 parts vodka
6 parts orange juice
1 part grenadine

This is also served in a highball glass over ice, first pour in the vodka and orange juice then add the grenadine, but do not stir.   The grenadine is heavier and will automatically sink to the bottom producing the lovely 'sunrise' look.

Check back for more recipes or leave requests in the comment screen and I'll serve them up for you

Till next time, bottoms up!

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