Peppermint Mocha Martini

Symptoms: 
Grumbling through lines at the mall
Plugging your ears each time your hear Jingle Bell Rock on the loud speakers at the grocery store.
Intentionally breaking each and every candy cane in the boxes at the check out line at Target.

Diagnosis: Scrooge-itis. A serious lack of some Christmas cheer (despite the ornament making and eggnog sipping from the last couple days).

Don't worry, we have a cure! It's an old home remedy: Peppermint Mocha Martini. A few sips of this bad girl and you'll be belting out "Merry Christmas" to each person you encounter.

Here's what you need:
2 oz. pinnacle whipped cream vodka
2 oz. chocolate milk (we made ours with dark chocolate syrup and skim milk)
a splash of peppermint schnapps
crushed candy canes and Hershey's Magic Shell ice cream topping for garnish

Here's how to do it:
Combine the whipped cream vodka, chocolate milk, and peppermint schnapps in your cocktail shaker.

Shake it up so it mixes well.

Next, put the Magic Shell in on one plate (or wide bowl) and the candy canes on another.



Take your serving glass and spin the top rim in the chocolate first, then immediately in the crushed candy canes. (It'll look pretty, and ensure extra-chocolatey-goodness with every sip.) It'll look like this:

Pour your mixture from the shaker to your glass, turn on your favorite Christmas jams, and sip away.
It'll be the perfect cure for any Grinch-iness left in you.
Promise.

PS. My husband is mildly suffering from Scrooge-itis right now. I might be off to make him one ASAP.

Pumpkin Drink Round Up

 

It's no secret that we lo-ove all things pumpkin around here (well, except pumpkin pie... weird, right?). Pumpkin drinks top our list of fall goodnesses. After you try Kedron's Fabulous Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe, and our Double Chocolate Pumpkin Smoothie recipe, here are a few others to try:

(left to right, top to bottom)
Pumpkin Pie Cocktail
Pumpkin Spice Latte at The Kitchn*
Pumpkin Pie Smoothie*
Pumpkin Divine 
Pumpkin Pie in a Glass
Pumpkin Nog
Pumpkin Punch 
Calabatini (tequila based pumpkin martini)
Pumpkin Spice Hot White Chocolate*
Pumpkin Juice*
Pumpkin Smoothie*
Pumpkin Cocktail Roundup
*non alcoholic pumpkin drink recipes

Do you have any favorite pumpkin drink recipes? We'd love to hear them!

happy birthday tricia (and a birthday cake martini recipe!)

The start of this little blog just so happens to coincide with the birthday of one of my favorite people in the whole world. You guessed it- Tricia Joy is celebrating her birthday this very weekend.

Since you don't know all of the things to celebrate about my lovely sister-in-law, I thought I'd share a few of them with you!

1. She has great taste in clothes (and shoes and accessories). Side note- I directly benefit from the fabulousness of her closet!

2. She is great with kids- like ohmygoodness great. She can get my three-year-old picky eater to chow down his entire lunch, and my baby girl cries whenever Tricia holds someone else. They adore her. But all kids adore her so that's no surprise.

3. Tricia has a great eye for decorating. Even though her degree is in marketing, she once did an internship at Crate and Barrel, and I would not be surprised if she ends up in the interior design field at some point.

4. She's funny. Really funny.

5. Tricia loves their puppy, Stetson, so much. She's hilarious about it- she worries that Stetson will be scared of thunderstorms, gives him special food, checks in on him about twenty times a day- Stetson is one spoiled dog!

Now a birthday just wouldn't be a birthday without a fabulous drink recipe. So, in addition to getting to know Miss Tricia better, today I'm also going to share a Birthday Cake Martini recipe!

Here's what you'll need:
Pineapple juice
Cranberry juice
Vanilla rum
Ice
Vanilla frosting
Sprinkles

Here's what to do:
In a shaker, mix one part vanilla rum, two parts pineapple juice, two parts cranberry juice, and ice. Shake vigorously. My sister, Jordan, swears that if you skip this part of wimp out on your shaking duties, that it won't turn out right. Heed her advice and shake well.

Strain into a glass rimmed with vanilla frosting and sprinkles. In case you're thinking about skipping the frosting-sprinkle-rimming, I would strongly urge you not to. The sprinkle-adorned rim makes this drink twice as festive. Maybe three times as festive.

And that's it! ENJOY!

Happy birthday Tricia!

If you're visiting us from TasteSpotting.com, Welcome! You can learn a bit about us here, and be sure to check our monthly Barista Banter column, and our weekly Beer column with TheAdams. 

We're so glad to have you!