Cocktails and Mocktails for Christmas

I must say that I am quite excited and delighted that mocktails are moving into the “drink of choice” category so much more quickly than ever!  We have 2 grown adult daughters, neither of whom drink alcohol, and they have had to be happy with, well, a BORING list or menu (or sometimes not a menu) of common, old school mocktails.  You know the ones - a virgin caesar (or any other mixed alcoholic drink, but without the alcohol - hence “virgin”), juice, water, pop - and ya, that’s about it. Except tea and coffee!

But happily, these old traditions are being rapidly replaced by new and shiny lists of great sounding, delicious tasting non alcoholic choices! And no matter your preference, you can have a cocktail along with the rest of the gang.   Now, the price tag on these options is ridiculous, but at least you can be amongst the drinkers without drinking at all.  And these kinds of upscale options are so important as people try to make responsible choices without giving up the fun and novelty of enjoying a specialty cocktail. So of course I had to come up with something for my Christmas guests this season.  

So I started off easy - Italian sodas with fancy looking ice cubes (VERY fancy I might add), but was quickly shamed by my daughter Kaeli, who called it what it was - Italian soda with a fancy ice cube someone else created and I found on TicToc.  Not to say I won't be serving some of those options (san pellegrino has some terrific flavor options and will look great with fancy ice cubes), but I was shamed into having to pick up my game!

So I looked on a number of social media web sites for interesting ideas, but really, there wasn’t anything that grabbed me - lots of peppermint ideas (a bit sweet and predictable for Christmas), lots of ideas that involved pineapple juice (not so much for me - all the punches I had as a kid had pineapple juice), and other fancy things that called for 2 drops of this, and 6 drops of that - neither of which ingredient I recognized or could determine a flavor profile.  So instead, I modified something I used to make when I made martinis!

I used to be a martini queen - always looking for exciting ways of blending a lot of booze so it didn’t really taste like booze at all.    And I had a few real winners over the years - some people still ask me for a couple of my recipes.  But perhaps the most delicious of all was a power packed dessert martini that was like a smooth chocolate milk shake!  YUMMY.  And really - it was an after dinner drink and you only had one because - well - because it was so rich and sweet and smooth!  

So I worked on adapting my choco martini to an alco-free chocolate yummy dessert drink!  Kevin was my  taster and luckily, he has a wee bit of a sweet tooth.  So I mixed this with that and remembered to write it all down….and the end result was fantastic!  Delicious!  Divine!  But still, you only want to have one.  The recipes are below, with dairy free options included!

Still, check with your guests first before making these.  The ingredients are expensive so you want to be sure that others will enjoy them!  Recipes are below.  Let me know how it goes!

Regular Choco Martini - Cindy’s Recipe

Ratios

1 baileys (or other cream chocolate liquor)

2 vodka

1 choco syrup - like you use in Chocolate milk making.  I used Nesquick

2 whipping cream liquid  (not whipped)

Put all ingredients into a martini shaker and shake

Line a martini glass edge with cooking chocolate powder (use an ice cube along the rim before you dip the rim into the powder

Pour your martini into the glass and top with a little bit of the powder - it will beautifully float on top

For a real treat surprise, slip a special chocolate surprise into the drink that your guests will discover as they finish this decadent drink

Options - add a drop of peppermint flavoring, only a SMALL drop

Dairy free?  

Substitute Coconut milk with the whipping cream.  Be sure to blend it before you pour as it can look lumpy.  I use my hand mixer right in the can of coconut milk.  Be sure to shake first and pour out a bit before you blend.  I learned that the messy way.

Substitute the Baileys with Chocolate liquor or other chocolate based liquor that has no dairy

Choose a dairy free chocolate syrup, or skip this completely if your liquor is JUST chocolate.  It is still yummy

I CAN STILL DRIVE Choco Martinis

Ratios

2 peppermint mocha International Delight liquid - very little if any dairy in this product - there are other flavors with no dairy at all

1 Nesquick (no dairy in this product)

2 non whipped (liquid) whipping cream (substitute the coconut cream for less/no dairy option- read the tip for having smooth coconut milk above)

Line you glass with powdered non sweet (baking) chocolate

Ice a shaker and put all ingredients in - shake it like you mean it!

Pour into the rimmed glass

Sprinkle a bit of chocolate powder on top

Slip a yummy chocolate into the drink for consumers to find at the end!

Enjoy - I hope you like them both equally!