Last Minute Gifts: Candy Cane Vodka!

Hey kids! Want a cheap, easy, last-minute gift? Well No-Nuts did, so just follow her lead:
1) Tell Aunt you need to have four gifts by tomorrow
2) Look around and see what Aunt has
3) Assemble stuff gathered from around Aunt's house into coffee mugs and wrap with Aunt's festive cellophane bags while simultaneously texting, talking and baking cookies

Actually, her gifts came out really cute. She filled coffee mugs with candy canes (mine), hot chocolate (mine), Hershey Kisses (hers) and little bottles of my homemade Candy Cane Vodka* (mine). The vodka looked really pretty-- it was a nice pink color, and I even had some peppermint candy labels that were perfect. ("Candy Cane Vodka?" you're saying.) Why yes. Here's the recipe:

Candy Cane Vodka
Crush up five to ten mini candy canes and combine in a container with plain vodka. Note: do not use bottom-shelf vodka, or you'll end up with something that smells like a cross between Christmas trees and divey bars. Let vodka sit until candy canes disintegrate (a couple of days). Strain using a sifter and a coffee filter. Pour into bottles and attach cute labels. Add to hot chocolate, or make a martini rimmed with crushed candy canes.

*Yes, she's 21.

Marshmallow Cocoa Martini: Make One for Santa!

Here's an early Christmas gift from me to you: my recipe for a Marshmallow Cocoa Martini! I was inspired by the Candy Corn Cordial from Halloween, so I decided to see what would happen if I infused some vodka with marshmallows. I took four large marshmallows and cut them into quarters (or you could use a handful of mini-marshmallows) and put them in a container with 3/4 cup vodka. I let it sit in the fridge for five days or so. (Caution any guests that might be poking around in your fridge, as this concoction looks amazingly like fresh mozzarella in water.)
Then I strained the vodka using a mesh strainer lined with a coffee filter, just to get all the marshmallows and floaty stuff out.
The recipe for one Marshmallow Cocoa Martini:

1 shot Marshmallow vodka
1 shot Godiva Chocolate Liqueur or Bailey's
2 tablespoons half-and-half
1 tablespoon chocolate syrup
Ice

Shake it all up in a martini shaker, strain, and garnish with a marshmallow and chocolate syrup. Voila! A yummy chocolatey martini perfect for sipping in front of a fire.

(Sidenote: I tried to re-create the martini this week while we were at the von Schokolat's. I made it much too strong, however, as I didn't realize the shot glass I was using was a joke one. So a word to the wise: make sure you use a standard regulation-sized shot!)

Next experiment: Candy Cane Vodka! Ribbon Candy Vodka! Anyone want to be a taste tester? Come on over!

Say It With Me: Borrrrrrrachiiiiitos!

Sue MKAFFGGF can't stop saying "Hitachino! Hitachino!", the name of a beer she likes. Likewise, I can't stop saying, "Borrachitos!", a type of Mexican candy made by Crown Nuggets.

I was sent two sample boxes of these candies. Visually, they're mucho tasty-looking. Kind of like little cinnamon-sugar cruellers, or maybe log-shaped bulls-eyes. The taste is completely unique.

These come in two flavors: Licor de Cafe and Tequila. Allow me to stray a bit here and explain that, on the Madam Yum Yum taste continuum, coffee is at one end and tequila (shudder) is at the other.

Madam Yum Yum has been drinking coffee since the age of, oh, five or so, when she'd sit on her mother's lap and steal sips. (After four other kids, Madame Yum Yum's mother had bigger and better things to worry about than the purported growth-stunting properties of caffeine, such as bailing her sons out of trouble for lighting fireworks and ripping open leaf bags.) Madame Yum Yum gave up coffee for nine long months, but is now in a co-dependent relationship with Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. So it's safe to say that anything coffee-flavored is a-okay!

On the other end of the scale, Madame Yum Yum had one of those famed life-altering experiences with tequila in college. She doesn't remember much, just sitting around a kitchen table with a mighty cheap bottle of swill, fighting for space at the porcelain god with Mr. Goodbar, and something about riding a bicycle in a parking lot at 2 a.m. The rest of her memories end with laying in bed for two days, begging for mercy. It took many years before Madame Yum Yum could even say the word "tequila," which she had to do when she got not one but two assignments to write about tequila.

So back to the candy at hand. Naturally I opened the Licor de Cafe ones first. The texture was completely different than I thought. These babies are very soft, almost gelatinous. The sugar adds a nice contrasting texture. I can't think of anything else to compare them to. Next, the taste. Mmmm, nice boozy kick. Mr. Goodbar likened them to that Christmas favorite, rum balls. In fact, Mr. Goodbar has since co-opted the box and has a piece every night after work. Happy hour in a candy!

As for the tequila flavored ones ... Okay, I have to be totally honest here and say I just couldn't do it. I really thought I was over my aversion, but apparently not. I couldn't bring myself to try them. But I passed them onto a friend who is a tequila aficinado and she said the aroma alone was heavenly. You can check these out at the Crown Candies website.