Cookerati

Black Widow
By Duggan McDonnell

• 1 1/2 ounces Tequila Don Julio Blanco
• 1 ounce fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon agave nectar
• 3 blackberries
• 4 basil leaves
• Ice cubes

Muddle 2 blackberries and 3 basil leaves in a Boston shaker.  
Add Tequila Don Julio Blanco, fresh lime juice, agave nectar and ice into shaker.  Shake well.
Strain contents into stemless martini glass over ice and garnish with a blackberry and basil leaf on a toothpick.

Jack-O-lantern

• 3 oz. Three Olives RangTang Vodka
• ¾ oz. orange juice
• ¾ oz. lime juice

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass.

Garnish with an orange twist.

Rangtang Zombie-Tini

• 2 oz. Three Olives RangTang Vodka
• 1 oz. lime sours
• 1.5 oz POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a martini glass, garnish with a lime twist.

Gummy Worm Martini

• 1 ½ oz. Three Olives Purple Vodka
• ½ oz. Blue Curacao
• 1 oz. lemon-lime soda

Pour over ice into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a Gummy Worm.

Purple People Eater

• 1 oz. Three Olives Purple Vodka
• 1 oz. Peach schnapps
• 4 oz. Cranberry juice

Pour vodka and schnapps into a martini glass filled with ice and top with cranberry juice. Garnish with a few blueberries.

The Corpse Reviver is a shocking martini sure to raise anyone from the grave with it’s burst of citrus flavor and eerie guise.

Corpse Reviver

• 2 oz Kanon Organic Vodka
• ¾ oz Fresh Lemon Juice
• ¾ oz Orange Curacao (or Triple Sec)
• ¼ oz Absinthe (or any Pastis)

Add all the ingredients into a mixing glass add a few ice cubes and shake. Strain the mixture into a chilled martini glass and garnish with black licorice strings to emulate worms.

The lusciously flavored martini with homemade caramel syrup will have you pining for this delightful drink all night long.

Caramel Apple

• 2 oz Kanon Organic Vodka
• ½ oz Fresh Lemon Juice
• ¾ oz Berentzen Apple Liqueur
• ¾ oz Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
• Cinnamon Sugar (see recipe below)

Put the caramel syrup on a plate with a diameter larger than the martini glass. Lightly dip the rim of the glass in the simple syrup. Wipe off any excess from the outside of the glass with a damp cloth. Hold the glass upside down to allow any excess syurp to drip off. Then dip the rim into the cinnamon sugar (for a crystalline effect allow it to sit over night…it will look like rock candy). Add all the other ingredients to a cocktail shaker, add in a few ice cubes and shake vigorously. Strain into the cinnamon sugar rimmed martini glass and garnish with an apple slice and cinnamon stick.

Cinnamon Sugar: Add ½ tsp ground cinnamon to a ½ cup of granulated sugar.

Caramel Syrup: Place 2 cups sugar in a heavy bottom saucepan; add enough water to make it look like wet sand. Heat on medium heat until the mixture turns a medium amber color. Remove from heat and add 2 cups of room temperature water and stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Allow it to cool completely to room temperature. Slice a green apple and soak the slices in the caramel syrup for at least one hour.

The Great Pumpkin

• 1 1/2 ounces Ketel One Vodka
• 1/2 ounce Baileys with a Hint of Caramel
• 1/2 ounce Pumpkin Liqueur
• Cinnamon Stick

Preparation

Combine Ketel One and Baileys with a hint of caramel in a shaker filled with ice. Shake well vigorously until chilled. Add the pumpkin liqueur and shake again. Strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Blood Martini

• 1 1/2 ounces Ketel One Citroen Vodka
• 1 ounce Ginger Liqueur
• 1 ounce Dark Grape Juice
• 1/2 ounce Blackberry Syrup

Preparation

Combine Ketel One Citroen, ginger liqueur, grape juice and blackberry syrup to a cocktail shaker full of ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled Martini glass. Garnish with two blackberries or raspberries.

These drinks are to replace the chocolate treat bags when (everyone else thinks) you are too old to trick or treat.

Witch’s Brew

• 1 ounce Godiva Chocolate Raspberry Infused Vodka
• 1/2 ounce Crème de Cassis
• Champagne

Combine Godiva Chocolate Raspberry Infused Vodka and Crème de Cassis in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.

Shake well and strain into a champagne flute.

Top off drink with chilled champagne.

  Truco o Trato (Truco o Trato: Riazul anejo tequila paired with drinking chocolate)

• 1 bottle of Riazul premium anejo tequila
• 2.5 oz dark Mexican chocolate
• 2 oz. heavy cream
• 4 oz. whole milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tbs. granulated sugar

Drinking Chocolate Instructions:
In a double boiler or microwave, melt chocolate. Add cream, milk, sugar, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Heat for ten minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and refrigerate.
Serve dark chocolate cold in cabaillitos or snifters with corresponding shots of Riazul anjeo tequila. The drinking chocolate will provide maximum detection of the anejo’s own chocolate notes.

Blanco y Negro

• 1 bottle of Riazul premium blanco tequila
• 2 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate
• 2 oz. heavy cream
• 4 oz. whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tbs granulated sugar
• 1 bar of white chocolate

Drinking Chocolate Instructions: 
In a double boiler or microwave, melt chocolate. Add Riazul blanco tequila, cream, milk, sugar, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Heat for ten minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and refrigerate. 
Serve in a snifter garnished with white chocolate shavings over the surface.

Sleepy Hollow is a spooky delight; reminiscent of forbidding fog-coated woods in its appearance, it is sweet and surprising in its rich combination of flavors.

Sleepy Hollow

• 2 oz Kanon Organic Vodka
• 1 oz White Crème de Cacao
• ½ oz Half and Half
• ½ oz Dark Crème de Cacao
• Pumpkin Spice Cocoa Powder (see recipe below)
• Simple Syrup

In a plate with a diameter larger than a martini glass pour in enough simple syrup to coat the rim and dip the rim of the glass into the syrup. Wipe the excess off the outside of the glass with a damp cloth. Allow the syrup to drip down into the glass. Put the cocoa powder mixture in a deep dish and coat the rim of the glass with the powder. Add more powder to the center of the glass and rotate the glass so that all the syrup drippings get coated as well. Dump out the excess cocoa powder mixture and set the glass aside.

Add the Kanon Organic Vodka, half and half, and white crème de cacao to a cocktail shaker (or a mixing glass), throw in  a few ice cubes and shake. Strain the mixture into the martini glass allowing the cocoa powder to draw in from the sides along the surface of the cocktail. Slowly drizzle in the dark crème de cacao so there is a layer on the bottom of the glass.

Pumpkin Spice Cocoa Powder: Add 1 tsp of dried pumpkin spice mix to ¼ cup of cocoa powder.