A Gingerbread Cocktail

I LOVE Christmas.  It’s the time of year for everything FESTIVE!  This is a new cocktail I found in SELF magazine.  I modified the original recipe quite a bit.  The nice thing is that it’s not very strong and it has a very holidayish flavor.  If you are looking for something that fits the holiday spirit, I know you’ll love this one.

There’s more to come!  I’m hoping that the closer we get to Christmas Andy and I will renew our “mulled wine quest.”  Or wassail!  Same difference.  We have some new ideas for this holiday season – so, get ready.  AND…  We’re also getting ready to test some hot toddy recipes with various teas; should be interesting. Meanwhile, fire up this fun sipper!

Makes about 4 servings.

Ingredients:

Syrup

1 cup of water

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1-inch  piece of fresh ginger, thinly sliced

3 cinnamon sticks (and additional sticks to garnish)

3 whole cloves

Espresso Liqueur

1 cup boiling water

2 tbsp instant espresso powder

3-4 tbsp hazelnut liqueur

1/2 cup of Kahlua

Directions:

For the Syrup

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.

2.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves.

3.  Remove the pan from the heat and allow syrup to cool, about 20 minutes.

4.  Using tongs, remove and discard the ginger, cloves, and cinnamon.

For the Espresso Liqueur

1. In a glass measuring cup, whisk together boiling water, espresso powder, and liqueur until powder is dissolved.

2.  Set aside to cool.

Making the Cocktail

1.  Take out 4 martini glasses and add a couple cubes to each glass

2.  Add a cup of syrup to an ice filled martini shaker

3.  Shake for a couple seconds and strain into a glass until the glass is just over half full

4.  Fill the remainder of the glass by pouring the espresso liqueur into the middle of the syrup

5.  Repeat for the other servings

6.  Garnish with a cinnamon stick and enjoy!

What’s your favorite holiday cocktail??

The Best of Fall: Homemade Pumpkin Spice Syrup (for coffee treats)

I’ve been all kinds of absent from my blog.  Frankly, I’m slammed at work and I am doing my best to keep my head above water.  I may not have been posting, but I’ve been building a steady collection of things to post.  There are good things to come.

I don’t know about you but I adore Starbucks’ pumpkin spice syrup in my coffee.  It just tastes like fall.    When I do give in, to my Starbuks cravings, I always order a grande non-fat pumpkin spice misto (pronounced mee-sto).  Misto is Starbucks’ word for a cafe au lait (coffee and steamed milk).  Although, I cannot say whether or not this word is unique to Starbucks.  Anyway. Why a misto instead of a latte you ask?

Flash back eight long years to the bar exam.  Studying was my full time job and anxiety ruled my world for those couple months.  Between the swirling of my mind and anxiety, I did not sleep very well.  This translated to being quite tired.  There was no room for tired.  One day (certainly in an effort to procrastinate my studies), I decided to do some research on caffeine.  I really wanted to get the most bang for my buck.  Aside from red bull, I wanted to know what coffee drinks contained the highest levels of caffeine.  I was surprised by what I learned. After all, I was always under the assumption that espresso (key ingredient in a latte) would be the most caffienated version of coffee.  Espresso is similar express and express is similar to fast and fast makes me think lots of caffiene.  Do you follow?  Well, I wrong.  I won’t get into the science of it all because well, who cares – but just know that cup of plain old coffee has more caffiene than espresso.  Got it?  So, that day I switched from lattes to the world of mistos.

The next step was – how do I recreate the misto magic at home?  First: I bought an Aerolatte (to buy your own, click here).

The Aerolatte is a battery operated wand that froths milk.  It’ll cost you a little less than $20 and it lasts for at least 3 years.  Here is what I do: I pour 4 ounces of milk in a mug, microwave for 30 seconds, froth with the Aerolatte (rinsing the end of the Aerolatte with water after every use), pour my syrup of choice on the frothed milk, and top with coffee.  Bam.  You are your own coffee shop.  Coffee syrup? I’ve been using Torani sugar free coffee syrups.  You can actually buy syrups from Starbucks but not the pumpkin spice one.  They aren’t that dumb.  You’re on your own for that one.  Enter this post.

There are many many recipes for this online – google it for yourself.  They are all about the same.  The only wrinkle I came across is straining the syrup.  I suppose the end result is all about personal preference but I’m not a fan of ground cloves in my coffee.  It’s just too much.  So here is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

 

1 1/2 cups water

 

1 1/2 cups sugar

 

4 cinnamon sticks

 

4 whole cloves

 

1/2 tsp ground ginger

 

1 tsp ground nutmeg

 

3 Tbsp canned pumpkin (not pie filling)

 

Directions:

 

1.  Combine sugar and water in saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved.

 

2.  Whisk in the remaining ingredients and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not let mixture come to a boil.

 

3.  Remove from heat and allow mixture to steep for 10-15 minutes.

 

4.  Strain syrup through a double layer of cheesecloth into a large jar or bottle.

 

5.  Store syrup in refrigerator.  It will last a couple weeks before the ingredients settle out.

 

Save money and enjoy the special treats of fall!