Category Archives: drinks

Key lime amaretto sour

drinks 7 Comments

I discovered last night that sweet and sour cocktail mix is nothing more than simple syrup and citrus juice.

Are you all rolling your eyes at me? Seriously, I don’t know what I thought was in there, but I certainly didn’t realize it was so easy. Homemade sweet and sour mix! In seconds!

I decided to celebrate this discovery with a cocktail!

Key lime amaretto sour

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 Tbsp. key lime juice
  • 2 Tbsp. simple syrup
  • 3 Tbsp. amaretto liqueur

Instructions

  1. Stir together and enjoy!

Voila! The key lime amaretto sour.

 

Homemade Irish cream

drinks 23 Comments

St. Patrick’s Day is coming! Why not celebrate with your own Irish cream? This is kind of cobbled together from a bunch of different recipes, adjusted for what sounded good to me.

I used:

  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1  cup heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 cups Irish whiskey
  • 1 packet VIA instant coffee (or 2 Tbsp. strong brewed coffee or espresso)
  • 2 tbsp chocolate syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Your goal here is to blend this all really, really well — I used an immersion blender, but just tossing it all in your regular blender will work fine too. Store it in the fridge in a container that can be shaken up because the chocolate will settle to the bottom as it sits. Serve over ice or in coffee. Enjoy!

Lissa’s frozen margaritas

drinks 11 Comments

Lissa and I have decided we’re going to be professional guacamole and margarita tasters. Anyone in the market for that? Anyone? Well let us know. We’re available.

Given our fondness for that combination, I thought it was time to share Lissa’s margarita recipe with you. I declare it Lissa week here at One Particular Kitchen! We’ll celebrate! (With margaritas!)

Lissa’s frozen margaritas

Ingredients

  • 4 oz tequila
  • 2 oz Triple Sec
  • Splash of liquid margarita mix
  • Splash of Grand Marnier
  • Splash of orange juice
  • 1/3 large can frozen limeade concentrate

Instructions

  1. Pour all ingredients into a blender with plenty of ice, blend until smooth

(One of these doesn’t hurt for these; I’m just sayin’. Mine even works after a user error fail!)

I am a saltaholic so I go for the lime-and-salt rimmed glasses. The Yankee not so much — no salt for him. The Kiddo? All Cheerios all the time. That’s how we roll.

Hot chocolate

dessert, drinks, kids 5 Comments

The Kiddo loves him some Polar Express. He loves the hot chocolate song and wanted to make some to enjoy while we watched the movie. And by “enjoy” I mean “direct me to drink on his behalf” because he has very strict rules about drinking anything other than milk and water. Alrighty then.

This is actually so easy that it barely deserves to be called a recipe. Don’t you love that kind of recipe?

Stir together in a mug:

  1. 3 teaspoons cocoa powder
  2. 3 teaspoons sugar
  3. Pinch of salt

Now add either boiling water or steaming hot milk and stir. Add marshmallows at will.

Feel free to entertain your taste buds by adding peppermint syrups, Bailey’s, cinnamon, etc.

That’s all. Isn’t that easy? Don’t you want to quit buying those little packets?

Stay warm! 🙂

Eggnog

drinks 2 Comments

Confession: I wasn’t sure I’d like this. I remember making eggnog all the time when I was a kid (sans rum, obviously), but at some point my mama started getting creeped out by raw egg consumption and nixed it. That was so long ago I wasn’t sure I’d even still enjoy it.

These days I live on the edge. I drink raw eggnog. I eat raw cookie dough. I do not, however, run with scissors; I’m pretty sure my mama would rise up and strike me down, and no one wants to see that happen.

Since eggnog and I were just getting to know each other again I made a small batch using Alton Brown’s recipe:

  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, plus 1/2 tablespoon
  • 1/2 pint whole milk
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 ounces bourbon
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 2 egg whites

For the living-on-the-edge uncooked version:

  1. Beat yolks until their color lightens (I did this in a large glass bowl with a whisk). Slowly add 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar and continue beating until all sugar is dissolved. Add milk, cream, bourbon and nutmeg, stirring to combine
  2. Using an electric or stand mixer, beat egg whites to soft peaks. While mixer is still running slowly add 1/2 tablespoon of sugar and continue beating until egg whites are at stiff peaks
  3. Pour yolk/milk mixture into stand mixer and mix just till combined
  4. Chill and serve!

For the taking-no-chances cooked version:

  1. Beat yolks until their color lightens (again, large glass bowl with a whisk works great). Slowly add 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar and continue beating until all sugar is dissolved. Set this aside
  2. Set a medium saucepan over high heat and add in milk, cream and nutmeg. Bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally, then remove from heat. Slowly and gradually temper the hot milk/cream mixture into the eggs and sugar, stirring all the while.
  3. Once combined, pour everything back into the saucepan and cook until inserted thermometer reads 160F degrees. Remove from heat, pour into medium mixing bowl and stir in bourbon. Set in the refrigerator to chill
  4. Using an electric or stand mixer, beat egg whites to soft peaks. While mixer is still running slowly add 1/2 tablespoon of sugar and continue beating until egg whites are at stiff peaks, then whisk egg whites into chilled mixture and serve

Verdict: fantastic stuff! Even The Yankee liked it, and he was nearly positive he wouldn’t. This is also crazy good with amaretto instead of rum. Give it a try!