Thanksgiving is over, but the holiday eating & drinking season is still in full swing! Wait - that's not what the holidays are all about? Well, in my world they are! There will be holiday parties a plenty in the coming weeks, and what are many of them based around? Food and drink! Woohoo! With this in mind, I wanted to give you a delicious, sweet drinking treat to serve at your next holiday gathering - or you could do what I did and bring it with you to make at a party you are invited to. Have booze, will travel!
My friend and neighbor, Lauren, was having her second annual holiday baking party, and I was excited to eat all of the tasty treats everyone was going to make. By the way - I think this is such a great idea for a holiday get together! The idea is that you either bring something you have baked, or bring your ingredients and bake your goodies at the party. The hostess supplies take-home baggies and to-go food storage containers so that everyone can have a sampling of the baked goods to take home with them. Love it!
Last year I made these amazing chocolate covered red velvet cake balls, which were a big hit and very easy to make. I highly recommend those! This year, I wasn't exactly feeling in the baking mood. While I obviously love to cook (and eat!), I am not the best baker. I would say I'm somewhat of a tragic baker as a matter of fact! haha So instead of baking something this year and embarassing myself with the lackluster results, I asked Lauren if I could provide the group with a cocktail. She enthusiastically agreed, and off I went daydreaming about what kind of drink I could 'cook' up!
I wanted to do something sweet since the theme of the party was baking. I tried to think of the flavors of this time of year - cranberries, nuts, peppermint. I really love almond flavored/scented anything - food, drinks, bath products, candles - so I decided to do something with amaretto. I know there are a host of flavored vodkas on the market right now, anything from cake flavored to whipped cream to cotton candy! I made sure to peruse the vodka aisle when I stopped in the local ABC store to pick up the amaretto, and came across this marshmallow flavored vodka. That sounded too good to pass up, so I grabbed a bottle and decided to do an almond/marshmallow martini! I swung by the party store to pick up some disposable martini glasses and headed to the grocery store for the rest of my ingredients.
Martinis are made-to-order drinks, so whether you are planning to serve this at a party at your own home or take it to a soiree elsewhere, make sure to do all of the prep work ahead of time. That way, when you are making your drinks to order, it will be a simple process. I placed the glass rimmer in a food storage container, brought my own small plates, disposable martini glasses, measuring cup/shot glass, and ingredients. I set up a little area at the corner of their island as my makeshift bar, and it was very easy to measure out the ingredients, rim the glasses, and make the drinks as they were requested. A little bit of prep work goes a long way!
I have to say, this drink turned out to be really tasty and everyone at the party loved it! I hope you serve this many times over throughout the upcoming season!
Let's get shakin'!
The Fluffy Almond Martini
Servings: 1
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 8 minutes
Ingredients:
6 ounces sliced almonds
8 shortbread cookies (I used Keebler Simply Sandies)
2 ounces marshmallow vodka (I used Fluffed Marshmallow Smirnoff)
2 ounces amaretto
2 ounces sweetened vanilla almond milk
6 teaspoons honey
1/2 teaspoon red, green, & white colored sprinkles for Christmas - or use blue, white, and silver sprinkles for Hanukkah!
Start by toasting the almonds.
In the interest of saving time, I utilized two pans at once, and did two rounds of toasting. Feel free to use one pan and do about four rounds of toasting.
Place a non-stick skillet on the stove over medium heat. Once it is warmed up, add 1/4 of your almonds to the pan. Make sure they are spread out in an even layer.
Allow them to cook for about two minutes, then remove them from the pan and pour them onto a clean plate to cool.
While the almonds are cooling, make the cookie crumbs.
Place all of the cookies in a food processor, and set it to chop.
Set the processor to chop and allow it to work until the almonds are completely crumbled and mixed in with the cookie crumbs.
Spoon some of the almond/cookie crumbs onto a plate, covering the entire surface.
Spin the rim of your martini glass around in the honey, like so:
To make the martini, start by adding a handful of ice to your cocktail shaker.
Do the same thing with the amaretto and the vanilla almond milk.
Once all of the wet ingredients are in your shaker and the lids are securely in place, shake vigorously for ten seconds.
Remove the top lid from the shaker and pour the martini into your already rimmed glass.
Add the sprinkles to the glass and then sprinkle the top of the drink with a few pinches of cookie/almond crumbs.
Salute!
