Peach Cobbler Shot

Jeff’s aunt Connie turns 50 this week, and her family threw her a surprise birthday party.  This was my first real opportunity to bring Shotibles to a party.  People have been suggesting I try out peach cobbler for a while now, so I went with it.

It’s kind of funny to me that peach cobbler can mean a lot of different things to different people.  I wanted to be sure that I didn’t make it too much like a peach pie, so rather than baking a pie crust "glass", I made one out of vanilla wafer cookies.  I found a recipe similar to the graham cracker crust used for the S’more and Key Lime Pie Shotibles.

Jeff was a huge help this week.  He peeled and diced eight peaches.  We cooked it up in a sauce pan with some bourbon, sugar, corn starch and cinnamon.  We cooked it on medium to low heat for about 20 minutes; until the peaches were tender.

After the peaches cooled, I filled the glasses and topped it with a little cookie crumb.   I’m thrilled to say Shotibles gained a few more fans at the party.  The Peach Cobbler Shotibles were a huge success.

Chocolate Chip Shotwich

My cousin Sarah was coming to town, and she requested a Shotible with chocolate.  It had been a long time since I used chocolate, and I knew Jeff would like something without fruit, so I decided to attempt my interpretation of a chocolate chip cookie sandwich.

I’d been wanting to try a baked cookie cup.  The first couple of attempts were less than successful.  I tested out some theories using premade cookie dough from the grocery store.  Unfortunately, the chocolate chips were too big and too plentiful.  The glasses didn’t have a chance of holding together.

I went ahead and made dough from scratch using the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag as a base.  I used miniature chips, and far fewer than the recipe called for.  I whipped up the dough a bit more than you normally would cookie dough.  In fact, it was almost like cake batter by the time I started filling the molds, which worked out really well.  I baked them just like I would cupcakes, and, like the other baked glasses, I cored them after they cooled.

For the filling, I took a big step and made real ice cream!  I bought a $25 ice cream maker, which worked remarkably well, although some complained about the sound it made.  I used vanilla vodka to flavor the ice cream.

I was thrilled with the end result.  I certainly plan to use both cookie dough and the ice cream maker a lot in the future.

Lemon Bar Shot

It’s HOT in the northeast again.  I know I shouldn’t complain because I’d much rather deal with extreme heat than the hazards of winter weather.  So, rather than complain about the heat, I chose to combat it with a refreshing Lemon Bar Shotible. 

The combination of sweet and sour in a gelatin shot was a great fit for a poolside afternoon.   Instead of just using straight gelatin, I mixed in some instant pudding again to add creaminess to better match a lemon bar.

 For the inside, I wanted to do something that would emulate the cake base of the treat.  I remembered that my friend Melanie had introduced me to cake flavored vodka.  It’s more than a little bizarre just how close it tastes to birthday cake.  So, I mixed plain gelatin, the cake vodka and a little sweetened condensed milk to add some creaminess to the filling.

The texture still wasn’t quite right, but Jeff suggested a topping of crushed vanilla cookies.  The addition of a little powdered sugar finished it off.

Pineapple Upside Down Shots

I think Jeff is ready for the summer to be over because I keep making Shotibles that are appropriate for the season, and summer desserts almost universally include fruit.  Jeff hates fruit in his desserts.  He’s been known to pick cherries off or eat around the filling.  The fruit I decided to go with this round is pineapple.

More specifically, I decided to make my version of Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  I baked a pineapple flavored box cake mix.  In honor of the “upside down” aspect of the cake, I cut off the tops of the glasses just to make them stand on the wider end.  I then cored the “bottom” of the glasses.  It's a little avant-garde, but I think it works.

I made a filling with brown sugar, crushed pineapple, butter, flour and pineapple rum, and then topped each with a little brown sugar and a piece of maraschino cherry. 

Key Lime Pie Shot

The Key Lime Pie Shot isn’t the Shotible I had originally intended to post on the 4^th of July.  I meant to post this a few days ago and then post some sort of Red, White and Blue shot on the 4th, but life got in the way.  It is quite summery none the less.

Frank contends that this is the best Shotible to date.  He’s a pretty good authority seeing as he has sampled more than anyone besides Jeff and myself.  He even tells us that the thought of them has kept him up at night.

The Key Lime Pie Shot was a great chance to break out the graham cracker crust again.  It takes a bit of work to get the right consistency, but in the end, it is totally worth it.

For the filling, I used key lime juice, cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and spiced rum.  I topped it off with a little lime zest. 

The Key Lime Pie Shot was definitely a crowd favorite on a hot summer afternoon with friends.