Orange & Black Shot

Happy Halloween! 

A couple of weeks ago, my cousin Cherise’s family came to town to visit for the weekend.  We had dinner at my folks' house one night, and I decided to bring along a trio of Halloween themed Shotibles.  Over the past couple of weeks, I posted about two of them; the Pumpkin Spice Latte Shot and the Candy Bar Shot.  For the third Halloween Shotible, I made a treat specifically for Cherise; the Orange and Black Shot.

Cherise loves the combination of orange sorbet and chocolate cookie crust.  While the flavor isn’t exactly specific to the holiday, the colors sure are.  For the glass, I used the chocolate sandwich cookie recipe again.  I made the filling with a combination of sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese.  I gave it the orange flavoring with Triple Sec and the orange tint with food coloring.  I then froze the Shotibles overnight.

The result was a great combination of tangy citrus and chocolate crumble shot with a look perfect for Halloween.

Margarita Shot

Labor Day marks the unofficial end to summer, and for me, the unofficial end of margarita season.  In my opinion, margaritas are the perfect summer cocktail.  They have everything.  The lime is sour.  The triple sec is sweet.  The tequila adds some heat.  And of course, the salt rim adds…well, saltiness.  This all adds up to a thirst quenching cocktail with a kick.  A Margarita Shotible was definitely necessary to usher out the season.

I decided to use a pretzel crust because a pure salt glass would be just a little too much.  I used a similar technique as I have with other no-bake recipes.  I crushed up the pretzels and added some sugar.  I then melted the margarine and combined it all.  I then pressed the mixture into the molds and refrigerated them for about an hour.

For the filling, I used fresh lime juice, heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk for the base.  For the first time, I used two different liquors in a single Shotible; tequila and triple sec.    I filled the glasses and froze them overnight. 

I considered adding a salt rim, but Jeff and I agreed, that would still be a bit much, so I topped them with some sea salt instead. 

Mint Chocolate Chip Shot

My friend Frank is concerned that he is going to come off as fickle on the blog because he has had so many new favorite Shotibles.  Mint Chocolate Chip is his newest favorite, but I certainly can’t blame him.  I’d like to think that they just keep getting better as we go along.

I used chocolate sandwich cookie crumb to make the glass.  I’ve been asked by several folks if I scraped the cream out of the middle.  I did not.  I ground the cookies whole.  As a benefit, I was able to use less butter than I have with other no-bake glasses.

For the filling, I used the same basic sweetened condensed milk ice cream recipe as I used in some of the other Shotibles.  But this time, instead of using vanilla extract, I used crème de menthe for flavor and color.  I then topped the Shotibles with chocolate chips and froze them. 

The combination of the chocolate cookie glass and the mint ice cream turned out delicious, and it's the new favorite for more people than just Frank.

Root Beer Float Shot

In my real life, I work at the same company as my father.  One Friday morning, about a month ago, I found a manila envelope on my desk when I arrived in the morning.  Inside was a newspaper page with an advertisement for a root beer flavored liqueur.  Attached was a note from my father suggesting a Root Beer Float Shotible.

That same evening, we had guests over for dinner.  When I got home from work, a root beer flavored vodka bottle was sitting on the kitchen counter.  My cousin Cherise had brought it, intending for it to be inspiration for, you guessed it, a Root Beer Float Shotible.

Since vanilla ice cream is a key component to a root beer float, it seemed obvious it should be a frozen pop shot.  I really liked the consistency of the Strawberry Mojito Shotible, but, so far as I know, nobody makes root beer flavored gelatin.  Instead I used plain gelatin along with root beer soda pop and root beer vodka.  For the filling, I used the same sweetened condensed milk ice cream recipe I used for the Orange Cream Pop.

Strawberry Mojito Shot

The Strawberry Mojito Shot was the first special request I satisfied.  Shortly after my friend Patty discovered Shotibles, she challenged me to make her favorite cocktail.  We made plans to hang out that weekend, and I knew I needed to come through.  Heck, the strawberry part went with the summer theme I'd started. 

At my friend Frank’s suggestion, I tried something new with this ice pop.  The Orange Cream Ice Pop’s glass was a little too hard and didn’t hold flavor well.  This time I used gelatin as the base, which turned out much better.  In particular, I used lime gelatin, mixed with limeade and some strawberry rum. 

For the inside, I pureed some strawberries and mint, and mixed it with a little more limeade.

Orange Cream Ice Pop Shot

The northeast has been slammed with a massive heat wave over the past few days, so there was absolutely no way I was baking this week.  So, I went the exact opposite direction and made my first frozen Shotible.  An orange cream ice pop seemed to be the perfect treat to cool down on a sweltering summer day. 

This pop was a bit more of a challenge than I had anticipated.   I chose to make this one a little bit inside out.  I wanted to make the outside (the glass, if you will) the spiked part.  I tried out three different bases; plain orange soda pop, diet orange soda pop and orange juice.  I was concerned that plain soda pop would be difficult to freeze because of all the sugar.  Adding alcohol, which has a lower freezing temperature than water, concerned me as well.  It turned out that the plain soda pop worked best, but I did learn that it’s best to get the carbonation out before you freeze.  I mixed in some whipped cream vodka to add the creamy flavor.

For the inside, I made my own version of ice cream.  I wanted something that would hold up well and support the Shotible on a stick.  I found a recipe that used my new favorite ingredient, sweetened condensed milk.  It was remarkable how much it tasted like real vanilla ice cream.  As a bonus, I had some ice cream left over.  Yum!