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.

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.

Brownie Sundae Shot

Sunday was Father’s Day, so I made my first Shotible especially for my Dad.  A Brownie Sundae seemed like a sure bet.  My whole family has a soft spot for Irish Cream, so I decided to combine it with the ice cream recipe I recently discovered. 

 I made a simple box brownie mix.  After letting the brownie glasses cool, I cored them.  I mixed up some ice cream,filled the glasses and put them in the freezer.  After the ice cream froze, I melted down a chocolate bar and drizzled it on top.  Before serving, I covered each with  

whipped cream and put a cherry on top. 

I was very pleased with the resulting texture.  I had been concerned that the ice cream would be crunchy and the brownie would be tough.  Happily however, the ice cream was smooth and the brownie stayed soft.  All and all, it made for a fun little treat.

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!