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.

Boston Cream Shot

We’re in the midst of planning a trip to Boston for a late summer vacation.  We love city vacations because, as Jeff says, “we like staying in hotels and eating at restaurants.”  Planning this trip has inspired me to try making Boston Cream Shotibles.

I have to admit, this time around; Jeff did nearly all of the work.  He bought all of the ingredients, baked the cups and made the fillings.  I say “fillings” because we made both a spiked version and a virgin version.  My only role was to core the cups and put the components together.

It just so happened that we needed to make a last minute trip up to Buffalo to see my extended family.  Several of them had been asking about Shotibles, so this was our opportunity to share them with nearly everyone.  Jeff baked the cups and made the filling in advance.  He used a store bought vanilla box mix.  I cored the cups the night before we left and packed them up in plastic containers.

By the time we got to Buffalo, there were a few casualties from the travel, but most had made it intact.  To our surprise, the hotel room had a microwave and a refrigerator, so we were able to prep the Shotibles there.  I used a store bought fudge frosting that I microwaved for a minute.  I dipped the rim of each cup in the frosting and put them in the fridge to cool.

At the family event, I filled each with the vanilla pudding/whipped topping mix Jeff had made.  The spiked version was made with Irish Cream.  The Shotibles disappeared in no time. 

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.

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!