Feb 152010
 


Shaker 1 here- I just so happened to have a little bit of the Chai tea infused vodka left over from Zombie Night. We were so close to creating a terrific teani, so I wanted to see if we could bring it up an olive or so.

Method 1:

Toss a cinnamon stick or two into about 1/2 cup heavy cream. Simmer for a few minutes to infuse the cream. Chill and whip. Shake up ice, 2-3 large dollops of the infused whipped cream, about an ounce of simple syrup and 3 ozs of chai infused vodka (you can also sweeten the cream instead of adding simple syrup). Strain and pour into martini glass. Garnish with ground cinnamon if desired.

Method 2:

(I like to call this the “instant” method)
In a shaker, add ice, 3 ozs. chai infused vodka and an ounce and a half of Coffeemate Cinnamon Vanilla cream non dairy creamer. Shake, strain, pour, enjoy.

I’ve got to say, as weird as it sounds the Coffeemate method was really fantastic! Tasty and creamy with a subtle cinnamon hint that was not at all overpowering. I like the body that the whipped heavy cream gives the teani, but if you’re in a hurry for some Chai Teani goodness or just feel plain lazy-Method 2 is your friend.

Share
Feb 142010
 

Hello and Happy Valentines Day to all our Shaker pals. Shakers 1 and 2, being single gals, decided the very best way to celebrate this holiday would be with good friends, good tinis and of course, ZOMBIES!!!!

So we gathered a small crowd of discriminating palates, assembled a menu of zombie and valentine appropriate tinis and screened “Zombieland”.

Thanks to everyone for bringing such tasty snacks. We hovered ’round the table and hoovered up the treats. Yum.

First up- The Zombie Martini:

After searching the web for zombie themed drinks, we decided to pass on all the “colorful/creative” (read gross) “bleeding brain” type tinis and just go with a classic. We basically took the recipe for a traditional zombie cocktail and shook it up martini style. A mild martini, heavy on the fruit juices. One guest said it would make a good breakfast alternative to a screwdriver. You could easily speed up this zombie by altering the booze to juice ratio, but this was a nice way to begin the evening. Guests rated this from 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 olives.

Next up was another in our Teani Series- The Chai Teani:

We infused rain vodka with chai tea (Stash Chai Spice Black Tea from Trader Joe’s). We then shook that with heavy cream, simple syrup and a dash of cinnamon. This was delicious, though all agreed that we’d gone just a tiny bit heavy on the cinnamon (*Shaker 1 holds up her hand to take responsibility for this, I just can’t control myself with cinnamon*). This was a very good teani, with complex spice layers coming through. I still think we need to play with the recipe a bit more and perhaps even foam up the cream first to give it more body. Though Shakers 1 and 2 agreed it wasn’t up to the level of the Earl Grey Teani, our consensus rating was 4 olives.

Last up for the evening was a martini created especially for Valentines Day. We let our guests name it and the result:

The Velvet Kiss:

This is a seductive martini. Rich red color, perfumed aromas of elderflower, deep berry base; with a splash of prosecco at the end. It lived up to it’s name. Delicious, layered flavors, not too sweet, a sexy drink any day of the year.

We gave this 4 3/4 olives.

This was the hit of the evening. In fact, as our Valentines gift to you, here is the recipe:

-Take about a cup of frozen mixed berries, add a splash of triple sec and let thaw.(why a whole cup? Because you’ll want more than one of these)
-In a shaker, muddle about 1/4 cup of the berry mix (I use an immersion blender to really get the juices flowing)
-add ice to the shaker
-add the following: 2 shots premium vodka
1 shot Chambord
1/2 shot St. Germain elderflower liquor
-shake well, strain into martini glass and pour in a splash of prosecco or champagne.

Serve this to your sweetie and we will not be responsible for the results (though you will thank us later).

A special thank you to all of our wonderful guests for making this a super fun Shaker night.

Oh, and the movie? Shaker 1 gives Zombieland a double tap!

Happy Valen-braaaaaaaainnsssssssssssssssss………………..

Share

Powered by WP Robot