Alcoholic

White Chocolate Mocha

Did you do a lot of baking around the holiday and still have partial bags of chocolate chips laying around your cabinets? Well I do. What do you do with those leftover chips? Sure, I could combine them all into a fabulous mega-chip cookie but I’m a bit cookied out after the holiday and need a break from that. I’m not inclined to snack on white chocolate the way I might regular chocolate so when I came across this recipe for White Chocolate Mocha, it seemed like the most perfect way for me to a)use up those chips and b) warm up!

White chocolate and milk are melted together with a little coffee, a tiny bit of rum, and a tinier bit of vanilla. The trivial amount of rum isn’t significant enough for me to consider this an alcoholic beverage and while you could leave it out, it adds yet another layer to this mocha that feels so deep and complex. I’m not usually the biggest of white chocolate fans. I mean, I like it but I’ll generally take any brown chocolate over white any day. But this! Oh my goodness! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I loved this. It was so boldly flavorful without being too sweet or too rich. The coffee flavor was just subtle enough to make this a mocha without making it overwhelming. This mocha was like getting a warm, sweet, childlike hug before bed. Please, if you have any white chocolate lingering in your cabinets, make this as soon as you can!

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In a large heavy saucepan combine white chocolate and 2/3 cup of the milk. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until chocolate is melted. Add remaining milk.

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Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Stir in coffee, rum, and vanilla.

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Serve in mugs topped with marshmallows.

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Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions: None

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Better Homes & Gardens magazine

Spiked Nutter Butter Fluffernutter Milkshakes

Happy Halloween! I’m way too old to go trick-or-treating and I have no kids so I’m not letting myself indulge in the bite-size candy bars that line the aisles for Halloween. I don’t even get trick-or-treaters at my door, probably because no one knows me, and I hope that I’m not known in the neighborhood as the scary lady. While I usually buy candy to have on hand just in case, I decided not to do it this year because no one will come knocking and I will be left with a bag of candy that will torture me day in and day out until I finally cave in and eat each and every bite. I won’t have it! Instead, I’m indulging in some grown-up decadence with this Spiked Nutter Butter Fluffernutter Milkshake. I’m expecting it to act as a comforting blanky tonight while I’m watching scary movies.

Peanut butter, marshmallow cream, and Nutter Butter cookies are mixed with vanilla ice cream and milk (low-fat or full-fat, who cares?) making a sweet fluffernutter milkshake. But THEN, to make it even better, marshmallow vodka is added which makes this milkshake all grown-up and all decadent. This is a sugar bomb for sure but for one night, on Halloween, why not? Peanut butter and vanilla ice cream is my go-to favorite but with marshmallow, vodka, and whipped cream added, it’s even better. Even if you have kids you are taking from house to house, make this ahead, put it in a travel smoothie cup and drink up as you walk around the neighborhood. No one needs to know.

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Spiked Nutter Butter Fluffernutter Milkshakes

  • 2 cups low-fat vanilla ice cream
  • 1/4 cup skim milk
  • 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons marshmallow cream
  • 4 Nutter Butter peanut butter sandwich cookies, broken into pieces
  • 2 ounces marshmallow or whipped cream vodka (like Smirnoff Fluffed Marshmallow)
  • whipped cream

Combine ice cream, milk, peanut butter, marshmallow cream, vodka, and cookies in a blender and blend until smooth.

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Top with whipped cream and crushed cookies.

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For extra indulgence, melt 1 tablespoon peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds and drizzle over whipped cream.

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Seaside Sunrise

I spent all of last week in Chicago and, despite battling an allergic eye infection that forced me to wear my glasses all week, I used the opportunity to rest, relax, and read. I took long walks along the water and spent the warm (and warm-ish) days at the beach on the lake. I slept in a lot which was different from my last trip to Chicago in May where I was awoken every morning at 6am by a happy dog named Abigail eager to go outside. Watching the sun come up over Lake Michigan is enchanting and I was able to get up early enough once last week to catch it. The way the sun glistens over the water, making the lake look silver and glossy, is a sight that I never tire of. This Seaside Sunrise seems appropriate.

Pineapple, orange-mango, and cranberry juices are mixed with passion fruit rum, a little grenadine (which I left out) and topped with sparkling wine and fruit slices. Any of your favorite rum could be added here but the flavor of the passion fruit combined with the different fruit juices really makes this a perfect little summer cocktail. Whether you are seaside or landlocked, make a batch of this and enjoy our last days of summer.

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Combine pineapple juice, mango-orange juice, passion fruit rum, cranberry juice, and grenadine in a large pitcher.

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Pour into ice-filled glasses, and top with sparkling wine, if desired.

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Garnish, if desired.

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Additions: None

Omissions:

  • Grenadine

Substitutions: None

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Coastal Living magazine

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