smashing! cocktail: cupids kiss

Squee! Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and there's nothing we love more than days devoted to love. Why not stay home with your sweetie, curl up on the couch, and mix-up this sweet concoction? WARNING: Drinking Cupid's Kiss may lead to Valentine's Day shenanigans!

What are you doing for Valentine's Day?



Ingredients
1/2 oz. Chambord Raspberry Liqueur
1/2 oz. Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur
1/2 oz. Smirnoff Vanilla Twist

Instructions
Shake with ice and strain into a white chocolate rimmed martini glass.

Recipe via. Images: 1/2/3.

smashing! cocktail: spiked hot cocoa

For winter weddings, we LOVE the idea of a hot cocoa bar.  We went to a wedding once where there was a coffee and hot cocoa bar complete with different flavors of whipped cream, rock candy instead of sugar cubes, lots of little jars of spices for dusting, and peppermint sticks for guests to kick their drink up a notch.  It was fantastic!

Spiked Hot Cocoa

Ingredients

• 5 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces (140 g)
• 4 cups homogenized milk (1 litre)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (10 ml)
• 1/2 cup Kahlua or Amarula liqueur (125 ml)
• 1/4 cup whipping (35%) cream, whipped for garnish (60 ml)
• Cocoa powder or finely grated chocolate, for garnish

Directions

1. Over medium heat, heat the chocolate and milk in a saucepan, stirring until chocolate has fully melted. Whisk until mixture is hot and frothy. Add liqueur and vanilla and continue to whisk until mixture is hot.
2. Remove from heat, pour into mugs and top with whipped cream and dust with cocoa or garnish with grated chocolate. Make about 6 cups (1200 ml).

(recipe via; image credits: 1/2/3/4)

smashing! carmel apple martini

 

In honor of fall, we are featuring the super-yummy caramel apple martini. This elegant martini is a fun and tasty twist on your everyday appletini. Plus, it's candy-sweet and you barely even taste the booze. Talk about dangerously delish!  Garnish with your own special touch whether it be a dried apple slice, rock candy stick, drizzled caramel on the glass, or a squirt of whipped cream on top.

Caramel Apple Martini
2 ounces vodka
1 ounce sour apple schnapps
1/2 fluid ounce butterscotch schnapps
1 cup crushed ice
1 slice dried apple

Directions
Combine vodka, schnapps, and crushed ice in a shaker. Shake vigorously to chill. Pour into martini glass, garnish, and serve.

smashing! cocktail: champagne mojito

This champagne mojito makes us think of a beautiful warm day complete with a slight breeze. Combine fresh mint, tangy lime, and a splash of bubbly for a sweet treat you and your guests will love.


Ingredients
Serves 12
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups packed mint leaves, plus 12 mint sprigs, for garnish
6 limes, cut into wedges
2 cups light rum
Cracked ice
3 cups Champagne or sparkling wine


Directions
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water and cook over high heat just until the sugar has dissolved. Let cool to room temperature.

In a large pitcher, combine the sugar syrup with the mint leaves and lime wedges and muddle well with a wooden spoon. Add the rum and stir well. Strain the drink into another pitcher.

Fill tall glasses with cracked ice and pour in the drink, filling them about two-thirds full. Top with Champagne, garnish with the mint sprigs and serve.



Recipe via. Images: 1/2/3.

smashing! cocktail: adult snow cone

This refreshing cocktail based on the nostalgic summer treat is perfect for a carnival or circus-themed wedding. The kids in attendance will love it, and you can serve the grown-up version featuring one of these delicious concoctions below...

STEP 1: Make your snow

• Place approximately six cups of ice into a food processor fitted with the grater blade, and shave to a fine texture.
• Using an ice cream scoop, transfer a cup of shaved ice into a chilled cocktail glass or paper snow cone cup.
• No matter what spirits you add to the ice, try to cool them before adding to the ice.

STEP 2: Add your flavor
Slowly drizzle any of these chilled concoctions over the ice. Decorate with a garnish to add a burst of color.

1. ITALIAN FREEZE
Toss a few ice cubes to a cocktail shaker, add 1 cup Campari and shake. Garnish with a lemon twist.

2. CREAMSICLE POP
Mix 1/2 cup orange concentrate, 1/2 cup Cointreau, and 3 tablespoons vanilla vodka in cocktail shaker and shake.

3. FROZEN MUDSLIDE
Add 1 ounce vodka, 1 ounce Irish cream liqueur, 1 ounce cream, and 1 ounce coffee liqueur to an ice-filled shaker.

4. ICE JOLT
Pour 1 cup of your favorite cream coffee liqueur into an ice-filled shaker and shake. Garnish with a coffee bean.

5. BERRY DELICIOUS
Add 1 cup vodka, 3 tablespoons crême de Cassis, and 1 cup fresh blueberries to a cocktail shaker. Muddle the blueberries in the shaker, then add ice. Shake and garnish with a blueberry.

Recipe via. Images 1/2/3.

smashing! cocktail: pink elephant martini

This fun and funky martini would be perfect at any circus, carnival, or pink-themed wedding!

Ingredients
1 part white cranberry juice
1 part berry vodka
1/2 part raspberry liqueur (recommended: Chambord)
1/2 part Limoncello
 
Directions
Add all ingredients to a shaker full of ice. Shake well and pour into chilled martini glasses.

Recipe via. Images clockwise from top: 1/2/3.

Smashing! The Rosemary Cocktail

A martini can go a lot of ways.  Classic, modern, luxe, posh, uptown, downtown.  We like the idea of serving this twist on the classic at a minimalist, ultra modern fête.  Gold accents encouraged for extra glitz.    

Ingredients:

16 pimento-stuffed olives, in brine

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 (6-inch) sprig fresh rosemary

1 bottle (750 ml) gin

1/4 cup dry vermouth

At least 1 day before serving, combine the olives and chopped rosemary in a small dish and pour over some of the brine from the olive jar to cover. Cover and refrigerate.

About 1 hour before serving, rub the sprig of rosemary between the palms of your hands for 10 to 15 seconds and put it in a cocktail pitcher. Pour the gin and vermouth over, stir to mix, and refrigerate.

Just before serving, add a generous handful of ice cubes to the pitcher and stir gently for a minute to give it an extra dose of chill. Pour the martini into stemless martini glasses, leaving the ice behind in the pitcher. Very briefly rinse the olives to remove any clinging rosemary and spear 2 each onto cocktail picks or small rosemary sprigs (with lower leaves removed), adding a pick to each glass.

Cook's notes: Double or triple all the ingredients, refrigerating extra to refill the pitcher as needed. Marinate the olives up to 1 week ahead (be sure they’re covered in brine) and refrigerate. Prepare the gin and vermouth with rosemary and refrigerate up to 2 hours ahead. 

Recipe via. Image credits: 1/2/3

smashing! cocktail: the starlight royale

We love the concept of a signature cocktail at an event.  Be it a fancy martini or a secret family concoction, your guests will love the thought put into keeping them refreshed (and relaxed!). Every now and then, we'll feature a new signature cocktail from around the web or created by us.  Have a smashing recipe you'd like to submit?  We'd love to feature it (and taste test it, let's just be honest)!

This week, we're channeling Marilyn with a sparkly, pink cocktail jazzed up with a little lime, gin, and sugar on the rim.  Serve in champagne saucers for Gatsby-esque flair.  Delicious? Yes.  We'll take one (or three). 

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups freshly squeezed lime juice (or 1 1/2 ounces per shaker), plus more for rims
1 1/2 cups gin (or 2 ounces per shaker)
1/2 cup superfine sugar (or 2 teaspoons per shaker)
1 bottle brut Champagne or sparkling wine (or 4 ounces per shaker)
Fine sanding sugar for rims
Grenadine

Mix lime juice, gin, and superfine sugar in a 2-quart pitcher; chill until ready to serve, several hours.

To serve, dip rims of glasses in lime juice, then sanding sugar, to coat with a 1-inch-wide band.  Measue 4 ounces Champagne or sparkling wine into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.  Add 3 1/2 ounces lime juice-and-gin mixture, and shake; strain into two glasses, and add 2 to 3 drops of grenadine to each.  Repeat. (Serves 12)

Recipe via. Image credits: 1/2