I’ve been trying to invent a margarita that doesn’t have any real sugar and actually tastes good. It’s been so tough, guys: I’ve been working on it and working on it . . . and working, and working some more because you really never know when a little tweak will make a drink far better and the only way to know is to taste every single test cocktail multiple times. Quality control is serious here at BB&B. Don’t let anyone ever tell you throwing parties isn’t terribly hard work.
Lime juice is stultifyingly sour, and there’s no way around needing a sweetener if this drink is going to taste good. I used Splenda as the sweetener, but please use Stevia or Equal or whatever your sugar substitute of choice is – or if you want a little real stuff, go for the honey or agave syrup. Whatever you like best.
Furthermore, if you’re a regular follower you know that I like cocktails stiff and tart. I used 2 teaspoons of Splenda in mine, and it made for a tart drink but still very quaffable. If you prefer sweeter cocktails, start with 3 teaspoons and keep adding until it tastes ridiculously yummy to you.
Raspberry-Lime Skinny Margaritas
- 4 raspberries
- 2-5 teaspoons Splenda
- juice from 1 lime
- 2 ounces (1 shot glass) good silver tequila
- 4 ounces (2 shot glasses) sparkling water
Place raspberries in a sturdy-bottomed glass and add the Splenda. Muddle together with a muddler or the back of a spoon.
Add lime juice, tequila and sparkling water and mix thoroughly. Pour into a pretty glass, if you like that sort of thing, and enjoy.
Rummaging around in my mom’s fridge can yield some interesting things that I don’t usually buy when planning a dinner party – like Just Blueberry juice.
Which I promptly mixed with whiskey and discovered that the powerful flavor of the juice melds really surprisingly well with the strong flavor of the bourbon. I added a little maple syrup to sweeten it up, and WOW. Gorgeous drink! And so easy.
I can’t wait to make this for a dinner party that’s blue- or purple-themed! It’s so simple that I can stir up a pitcher of them before guests arrive in about a minute, and it’s strong enough to satisfy those who like that sort of thing while sweet enough to satisfy those with a sweet tooth.
A Blueberry Bourbon Cocktail as easy as 1-2-3
Mix thoroughly by either shaking or stirring with ice. Pour and garnish with floating blueberries to make it look pretty.
I came to Jackson Hole for the weekend to be with my mom. Our wonderful, precious, very loved dog died last week at age 15 and we’ve all been feeling her absence quite heavily. So I came home to try to make the house feel a little less empty.
Of course, I didn’t know New York was about to get shut down by a blizzard, so my little plan to make a quick jaunt to Wyoming didn’t work out very well when all flights to New York were cancelled today and yesterday. So, stranded and trying to keep up with schoolwork, I knew I needed an incentive. Straight to the Four Seasons went I with my enormous textbook and a promise to myself that I could have a big gorgeous martini in the lobby lounge after 50 pages of reading.
www.fourseasons.com/jacksonhole
At page 75 (I was a good industrious student – for once!) my friend Anne, who happened to be working yesterday, delivered me this lovely glass.
Blue cheese stuffed olives make me so happy.
My perfect martini? Excellent vodka (I like Belvedere), just a pinch of vermouth, as many blue cheese stuffed olives as I can fit in the glass and yes kids, I like it shaken, not stirred.
Here’s the deal on shaking v. stirring. Stirring protects the ice from bruising and (in theory) doesn’t release any water into the drink. Shaking bruises the ice cubes, which releases water into the cocktail. So yes, James Bond likes a slightly watered down martini, and so do I. It’s tasty.
I don’t think there’s any one “real” martini. Make yours however you like: gin, vodka, shaken, stirred, dirty, on the rocks, olives, no olives. And if you don’t know exactly what you prefer, well, the fun is in the testing!
I was sitting at the bar at the Silver Dollar a few weeks ago, drinking bourbon with some friends who were visiting Jackson Hole, and our conversation rolled around to the flavor combination of bourbon and brown butter and how drinking those two particular liquids together might be a really good idea. Did I mention we were drinking already?
So a few nights later we got together again and discussed it. I was pretty grossed out by the idea of drinking butter, but we’d come this far and maybe it would be good, and I knew with BB&B’s name I wouldn’t be able to avoid it forever, and also just why not?
I cooked up some brown butter, immersed the bottom of the pot in cold water in the sink to stop the cooking and cool the butter quickly, and poured it into a glass for ready mixing.
The brown butter, waiting patiently to be mixed
After deciding to keep the butter level low, we went for 5 shots of bourbon to one shot of brown butter and mixed that bad boy up.
Carefully measuring
The room temperature bourbon cooled the butter even more and made teensy congealed bits of butter in the liquid, but we didn’t know that until we drank them.
Pouring the fateful shots
Honestly? Not that bad! Maybe even a little good! As one friend noted, it had a lovely buttery aftertaste that made the shot itself worth it. Buoyed, we made another set of shots at a 2-1 ratio.
I do not recommend that.
So, if you like new things and want to try this out, I do not discourage you. Use a 5-1 ratio and the spirit of adventure – and toast to Brown Butter & Bourbon!
From the Atlantic, a Hot Buttered Mix for Rum or Bourbon that sounds sinfully delicious.
Unless you’re really into having daily hot buttered drinks, this obviously makes a huge amount and would probably be too much to make for personal use, but it would be perfect for a wintery party.
Serve with pretty cinnamon sticks that double as stirrers, and maybe whipped cream if you want to get really fancy with a little sprinkling of nutmeg on top.
www.sonyasfamilyrecipes.com
Hot Buttered Mix for Rum or Bourbon from The Atlantic:
- 1/2 gallon of vanilla bean ice cream
- 1 pound butter
- 1 pound brown sugar
- 1 pound powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Melt all of the ingredients in a large pot over medium heat. The brown sugar should be completely melted (takes about 15 minutes). Stir well and let cool. Put in plastic containers and freeze.
Instructions to go with your mix: in a glass coffee mug pour 1 jigger of rum or bourbon and 2 Tablespoons of butter mix. Top with boiling water and serve.
by Danielle on January 4, 2010
in Drinks
On Christmas Day, we went over to our family friends’ house for dinner and Joan introduced my sister and I to single malt Scotch Whisky. I’m into bourbon, as everyone knows by the name of my website, but for some reason I have never tried a good Scotch until now. It seems exotic and like you have to have many leather-bound books and an apartment that smells of rich mahogany to order a good Scotch, and I’m easily intimidated I guess.
But Joan had two bottles sitting in her friendly kitchen: a Macallan, which was smooth and lovely, and a Laphroaig, which smelled like a peat bog but tasted heavenly. (Actually, I only know that it smelled like a peat bog because Joan said it did, but what I do know is that it smells something awful – or, to put it in a more refined vernacular for lovers of Scotch, a very very very acquired taste.) After tasting and comparing small glasses of both, we thought it would be a good idea to taste some more for an even better comparison, and after continuing the testing with our third glass we were both passionately converted to Scotch drinkers and were only stopped by the call to dinner and a nice glass of red wine. It was a lovely Christmas.
Now I have to learn something about Scotch so I can buy and order it intelligently, and maybe even pair it with the right appetizers for a dinner party. Any hints?
