Cocktail Hour: Melonshine

We're on somewhat of a moonshine kick lately, now that we're on vacation. Maybe it's because the moonshine we're using is so amazingly smooth and mixable. So here's our latest concoction, created just this afternoon while we were making Watermelon Sorbetto (recipe coming soon). It's quite yummy, and frankly, the perfect backyard barbecue beverage! Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Melonshine

Ingredients:

2 cups watermelon, chopped finely

1 tablespoon boxwood basil leaves (regular basil will work fine)

1 cup Onyx Moonshine

Mix all ingredients in a large pitcher and set aside for an hour, stirring a couple of times to blend. Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve into six rocks glasses filled with ice. To serve additional drinks, simply add moonshine to pitcher, stir, sieve and pour. Drink responsibly.

Cocktail Hour: "Loopy" Lemonade

For all those so-called adults out there who are still eating Fruit Loops (they're not just for breakfast anymore), we bring you our new favorite summer cocktail: "Loopy" Lemonade. If you're not familiar with "Loopy," get to the liquor store, stat! This vodka from Three Olives smells and tastes exactly like Fruit Loops cereal. Oh yes, it does.

We make what we're calling "Loopy Lemonade" by pouring a shot of Loopy into a glass with ice, filling the rest of the glass with lemonade, and adding a splash of Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice.

Fruity, cold and refreshing. We may not get anything done this summer!

"Loopy Lemonade"

Ingredients:

1 part Three Olives "Loopy" Vodka

4 parts lemonade (or to taste)

splash of pomegranate juice

Fill a tall glass with ice. Add vodka. Add lemonade. Add splash of pomegranate juice. Bring drink to nearest patio and be outdoorsy.

Ji Zhen (Golden Needle) Tea

We picked up two ounces of Ji Zhen Tea at Dobra Tea in Portland, Maine this summer. This tea is a Chinese black tea, and one of the oldest teas in the world. It is called Ji Zhen, or "Golden Needle," because its young tea leaves have a needle-like shape and a beautiful golden color.

The aroma of the leaves is sweet, with hints of earthiness. When brewed, the golden leaves produced a tea of reddish-brown color with a golden ring around the edge of the cup. This high-quality tea has a very mellow flavor with hints of honey, chocolate and pepper. The inherent sweetness of the tea made us not want to add anything to it, although many people enjoy it with milk.

It is recommended to brew the tea leaves up to three times, which means those few ounces will produce many cups. We look forward to every one; it is an exceptional cup of tea.

Cocktail Time! The Berry Patch

School may have started, but it's not the end of summer yet! Labor Day weekend is upon us, and fall does not officially start until the autumnal equinox on September 23rd. In the "spirit" of prolonging every teacher's favorite season, we gathered a few tantalizing summertime ingredients to create a cocktail we're calling "The Berry Patch" (special thanks to D and J for taste-testing and tweaking the name). Light, sweet, herby and slightly bubbly, these go down nice and easy!

The Berry Patch

(makes a small pitcher, about six drinks)

Ingredients:

12-14 fresh strawberries, chopped

6-8 leaves fresh basil, torn

1 cup cranberry juice (100% juice, not cranberry cocktail)

1 cup lemonade (we like Newman's Own Lightly-Sweetened)

1 cup vodka

ice

club soda (optional)

extra berries and/or basil leaves for garnish

In a pitcher, muddle the chopped strawberries with the torn basil leaves.

Add the cranberry juice, lemonade and vodka.

Add ice, stir and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Strain into chilled martini glasses. Add a splash of club soda on top if you like it bubbly, and garnish as desired.

 

Godiva Iced Mocha Truffle

As part of their Tastemaker Program, Foodbuzz partnered with Godiva Coffee and sent us two packages of Godiva coffee (Chocolate Truffle and French Vanilla) and challenged us to come up with an iced coffee creation. In the past 24 hours, we did just that, using the Chocolate Truffle flavored coffee and our Toddy cold-brew coffee maker. We're calling it the "Godiva Iced Mocha Truffle."

When you have an exceptional product like Godiva, you want to make sure you can really taste it. That is why we chose to use the cold-water brewing process. It extracts the natural flavor of the coffee, leaves behind the acidic bitterness that coffee can sometimes have, and results in a smooth, velvety iced coffee drink.

First, we made the cold-brew coffee concentrate using only the 12-ounce package of Godiva Chocolate Truffle Coffee and cold water (yes, we know...it looks a bit like mud). We left that to brew for twelve hours, then removed the stopper and allowed the concentrate to flow into the glass decanter.

To enhance that chocolatey goodness, we added a little chocolate syrup to the glass before filling it with ice, then made our drink with the coffee concentrate and some whole milk. The first sip was silky smooth, refreshing, and filled with both coffee and chocolate flavors, no additional sugar needed. It was a deliciously creamy drink that we enjoyed with a handful of Godiva dark chocolate almonds. Pure indulgence!

DIRECTIONS:

To make the coffee concentrate using the Toddy Maker:

Ingredients:

1 12-ounce package Godiva Chocolate Truffle Coffee, ground

8 cups cold water

Make sure filter and stopper are inside the Toddy Maker. Pour 1 cup of the water into the Toddy Maker. Add half of the ground coffee. Slowly pour 4 cups of water in a circular motion over the coffee grounds. Add the remainder of the ground coffee. Add 2 more cups of water in a circular motion over the coffee grounds. Wait five minutes then add the remaining 1 cup of water. Allow to brew for 12 hours, then remove stopper and allow to flow into glass decanter.

To make each serving of Godiva Iced Mocha Truffle:

Ingredients:

2 ounces Godiva Chocolate Truffle Coffee Concentrate (directions above)

4 ounces milk

1/2 ounce chocolate syrup

Pour chocolate syrup into a glass. Fill glass with ice, then add coffee concentrate and milk. Using a martini shaker, shake until well blended and foamy. Enjoy!