Homemade Grenadine

Forget the store bought "Grenadine" which equates to sugar and red colouring.  I have the real thing right here!

Grenadine is traditionally made from Pomegranates and gives a dash of sweetness and colour to a cocktail.  Think Tequila Sunrise! In fact I might just have to make one of those once this Grenadine is cooled. (Nobody likes a tepid cocktail!)

There are lots of versions of Grenadine around and after a few hours of research I realised that although a very traditional recipe would be lovely, I just couldn't be arsed juicing Pomegranates. But fortunately somebody else could and so a bottle of POM is the cheats way around a messy crime scene!

I'm also not Mediterranian and so I don't have many of the traditional floral flavours that you find in traditional recipes.  All I could manage was a bottle of Rose Water flavour from the supermarket! 

The recipe I converted comes from Serious Eats (www.seriouseats.com) and it is seriously easy in your Thermomix.

Ingredients

1 473ml bottle POM (Pomegranate juice is apparently a very precise business)

1 & 1/2 cups sugar 

2 tablespoons Molasses

1 tablespoon rose water essence

Directions

Heat juice and sugar for 10 minutes, speed 3 at 95 degrees, without MC.

Add molasses and cook another 2 minutes, speed 3 at 95 degrees, without MC.

Transfer to a jug and allow to cool to room temperature.

Add rose water to cooled mixture and pour into sterilised bottles.

Makes about 600ml, stores in the cupboard for about a month.

Add a splash of vodka to the bottle if you would like a longer shelf life.

This Grenadine has a slightly tangy flavour and is not as red as the store bought stuff.  But it works a treat for Shirley Temples. 

Ginger, Honey & Vanilla Syrup

Its true I am a redhead and I have a special affection for anything Ginger!! Many cocktail recipes call for simple syrup and while anyone can mix sugar with water, sometimes a more complicated syrup is more satisfying.  A bit like a complicated redhead!!

This syrup is largely honey based and I recommend buying good quality local aromatic honey to give this syrup an extra lift.  You can use the syrup in a variety of cocktails as a mixer or as a cordial with a splash of mineral water.  I use it in a special Honey Ginger Beer which I will post here soon.

Ingredients

500ml water

450gm raw sugar

300gm honey

100ml lemon juice

20gm fresh ginger, peeled

1 Tspn vanilla bean paste

Method

Add water, sugar , vanilla paste and honey to your bowl. Mix for 5 minutes on 90 degrees, speed 3.

Once sugar has dissolved, add lemon juice.  Set aside in a jug to cool.

Without washing the bowl, add ginger and mix on speed 7 for 5 seconds.

Add liquid back to bowl and scrape Ginger from the sides.

Pour into sterilised glass bottles and store for up to 3 months out of the fridge.

Enjoy with your favourite Redhead!!!

I'm Dreaming of a Hazelnut Christmas

As promised, I have a cocktail that makes use of last week's delicious White Chocolate Liqueur.

Ingredients

2 parts White Chocolate Liqueur

2 parts Frangelico

1 part Milk

Ice to serve

Strawberries to garnish

Method

Mix liqueur and Frangelico with milk for 10 seconds, speed 4.

Pour over ice and garnish.

Merry Christmas Thermoholics!

White Chocolate Liqueur

I can't ignore it any longer. Christmas is coming and with it, that overwhelming urge to overindulge in good food and booze! Add this to your list of homemade treats and you will be feeling festive in no time.

This creamy, sweet liqueur is perfect over ice or in a very grown up milkshake.

Are you dreaming of a White Christmas? Wipe the drool from your mouth and start sterilising your glass bottles.  This recipe is a little Christmas miracle!



Ingredients
Makes 3 cups

150gm White chocolate

5 tbsp castor sugar

125gm cream

125gm milk

2 tspn Vanilla extract

250gm Vodka

Method

Add chocolate, sugar, cream and milk to bowl

Heat at 70 degrees for 5 minutes on speed 3.5

Add vanilla and vodka to mixture and stir on speed 3 for 5 seconds.

Transfer liqueur to jug and allow to cool to room temp.

Skim off any fat before pouring into a sterilised bottle.

Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

Serve over ice and stay tuned for a festive cocktail.

Iced Espresso Martini

Confession time! Im actually not a big fan of coffee! I wish I was, because well I could use the kick that comes with caffeine, but I just can't get past the taste.  However, add some liquor and I'll make an exception. Every single time!

My very good friend and cocktail taster, Ros has an affinity for coffee and she put me onto the Espresso Martini.  It is 1 part sophisticated coffee culture and 3 parts untidy alcoholic! The exact opposite of Ros (that's what she tells herself!)

Ingredients

8 shots Vodka

4 shots Kahlua

4 shots espresso coffee (I'm reliably informed that the coffee has to be top quality)

1000gm ice

Sugar or syrup to taste.

Optional: You could mix this over milk if your so inclined.

Method

Add ice and alcohol to the bowl and mix on speed 9 for 20 seconds

Add coffee and sweetener to your taste preferences, mix on speed 5 for 10 seconds

Pour into Martini glasses, you could top with a little milk at this point if you prefer.

Rum Punch me in the Face

It's hot!  Stinking, sweaty heat that invades your personal space and drives you to drink. Way to be subtle weather, but you don't need to ask me twice. 

This is not your traditional Caribbean Rum Punch but it will knock you on your arse!

Ingredients

100gm White Rum (I used the new Bundaberg White Rum with pineapple and coconut)

50gm Coconut Rum (Malibu)

50gm Triple Sec (for an orange flavour)

500gm Ice

200gm Frozen fruit (pineapple, melon)

100gm Pineapple Juice

100gm Guava Nectar

Splash of Bitters

200gm Flavoured Mineral Water (I used Schweppes Guava and Pear)

Mint and lemon slices to garnish

Method

Add alcohol, fruit and ice to bowl, mix on speed 9 for 30secobds or until fine.

Add pineapple and guava juice and mix for 15 seconds on speed 5.

Transfer to a serving jug, top up with mineral water and add bitters. 

Garnish with fresh mint and lemon slices.

Take that El Niño! Right in the face!

Cosmopolitan

Today's cocktail is a simple, sophisticated one.  Timeless and classy, it embodies all the things that I am not but I will drink it anyway.  Give me a few and I'll not only be timeless, but I'll be shoeless, pant less and minus my credit card.

Ingredients - serving 4

500gm ice

300gm cranberry juice

60gm vodka

60gm triple sec or grand marnier 

Juice of 1 lime

Method

Add ice and alcohol to bowl

Blitz on speed 7 for 20 seconds, you want some chunks remaining.

Add cranberry juice and lime juice

Mix on speed 5 for 10 seconds

Serve in martini glasses and garnish with lime zest and dried cranberries

Enjoy this one with cheap Chinese food, you won't be disappointed!

Life's A Peach Iced Tea

It's getting warmer and what could be better than a cold glass of Iced Tea? Um, a cold glass of Boozy Iced Tea that's what!

You might think that making Tea in your Thermomix is a waste of time.  Sure you can boil a jug in 5 minutes and Be done, but when you brew in your Thermomix you can infuse any summer flavour you like.   With so much seasonal stone fruit about to hit the market, you will have plenty to choose from.

Ingredients

1.5L hot water (straight from the tap to save time heating)

60 gm  sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Handful of mint

2 peaches, sliced

4 black tea bags

1/2 cup Vodka

1/2 cup Malibu

Ice to serve

Mint and fresh peach slices to garnish

Method

Add the water, sugar and lemon juice to your bowl

Mix on speed 1 for 10 minutes at 90 degrees

Add the peach, mint and tea bag to your basket.

After 5 minutes heating the water, pause the machine and add the basket to the bowl, tuck the tea bag strings over the bowl's edge and place the lid on

Re-start the Thermomix, increasing the speed to 4 for the final 5 minutes.

Leave the tea in the bowl to cool to room temp, infusing all of the flavours

Once cool, transfer to a jug with ice

Add your liquor and stir with a spoon.

Garnish with fresh mint and peach slices.

Enjoy from your whitewashed verandah in the Hamptons!

Blueberry Fruit Tingle

Ah this one brings back memories, I think!

The classic Fruit Tingle, usually served in jugs with a side of poor decision making and risky behaviour!

Well I've given it a contemporary, clean living twist, using frozen blueberries.

Ingredients

250gm ice cubes

25gm frozen blueberries

40gm Vodka

40 gm  Blue Curaçao 

Juice of half a lemon
A splash of red cordial/grenadine

100ml lemonade

Method

Blend the ice, berries and booze on speed 10 for 20 seconds until smooth.

Squeeze in half a lemon and a splash of red cordial or grenadine, mix on speed 5 for 10 seconds

Pour into a cocktail glass and top up with lemonade.
Crank up the tunes and dance until your feet hurt and that cute boy at the bar brings you another cocktail!

Honeydew Witches Brew

Maybe it's the re-runs of Supernatural that my 15 year old son forces me to watch, or maybe the spirit world is calling to me. Dean Winchester certainly is!!

This weekend is Halloween and to appease the ghosts and ghouls, I offer up this cocktail and ask for a plentiful harvest!

Honeydew Witches Brew

(Couldran is optional)

Ingredients

500gm Honeydew Melon frozen in cubes

50gm Fruit Juice (tropical or OJ will do just fine)

60gm Midori

60gm White Rum (Bicardi or Malibu for a coconut twist)

30gm Blue Curacao

1 tbsp Honey

Strawberry syrup to garnish

Method

Add all ingredients to the TM bowl

Mix on Speed 7 for 20 seconds or until smooth

Sacrifice your first born child and dance naked under the full moon

Serve in a bowl coated with the blood of a virgin (strawberry syrup) and garnish with creepy crawly critters.

Strawberry Champagne Bellini

Today is International Champagne Day. Something I have only just been alerted to but am happy to celebrate, after all it is Friday! 

So let's pretend for a moment that I'm a sophisticated lady, who enjoys bridge and wearing hats! (Actually I'm in yoga pants with unwashed hair, not even practising yoga!)

I dusted out the wine cellar and discovered a bottle of Moët, presumably gifted to me after a profitable exchange on the stock market.  Strawberries are in season and thankfully I froze some before they rotted away in my refrigerator!  

Champagne and strawberries are perfect together and with a hint of vanilla, you too will be sipping like a lady, while deciding on an outfit for the Spring Racing Carnival.

Ingredients

200ml Champagne - you could use any Brut, Prosecco or sparkling wine you prefer.

200gm Frozen Strawberries

1 tsp vanilla extract

Juice of Half a Lime

1 tsp sugar

Garnish - lime slice and fresh strawberry

Method

Add your ingredients to the TM bowl. 

Blitz on speed 9 for 20 seconds. 

Add more time in 10 second increments if the fruit is still in frozen pieces.

Pour into a champagne flute, garnish with a fresh strawberry and a slice of lime.

Ask the butler to clean up the mess and celebrate International Champagne Day in your finest high heels!

Kahula Margaritas

My all time favourite frozen cocktail! Hailing from North Queenslands very own Cactus Jacks Bar and Grill, this delectable cocktail is all the dessert you need to top off a Mexican feast.
If you would like to taste the original, check them out at www.cactusjacks.com.au

This was the first cocktail I ordered from my bar tender (aka Thermomix) and he didn't disappoint.

Serving up to 4 ( why not after all) 


Ingredients
1000g ice
120g Kahlua
60g Frangelico
100g milk 
60g chocolate sauce
lemon and sugar to coat glass
Cherry or strawberry to garnish

Method
Add ice and milk to TM bowl mix on speed 10 for 1 minute or until crushed smooth
Add alcohol and chocolate sauce, mix on speed 10 for 10 seconds
Rub a lemon around the rim of your glass and dip in sugar to coat
Pour margarita into glass, piling high, drizzle with additional chocolate sauce and top with a cherry.
Enjoy with friends, preferably ones who politely decline and then there's more for you!!