Be the crowd-pleaser this Oscars’s Sunday with our round-up of award-worthy sure to secure you the gold for best host(we know the Oscars need one). With so many tasty and simple options, it would be an Academy travesty if you didn’t opt for the gourmet. So ditch the generic buttered popcorn and champagne set-up for a spread as buzzing as this years best picture nominees.
Work quickly—or better yet—get a few willing hands to help when you’re scooping and rolling this adult version of a Rice Krispie treat; the mixture stiffens slightly as it cools. Click here for the RECIPE.
We use microwaved popcorn for our miso-flavored (surprise!) caramel corn but, sure, 9 cups of air-popped or old-school stovetop-popped kernels would work nicely, too. Click here for the RECIPE.
More suited to a cocktail party than a baseball game, this riff on Cracker Jack by pastry chef Taria Camerino is sweetened with agave nectar and spiked with tequila. Slow-baking turns the popcorn-nut mix fabulously crunchy. Click here for the RECIPE.
Elegant entertaining from the microwave? Yup. It transforms shredded white cheddar into these lacy all-cheese crackers—no flour necessary. You will eat several without pausing but, eventually, stop to scoop up some of the juicy tomato salsa. Click here for the RECIPE.
Melting chocolate in the microwave makes the process really easy and quick—no double boiler, no water bath necessary. To prepare this festive fudge, just stir a few flavorings into the melted-chocolate base. We add pistachios, dried cherries and candied ginger but white chocolate chips, dried apricots or chopped walnuts would give it the proper crunch and sweet-tangy notes, too. Click here for the RECIPE.
Borrowing a technique from pastry chef Jennifer Yee, these chewy, fruity, jewel-toned mochi are prepared in the microwave with a mix of pomegranate juice and lime juice. We used a 3/4-inch round cutter to make them gumdrop size, but you can also cut the candies into squares (sharpen your knife!) or use another small cookie cutter. Click here for the RECIPE.
This easy brandy cocktail from drinks artisan Chris Harrison is mildly sweet and nicely boozy, with a bit of spice from nutmeg. Click here for the RECIPE.
Mixologist Agostino Perrone created this simple sparkling punch. “It would be a great aperitif for a large dinner party,” says Wayne Collins; he recommends serving it in teacups. Click here for the RECIPE.
While Budweiser is an obvious Superbowl beverage staple, that doesn’t mean you can shake things up for the non-beer drinkers out there. This weekend draw up a new game plan with the recipes we’ve rounded up below. We guarantee they’re delicious from beginning to end zone!
Red Snapper
Ingredients:
1.5 oz Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin
2 oz tomato juice
.75 oz lemon juice
1 oz chilli sauce
.5 oz worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
Instructions: Combine all ingredients in a large glass. Add ice and stir to chill. Garnish with a celery stalk, lemon wedge, salt and fresh cracked pepper.
Instructions: Muddle the cardamom pods in the bottom of a pre-heated Irish coffee glass. Add whiskey, Demerara syrup, hot coffee, and salt and stir together. Combine the heavy cream, sugar, orange zest, and bitters and whip together until the mixture is thick, but still pourable. Float cream over the top of the drink by pouring gently over the back of a spoon. Add an additional garnish, if you like, of a lightly toasted marshmallow.
Created by Joaquín Simó at Pouring Ribbons
Bright Lights Big City
Ingredients:
.075 oz Old Overheat
.075 oz Laird’s Apple Brandy
0.5 oz Gifford Rhubarbe
0.5 oz lemon juice
0.25 oz falemum
0.25 demerara
1 tonic
4 dashes of mango bitters
1 mint sprig (garnish)
Instructions: Shake ingredients and serve in collins glass with pebble ice. Top with tonic and mango bitters. Garnish with mint sprig.
Created by Kenneth McCoy, available at The Rum House.
The Wild Card
Ingredients:
3 drops vanilla bean extract
Bar spoon of Maille Mustard
2 oz. El Peloton mezcal
.5 oz lemon juice
.75 oz agave nectar
.75 oz egg white
Peychaud’s Bitters swirl (for garnish)
Star anise
Instructions: Put ingredients into shaker in this order: vanilla bean extract, bar spoon of mustard, lemon juice, agave, mezcal. Dry shake. Open up shaker and add ice. Double strain into a martini glass. Add a couple dashes of peychaud bitters and place star anise on top.
Instructions: Pour gin, elderflower liqueur and cucumber bitters into a long drink glass filled with ice and stir. Fill up with tonic water and stir again. Garnish with lemon wheel, cucumber slice, and mint sprig.
Courtesy of Alexander Hauck and Stephan Berg at The Bitter Truth
Tommy’s Margarita
Ingredients:
2 oz Olmeca Altos Blanco tequila
.75 oz agave nectar
.75 oz lime juice
Instructions: Combine ingredients in shaker. Shake and strain over ice into a rocks glass. Garnish with a lime wheel and black salt.
Instructions: In a pitcher, combine gin and Aperol. Stir. When ready to serve, add chilled sparkling rosé wine, and stir again gently. Garnish with fresh cranberries.
Instructions: Pour SVEDKA Colada, lemonade, and the juice of 1 lemon wedge into a shaker. Add ice and shake briefly. Strain into a pint glass. Top with Corona Light. Garnish with a lemon wedge.
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The Dark and Stormy
Ingredients:
1.5 oz Gosling’s Rum
4-5 0z ginger beer
Gosling’s Black Seal Rum
Instructions: In a highball glass filled with ice add ginger beer and top with Gosling’s Black Seal Rum. Garnish with a lime wheel and candied ginger boat.
For football season, Liquor.com chose a bartender from each NFL team’s hometown to provide the perfect cocktail to represent their team.
“The D line and the linebackers are the strongest group in the Ram’s current lineup,” says John Coltharp, the head bartender at Los Angeles’ Seven Grand. “This stiff cocktail is a tribute to those seven players; it also features the earthy flavors the Rams want the opposing running back to experience when they shove his face into the ground.”
Ingredients:
1 oz Slow Hand white whiskey
1 oz Cynar
1 oz Campari
1 dash Orange bitters
1 dash Peychaud’s bitters
Garnish: Lemon peel
Instructions:
Add all of the ingredients to a mixing glass with ice and stir until cold. Strain into a rocks glass over ice. Express the oil from a lemon peel over top of the drink and garnish with the peel on the ice, skin up.
vs.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
Flying Elvis
For the New England Patriots, “this cocktail is a little taste of humble pie, with the strength and resolve of some local navy-strength rum providing structure, a little taste of the unexpected from the Amaro di Angostura and egg white, just like the Pats playbook,” says bartender Vikram Hegde at Cambridge, Mass.’s Little Donkey. “Plus, there’s a little something festive and tropical in the Giffard Banane du Brésil liqueur (you know, because Gisele).”
Ingredients:
1 ½ oz Privateer Navy Yard rum
½ oz Amaro di Angostura
½ oz Giffard Banane du Brésil liqueur
½ oz Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice
1 Egg white
Garnish: Angostura bitters
Instructions:
Add all of the ingredients to a shaker, and shake without ice until emulsified for about a slow 5 count. Add ice and shake vigorously for a slow 10 count or until the shaker frosts over. Fine-strain into a lowball glass without ice, and garnish with a few dots of Angostura bitters in the shape of the Patriots’ Flying Elvis logo (to the best of your artistic ability).
The Rams have made it to the Superbowl as any true Angeleno knew they would! While we all prepare to celebrate their eventual win, the next item on the Game-day checklist is of course the food. So skip the generic wings and chips set-up and opt for something equally worthy of a touchdown. We’ve rounded up Superbowl Sunday approved recipes that will send your tastebuds into overtime. Oh come on you know it’s “pun-ty!”
Dips that will have you Running Back for more
Clam Chowder Dip
The creamy soup is obviously best enjoyed in a bread bowl to sop up the flavor. So not why try it as a dip so you can bring some seaside flair to the party.
Maybe you enjoy avoiding(or barring through) deep conversations about your life with your Aunt Esther… Or simply love the holiday occasion to indulge, we’ve rounded up the best beverage recipes this season. So take a seat and a sip, because this Top 10 list is sure to make you the Thanksgiving MVP.
Pecan Pie Martini
INGREDIENTS
6 oz. Rumchata
6 creme de cocoa
3 bourbon
Ice
FOR GARNISH
3 tbsp. caramel, microwaved until pourable
1/4 c. toasted chopped pecans
Cool whip, for garnish
3 whole pecans, for garnish
Sprinkle of cinnamon, for garnish
DIRECTIONS
Place caramel and toasted chopped pecans on separate small shallow plates. Dip the rim of each glass first into caramel and then into chopped pecans to coat.
Combine Rumchata, creme de cocoa, and bourbon in a large cocktail shaker. Fill with ice and shake until cold, 30 seconds. Pour into martini glasses and top with a dollop of whipped cream, a whole pecan, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Apple Cider Mimosas
INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 c. apple cider
1 (750-ml.) bottle bubbly
DIRECTIONS
On a small plate, combine sugar and cinnamon. Dip champagne flutes in water to wet the rims, then dip in cinnamon sugar mixture.
Fill champagne flutes 1/4 full with apple cider, then top off with champagne.
Cranberry Mules
INGREDIENTS
2 oz. cranberry juice
2 oz. vodka
1/4 c. lime juice, plus extra for garnish
3 oz. ginger beer
1 Handful fresh or frozen cranberries
DIRECTIONS
Combine cranberry juice, vodka and lime in a glass filled with ice. Top with ginger beer, whole cranberries and garnish with a lime wedge.
Caramel Apple Spritzers
INGREDIENTS
8 apples
Lemon wedges (to prevent apples from browning)
1/2 c. Caramel
1/4 c. cinnamon-sugar
1 750-ml bottle moscato, chilled
1 c. green apple vodka, chilled
1 c. Sprite, chilled
DIRECTIONS
Make apple cups: Slice off the top of each apple. Use an apple corer to remove the inside of the apple until you’re about 1/2″ from the bottom of the apple. Squeeze lemon juice inside the apple cups to prevent apples from browning.
Dip the rims of the apple cups in caramel then coat in cinnamon-sugar.
Make spritzer: In a large pitcher, combine moscato, green apple vodka and Sprite and stir. Pour spritzer into apple cups and serve immediately.
Pumpkin Spice Oreo Spiked Milkshake
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 oz. vodka
4 pumpkin spice Oreos, plus more for garnish
3 scoops of vanilla ice cream
1/2 c. milk
Salted caramel, for drizzling
DIRECTIONS
Place vodka, pumpkin spice Oreos, vanilla ice cream, and milk in a blender.
Pour mixture into serving glass and drizzle with salted caramel sauce.
Maple Bourbon Cocktail
INGREDIENTS
2 ounces bourbon (I used Makers 46)
1 ounce fresh squeezed orange juice
1/2 ounce pure maple syrup
1-2 dashes of angostura bitters
orange peel + maraschino cherry for garnish
DIRECTIONS
Add ingredients to an ice filled cocktail shaker and shake until chilled. Strain into ice filled glass. Garnish with orange peel and cherry. Serve and enjoy!
Apple, Pumpkin Beer Cocktails
Ingredients
8 ounces good-quality bourbon
9 ounces apple cider
2 1/2 ounces lemon juice
12 ounces pumpkin ale
ice
Cinnamon sticks and cranberries for garnish
Directions
In a cocktail shaker, shake together the bourbon, apple cider and lemon juice. Pour into 4 glasses filled with ice.
Pour the beer evenly into each glass.
Garnish with cinnamon sticks and cranberries. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Pear and Thyme Fizz
Ingredients:
2 cups good-quality apple juice
1 ripe but firm pear, very thinly sliced
12 sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 cup orange-flavored liqueur (I like grand marnier)
1. In a pitcher, combine apple juice, pears, thyme and liqueur. Stir together, then refrigerate for 2 – 4 hours to allow the pears and thyme to infuse the juice with flavor.
2. Divide between 6 champagne flutes, discarding thyme, then fill remainder of each glass with champagne. Garnish each glass with a sprig of fresh thyme. Bottoms up!
Cava and Pomegranate Cocktail
Ingredients
Seeds from 1 pomegranate
Two 750-milliliter bottles cava or other sparkling dry white wine, chilled
1/4 cup pomegranate juice
Directions
Fill 12 flutes with cava.
Add 1 teaspoon of the pomegranate juice to each flute
garnish with pomegranate seeds and serve.
Hard Cider Sangria
Ingredients
1 cup quartered and thinly sliced unpeeled green, yellow and red apples
1 navel orange—quartered and thinly sliced crosswise
1 cup apple juice, chilled
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup apple brandy
One 22-ounce bottle hard apple cider, chilled
Ice
Directions
In a pitcher, combine the apples with the orange, apple juice, lemon juice and brandy.
Just before serving, add the hard cider(Angry Orchard, Stella Artois, etc..).