Question: “What do black Cosmo martinis garnished with sparkly disco dust and a beating heart on a wooden stake have in common”?
Answer: “It’s what for dinner come Halloween for me and my ghoul friends”.
This year I’m going ghoulie glam with a sparkling rim made with thinned candy coating or white chocolate tinted with icing colors and sprinkled with disco dust.
I wrote a post on the particulars and challenges of the “Martha inspired” corn syrup technique, (see photo below), with a recipe for a Milky Way martini. Click here for the post and for the cocktail recipe. It’s definitely a treat and not a trick with Starbuck’s cream liqueur, chocolate vodka and cream yumminess.
Here’s the “Pink Martinis and Pearls Technique” ~
Things you’ll need for the glass garnish:
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Paramount crystal flakes (found at cake supply stores)
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White candy coating or white baking chocolate
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Disco Dust in pink, red or rainbow
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Thick bamboo skewers
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Maraschino cherries
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Martini glasses (or any other beverage glass)
Things you’ll need for the cocktail:
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Blavod black vodka
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Cranberry juice
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Triple Sec
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Crushed ice to mix
To make the sparkly glass rim ~
Start by melting a few paramount crystals. They take only about 30 seconds in the microwave. The purpose of the crystals are to thin out the chocolate making it more runny. Add either a couple squares of the white baking chocolate or some candy coating wafers. From here on I’ll also refer to the candy coating as ‘chocolate’.
Both chocolates will melt smoother and quicker when added to the melted paramount crystals. Just so you know how easy the crystals will make the chocolate flow, the photo below on the left is the melted chocolate with the tint color only. The tint color alone will seize up both the chocolates. Add the crystals and presto! like magic, all smooth out beautifully.
Take a small spoon (I like to use a baby spoon), a craft brush or place the melted chocolate in an icing bag and place it around the outside top of the glass rim. You might have to pull it down into drip shapes even with the chocolate being runny. It’s just the nature of this white chocolate to want to stay together.
Before the chocolate has set up hard, sprinkle with a like color of disco dust (pink chocolate-pink dust; red chocolate-red dust, etc.).
Rainbow disco dust can be used on everything. It’s just a clear sparkle and picks up any color. It’s my favorite all-around color but for this project I used pink and red.
Tip: One nice thing about working with chocolate on glass, if you don’t like where the chocolate drips have landed, before they set, you can wipe them away with a paper towel and fill in the gaps with more chocolate. It’s very forgiving.
Once the chocolate sets, the disco dust isn’t going anywhere and the combo basically becomes water proof unless you wash the glass with warm to hot water. Barely any sparkles come off on your lips which can be good or bad depending on what you’ve got planned for your Halloween amusement.
To make the wooden stake garnish with the beating heart ~
I used thick bamboo skewers I found in my baking junk drawer. Uh-oh. Did I say that out loud? I actually have three baking junk drawers. Now my dirty little disorganized secret is out.
Grab a fresh maraschino cherry heart and slip it over the pointed end of the stick. I love how it drips it’s own juice over the red chocolate.
Now, we’re ready for the cocktail itself. Have you heard of black vodka?
It’s called Blavod. I found it at BevMo.
I am loving how it comes in its own zippered wet suit. Tres Twilight chic with its stand-up vampire collar!
When I took the cover off the bottle it naturally curled away. Kind of edgy with the spider web and zipper. If you go through a few bottles of Blaovd you can start your own collection of can cozies!
Don’t you love martinis can that multi-task?
Black Cosmo
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2/3 Blavod black vodka
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1/3 cranberry juice
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splash of Triple Sec
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Ice
Combine all ingredients in a shaker and go to town and shake your boo-ty. Strain and pour.
Here are more recipes that use Blavod but you can search online and find one that shakes or stirs YOU!
Boo!
Always remember to drink and ride your broom responsibly.