Santa’s little helpers.

November 20, 2012 |

It’s officially the holiday season and you know what that means.
Decking the halls and Nat King Cole and sugar cookies and gingerbread houses?
Yeah, no.
For the next 6 weeks you have carte blanche to drink without guilt!!

It’s no secret that Husband and I like to mix it up a little every now and again (oh, stop it) with a martini instead of our usual glass(es) of wine, and over the years we’ve definitely experimented with and refined our recipes.

So to help kick off your holiday cheer, I thought I’d share our most favorite top secret recipes*.
And just so you know the lengths I will go to for you kids, over the past few nights I’ve mixed all of these up so I could take the following photos. It’s called commitment. Dedication. Alcoholism.
And you are welcome.

Ready to put some HoHoHo in the holidays?

*Obviously, adjust the recipes to your liking. For example, I like sweeter drinks so I usually cut back on the vodka and add more of the juice, or, in cases where all the ingredients are alcoholic, say screw it and take an extra Advil.
Also, the recipes are given in ‘parts’ which is about 2 oz. (you can use 1 shot glass for 1 part, but it is usually less than 2 oz. and you may end up with a very tiny tini. And nobody wants that.)
Adjust your ‘parts’ depending on how much family drama you are anticipating.

1. Appletini ~
Taking an easy first spot on the list is the YMFT mascot – the Appletini.

1 part (2 oz.) Apple Pucker

1 part (2 oz.) citrus vodka

Pour over ice into a shaker

(this one is my new favorite)

Do I normally shake martinis over the pinball machine? No. But I needed Husband to take the pic and it’s where I found him.

Pour into a frozen glass – *key feature to make your martinis kick-ass* which you can achieve by either filling with ice cubes and water (commonly called ice-water) and letting sit for about 5 min., or, if your freezer is not full of tater-tots and corn dogs and Eggos, by rinsing with water and sticking it there for 5.

2. Chocotini ~

This is an impressive one to serve guests as a dessert, just make sure and put their keys in a bowl before you do. Wait. That didn’t sound right. I meant make sure they have a DD (which is where having teenage kids becomes a huge benefit…which is why we had them, am I right?)

This is an old favorite of ours that we’ve adjusted so many times that I kind of forget the original recipe.

In fact, when I made it the other night I was sipping, adjusting, sipping, adjusting so much that before I knew it half of it was gone and I had to start over.

Again, you are welcome.

1 part (2 oz.) Baileys (Original or mint ~ whatever floats your boat)

1 part (2 oz.) vodka

1/2 part (1 oz.) Chocolate Liqueur (we use Godiva)

Hershey’s syrup

Freeze Glass (see above)

Pour mixture over ice into a shaker

Immediately after taking glass out of freezer (or dumping ice-water out of it), drizzle the Hershey’s syrup in a fancy design in the glass and pour in the shaken mix.

*helpful tip* to get all the syrup out of the bottom of the martini glass where it will have pooled by the time you finish, pour a shot of Baileys into it and swirl it around.

Best. Chocolate milk. Ever.

3. Cosmo ~

A few years ago the Cosmo took over the Appletini as my FMF (favorite martini forever). Then Cosmo started making bad choices and talking shit behind my back and I made amends with Appletini and we rekindled our FMF status. Thank god.

I had to show you the other side. It’s ME! I’m just realizing this photo is a little blurry which makes me want to retake it which would mean making up another Cosmo. But my liver can only take so much dedicated blogging, and I’m thinking this will have to do.

This one has a lot of ingredients, so I took a photo for those of you who, like me, are more visual.

And this is one were I definitely adjust all the ‘parts’ to my liking.

Please note the Cranberry juice is Light. Very important to save 20 calories in your 300 calorie drink. Don’t want to pack on any unwanted pounds at the holidays.

1 part Mandrin Vodka (I think the Mandrin is key, but if you do not have this, just use 2 parts of regular vodka)

1 part vodka

1 part Cointreau (we use Patron Citronage, but any orange liqueur will do)

1 1/2 parts Cranberry juice (I use more)

a good splash of lime juice

Pour over ice in a shaker.

Shake it like your mama taught you.

Pour into frozen glass.

4. Grape Ape ~

The newest addition to our martini lineup. We discovered this delicious concoction in September when we went to have a drink at Seven Steakhouse bar before the Carrie Underwood concert. The second best thing I experienced that night. And did we ask the bartender for the recipe? Duh.

1 part Grape Schnapps (takes you back to the good ol’ days of college)

1 part citrus vodka

Pour over ice into shaker.

ShakeShakeShake (burns like 3 calories if you do it right)

Pour into frozen glass

5. The Stoli Doli ~

I’ve saved the most difficult for last.

And by ‘most difficult’ I mean most time consuming which means delayed gratification which means we only make these like once every 2 years (which explains the stock photo).

If you’ve ever experienced the Stoli Doli at The Capital Grille you know the nirvana – and danger – of which I am about to describe.

3 words, kids.

Pineapple. Kool. Aid.

Basically you need to cut about 2 (maybe 3) pineapples into chunks.

Arrange in a lovely symmetrical tower (as above) or throw into a giant jar.

Pour an entire bottle of vodka over pineapple (or as much as it takes to cover it completely).

Cover tightly (an infuser jar with a spigot works best, but any large jar will do).

Let sit for at least 6-8 days (much like your ass, the longer it sits, the smoother it gets).

Pour into shaker.

Rim the glass with fine baker’s sugar (a good addition for most martinis, actually)

Caution: These are highly addictive and potent which can easily lead to all sorts of fun (i.e. – DANGER).

*PSA Alert* In all seriousness, and because I don’t want to give you a false impression of who I really am and what is more important to me than a good martini, pleasepleaseplease drink and mix responsibly. If you are staying put, enjoy! But if you are driving or mixing for friends who are, please be smart. Thankyouverymuch.

Hopefully these will add a little bit of cheer into your holiday. Use as needed.

Let me know which ones you try and what you think ~ or just send me one of your favorites.

Lord knows I could use a few more recipes.

ChEeRs!!

For even more delicious and easy martinis, check out
all the Santa’s Little Helpers!

Share this post!

Posted in Food & Drink

6 Comments

Kenya @ Life with Giggles on November 20, 2012 at 4:20 pm

Wow… that’s a lot of recipes. Thank goodness I’m off Friday, seems a good day to try some of these!!!!

Katie @ Eventfully Crazy on November 20, 2012 at 4:38 pm

Can I just say that you have the cutest martini glass collection?! I will definitely be trying one of each…perhaps, all in one night. 😉

meet.make.laugh. on November 20, 2012 at 5:42 pm

Love the drink round-up! Looking forward to trying a few of them…. good thing it is holiday time! We actually just had a ladies baking weekend where along with baking we drank a fair amount of cocktails…. will be sharing a few of our creations soon 🙂

Jen on November 21, 2012 at 7:46 pm

Thank you for saving my holidays. My mother will be here in T Minus 5 hours…I’d better get started on these. Happy Thanksgiving to you!!

-J

Santa's Little Helpers II - Youre My Favorite Today on March 7, 2014 at 3:54 pm

[…] last year’s installment, the original Santa’s Little Helpers, just click HERE. With all those recipes plus this year’s bunch, you should be all set. And if not, I’m […]

Friday Favorites – Blood Orange Cosmo » You're My Favorite Today on November 28, 2014 at 12:47 pm

[…] many more martini recipes, and the posts where the above martini photos came from, check out Santa’s Little Helpers and Santa’s Little Helpers II. And feel free to pin any of these photos to your pinterest […]

Share this post!

6 Comments

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply