Drinks: Last Minute To-Die-For Halloween Cocktail Recipes
Boooo…. Time to be spooky again, it’s Halloween!!! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year, not only that I get to play dressed up, it is also the holiday that provides me all the excuses to eat more candy than I ever needed…. Even though I am way too old to go trick-or-treating now, it never stops me from eating all the sweets.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been too busy this year, I haven’t been able to settle into this beautiful fall weather yet, Halloween already secretly sneaked up on me. I don’t think it’s possible for me to come up with any brilliant costume at this point, but that’s not an excuse for me to skip the chance to have spooky Halloween party. Since we are not kids anymore, candy alone is too PG-13, it’s not enough to satisfy our monster desire. In order to step up the game, I usually like to provide a good selection of spooky cocktails …. Or poisons, which is more suitable for the occasion, for the party guests. There are a couple signature cocktails that are my stables that I’ll always make, but I also like to do some research each year to see what are the new ideas out there and freshen up the scenes. Here is the selection of the poisons I have this year, they are all fairly simple but has enough spooky effect, just enough effort for a last minute party:
1). Dirty Eyeball Martinis
I randomly found this recipe online when I was researching for something else at work, and I just can’t resist but saved it as a party trick. It took me a couple times to make the perfect eyeballs, but ones I got it down, they look bloody real.
Ingredients:(for 4 drinks)
4 radishes, cleaned and trimmed
2 small pimento-stuffed olives, halved crosswise
8 ounces of Gin or Vodka
Olive Juice
Directions
Using a paring knife, scrape off most of the red skin from the radish, leaving just enough red to give the reddish a veined appearance. Rinse then clean. Using a very small melon baller, cut a small hold in the stem end of each radish, insert an olive half, cut side out, into each hole.
For Martini, pour 8 oounces of gin or vodka into a cocktail shaker, filled up with ice, add olive juice (adjust amount to your personal preference) shake vigorously, strain into 4 chilled martini glasses evenly and serve.
2). Hot Spiced Witch’s Brew
Every Halloween party needs a witch’s brew, right? This is one of the go-to recipes I use every year, it’s easy to make, and it is a crowd pleaser. Add some dry ice to insure the visual spooky effect.
Ingredients:
4 cups of Concord grape juice
4 cups of Pino Noir (or other red wine of your choice)
4-5 cardamom pods
2-3 cinnamon sticks
dash of ground nutmeg
Direction:
In a medium stockpot, combine concord grape juice, cardamom pods, cinnamon and nutmeg. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat. Simmer the mixture until the juice becomes infused with the spices, about 20 minutes. Add the red wine and serve warm.
3). Bleeding Heart Martini
Keep up the fear factor with the brilliant Bleeding Heart Martini, my friend did this once at her party two years ago, I thought it’s so smart and took the idea from her.
Ingredients (serves 4)
2 ounces dry vermouth
8 ounces premium gin
4 pickled baby beets, each placed on a cocktail skewer.
Directions:
In the chilled martini glasses, add the vermouth, dividing evenly, swirl to coat the glasses, then pour out. Add gin to a cocktail shaker, filled up with ice and shake vigorously until chilled. Divide among the four glasses; garnish each with a skewered pickled baby beet. Serve immediately.
Cocktails are for adults just like candy are for kids….. gotta have them done right for parties, don’t you think?
Happy Halloween!!
Xo
Alicia