Candy Cocktails

CANDY COCKTAILS

Introduction

Greetings! We are the splendidly blonde and often outrageous mixology sisters, Flannery and Katherine Good. Welcome to our colorful candy-coated cocktail world!

When we started our cocktail blog, Fashionably Bombed, we were looking for a way to express our creativity. At the time, most cocktail blogs were serious and most cocktail recipes were boring. We thought to ourselves, Wait! Aren’t cocktails supposed to be FUN? So we decided to take it upon ourselves to inject the cocktail world with crazy, colorful concoctions embellished with glitter and candy! We started with two of our favorites, mojitos and margaritas, and from there just let our imaginations run wild. Because we are both major sugar junkies who still dream about lollipops and gumdrops at night, it’s not surprising that candy soon made its way into our drinks. And once we started making candy cocktails, we couldn’t stop!

Our first creation was a boozy peanut butter cup milkshake for Halloween. This particular drink needed a little tweaking, but we couldn’t get the candy cocktail idea out of our heads. Like most kids, we were obsessed with candy, and apparently we never outgrew that phase!

This cocktail book is overflowing with girly, sweet drinks all made from, or made to taste like, your favorite candy! In fact, we’ve filled the book with so many fun and tasty cocktails that we had a hard time staying sober while writing it!

You’ll start by learning how to make your own candy-infused liquor. This is not only an important step in the drink-making process, but it’s also crazy-fun. From bubblegum-infused rum to make our Bubblegum Mojito to Altoids-infused bourbon to make our Breath Mint Julep, the liquor and candy combination possibilities are endless.

We’ve included a sweet candy cocktails chapter where we show you how to make drinks out of yummy things like cotton candy, Red Hots–infused vodka, Nerds, Good & Plenty–infused rum, and Swedish Fish!

We also show you how to make chocolate candy cocktails. These all taste like your favorite chocolate candies, including chocolate covered cherries, Snickers, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. We even invented a chocolate margarita, which, if we do say so ourselves, is super tasty! There’s a chapter dedicated to sour candy cocktails, which are our FAVORITES! Here we use things like sour gummy bears, Jelly Belly jelly beans, cherry Jolly Rancher–infused vodka, and Lemonhead candies.

And no cocktail book would be complete without a chapter on shots, but these aren’t just any shots—they’re candy shots! Gumballs, Pop Rocks, and Skittles shots are all included. The frozen candy cocktails chapter is bursting with milkshakes, daiquiris, and margaritas, all of which are cold, tasty, candy-filled treats! You’ll also find our holiday candy cocktails chapter to be fun and festive, with drinks like our Honey Bunny, where you rip off the head of a hollow chocolate Easter bunny and fill its body with a yummy honey-based cocktail.

And last, but not least, is our chapter on how to throw a fabulous candy cocktail party. Once you know how to make the cocktails, we’ll show you how to make super-cute garnishes, decorations, and more! So whether you’re a chocoholic, a lover of licorice, or a diehard fan of Sour Patch Kids, there’s a whole world of boozy candy-coated fun waiting for you in this book!

Glassware

The glass that you choose for your cocktail is just as important as the dress that you pour yourself into before going out on a hot date! A Cotton Candy-tini served in a coffee mug is like you getting your hair and makeup done and then putting on a burlap sack! This chapter is here to make sure that your cocktails are always properly dressed.

BRANDY GLASS: that big mamma jamma that fancy guys smoking cigars swirl their brandy in. It’s like a fishbowl with a short stem!

CHAMPAGNE FLUTE: a stem glass with a long, narrow bowl. This glass means it’s officially time to celebrate!

COCKTAIL OR MARTINI GLASS: the quintessential cocktail glass. It is cone-shaped with a long stem, and it’s what almost every froufrou girly drink comes served in.

COLLINS GLASS: a tall, skinny glass that is great for drinks topped with soda water. It’s the glass that keeps your mojito fizzy.

JULEP CUP: a cup traditionally made out of sterling silver, allowing a frost to form on the outside, keeping your drink ice cold. Although you won’t be breaking these out everyday, it sure is fancy to have the proper cup when it’s mint julep season.

HIGHBALL GLASS: a glass tumbler that is shorter and wider than a collins glass.

MASON JAR: a glass jar traditionally used for canning. It also happens to be a chic way to store your DIY liquor infusions.

MARGARITA GLASS: a glass with a wide bowl that is perfect for rimming with salt, sugar, or most importantly, crushed candy!

MILKSHAKE GLASS: a tall, classic glass that soda fountains have used for ages. It always looks best with whipped cream on top!

MUG: an old cupboard staple that works well for hot alcoholic drinks.

OLD-FASHIONED OR ROCKS GLASS: a short, wide glass for all those Mad Men-esque cocktails.

SHOT GLASS: a small glass that holds about two ounces of liquid. It’s the little glass that causes big trouble!

WINE GLASS: stemware that is used to drink and taste wine. It has three main parts: the stem, the bowl, and the foot.

Tools and Equipment

The proper tools are an important part of cocktail making. Without them, even the easiest task will quickly become frustrating. Always keep the following tools and equipment on hand when you’re making candy cocktails.

BAR SPOON: a long-handled spoon that is perfect for stirring cocktails. It can also be used to layer drinks.

BLENDER: a necessity for blended and frozen drinks like margaritas and daiquiris.

CITRUS SQUEEZER: a tool used to squeeze the juice from lemons, limes, and oranges.

COCKTAIL SHAKER: the most essential tool for mixing cocktails. We prefer the stainless steel variety with a lid and strainer.

HAWTHORNE STRAINER: if your cocktail shaker doesn’t have a built-in strainer, this tool fits nicely on top of the bottom half of any cocktail shaker.

JIGGER: a two-sided tool used to measure your ingredients. In most cases, one side holds one ounce and the other side holds two ounces.

MUDDLER: a tool used to press the flavor, oils, and juices out of ingredients at the bottom of the glass. We use the traditional wooden style. A definite must-have for mojito lovers!

Spirits

One of the things that we love about going to a bar is sitting and staring at all the different liquor bottles against the wall. So many pretty colors and bottle designs! And then, of course, there’s what’s inside them! Because without the booze, it’s not really a cocktail, now is it? Here is a list of some of the essential spirits we use in this book.

BITTERS: concentrated alcohol made from herbs and spices (we prefer Angostura, from Trinidad and Tobago).

BLUE CURAÇAO: a blue liqueur made from the dried peel of the laraha fruit. It has a similar flavor to an orange.

BOURBON: a type of American whiskey made primarily from corn.

BRANDY: a spirit produced by distilling wine; or, it is sometimes made from fermented fruits.

CHAMBORD: a black raspberry liqueur from France.

CHAMPAGNE: a sparkling wine produced from grapes grown in the Champagne region of France.

CRÈME DE CACAO: a chocolate-flavored liqueur sweetened with vanilla.

DRAMBUIE: a sweet, golden-colored liqueur made from malt whiskey, honey, herbs, and spices.

GIN: a grain spirit that derives its flavor from juniper berries.

GODIVA CHOCOLATE LIQUEUR: a chocolate liqueur made with Godiva chocolate. Comes in milk, dark, and white chocolate varieties.

IRISH CREAM: a liqueur made with cream, Irish whiskey, and other ingredients.

JÄGERMEISTER: a German liqueur made from fifty-six herbs, fruits, roots, and spices including citrus peel, licorice, anise, poppy seeds, saffron, ginger, juniper berries, and ginseng.

KAHLUA: a coffee-flavored, rum-based liqueur from Mexico.

RED WINE: a wine made from dark-colored grape varieties.

RUM: a spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice.

SCHNAPPS: a grain spirit mixed with flavors and sugar.

TEQUILA: a Mexican spirit made from the agave plant.

TRIPLE SEC: a colorless orange-flavored liqueur made from dried orange peels.

VODKA: a colorless, distilled spirit made from grains, potatoes, fruit, or sugar.

WHISKEY: a spirit made from fermented grain mash.

Candy Rims and Garnishes

Candy rims and garnishes are to cocktails what icing is to cake! Rimming a glass is really quite easy, and adding a garnish or edible decoration can be a fun way to get creative.

Liquid Rims