Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching for our US friends and I spent the better part of last week surfing the internet trying to find an appropriate way to help them celebrate the occasion. I couldn't find any cocktails that contained turkey or mashed potatoes so I went with the next best thing.
I'm going to confess that until this morning I actually thought Thanksgiving was tomorrow. My blissful ignorance of important holiday dates gives you plenty of time to run out and get the ingredients you'll need to serve this up at your own Thanksgiving dinner next week. There is a bit of alchemy involved with this cocktail so I've left you plenty of time for the infusing process as well. You're welcome. No need to thank me.
I was pretty taken with this idea when I saw it because it just screams Halloween/Thanksgiving to me but the trouble is candy corn is a bit thin on the ground Down Under. I've never seen it for sale here. So you can imagine my delight when I stumbled across an international lolly shop last Friday completely by accident, and lo and behold it had candy corn for sale. I happened to be with a family I work for at the time and that mother now thinks I'm completely crazy because my discovery was accompanied by much excitement and possibly a few squeals of delight. Nothing like losing that thin veneer of professionalism when your work life and home life suddenly collide.
This is officially the most expensive candy corn in existence. Given the price of the bag ($10.00) I think it must have been flown here on a magic carpet, accompanied by baby unicorns and a bag of hens teeth.
OK- now on to the fun part. You're going to need:
4 oz. Vodka
1/2 cup of candy corn
2 oz. Cointreau
Juice of a 1/2 lemon
Crushed ice
No trips to Dan Murphy this week..I had everything I needed at home...like the good little alcoholic that I am.
Take your vodka and put it in a jar with a lid. Or if you're classy like me you'll use a beer glass and plastic wrap. Then chuck in your candy corn and give it a shake. Slowly back away from the Vodka and go and do something else for a minimum of 12 hours. Go to work , dance a jig, knit a blanket. Sneak back occasionally and shake the jar to get all that candy corn goodness happening.
Once most or all of your candy corn has disappeared and you've tired of knitting or dancing it's time to strain your vodka mix into a cocktail shaker. Dump in all the other ingredients and give it a shake ala Tom Cruise in the movie Cocktail. Pour it into a glass and take an arty photo like this one to celebrate making a Candy Corn Martini.
The first mouthful tastes like paint stripper but it gets much more palatable with each passing sip. I couldn't really taste the sweetness of the candy corn in amongst all the booze but maybe that's just me.
I reckon by the second one you'd be drunk enough to contemplate making a third. If you could see straight.
Rating 2.5/5. I wouldn't turn one down if it was free but I wouldn't go out of my way to make it again.
Salut!
Salut!
