Paul Knorr - Candy Shots: 150 Decadent, Delicious Drinks for Your Sweet Tooth

Candy Shots 150 Decadent, Delicious Drinks
for Your Sweet Tooth
Paul Knorr
STERLING and the distinctive Sterling logo are registered trademarks of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. For Jill, and for my children Camryn, Colby, and Cooper. Some of the terms included in the book may be trademarks or registered trademarks. Use of such terms does not imply any association with or endorsement by such trademark owners and no association or endorsement is intended or should be inferred. This book is not authorized by, and neither the Author nor the Publisher is affiliated with, the owners of the trademarks referred to in the book. This book is intended for adults of legal drinking age in their respective country and/or state and/or province.

Please drink responsibly and in moderation. Neither Author nor Publisher shall be liable for any effects or harm caused by the consumption of recipes, or the usage of information provided in this book. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Knorr, Paul.
Candy shots : 150 decadent, delicious drinks for your sweet tooth / Paul Knorr.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4027-7125-5 (flexibound : alk. paper) 1. 2. Cocktails. Cocktails.

I.
Title.
TX951.K544 2011
641.8'74--dc22 2010033276 Published by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016
2011 by Paul Knorr
All rights reserved Sterling ISBN 978-1-4027-7125-5
Sterling eBook ISBN: 978-1-4027-9392-9 For information about custom editions, special sales, premium and corporate purchases, please contact Sterling Special Sales Department at 800-805-5489 or specialsales@sterlingpublishing.com. Contents
Glossary of Ingredients
The Drinks
Bubble Gum Shot,
O ne of the first drinks I learned to make and one of my favorites to serve was the Bubble Gum shot a simple combination of Southern Comfort, banana liqueur, grenadine, and milk. Mix equal parts of each and they make a creamy pink drink that looks, smells, and tastes just like bubble gum. Whenever there were groups of people (usually young women) who stepped up to the bar for a round of shots but were unsure just what to have, this was the drink I suggested. It not only tastes good, but its an adult version of something everyone remembers having when they were a kid. The drinks in this book range from the silly to the sophisticated.

On the one hand there are drinks like the Girl Scout Cookie, an imitation of the classic Thin Mint but in a shot glass. On the other hand there are drinks like a Tiramisu Martini, a sweetly elegant cocktail that when nicely garnished and presented would be right at home in any fancy restaurant. This collection tries to gather together some of the drinks that evoke classic candies and desserts, drinks that are fun to make and fun to serve. Some are appropriate as a dessert drink at a dinner party, while others are better at the bar as part of a wild night out. What you will not find in this collection are the novelty shots like the Cement Mixer (vodka, Irish cream liqueur, and lime juice) or the Sweat Sock (you dont want to know). These classics have their place, but its not here; this collection is dedicated to those shots and drinks that evoke a certain recognizable flavor.
Over the years, Ive assembled a large collection of drink recipes, and many of them, especially shots, follow this format: take a candy, food, or drink that you remember from childhood and make it into an alcoholic beverage.

The Tootsie Roll (coffee liqueur and orange juice), the Jolly Rancher (melon liqueur, peach schnapps, sweet and sour mix, and grenadine), and the Candy Apple (butterscotch schnapps and apple cider) are a few you may know. In the late eighties and early nineties, there was an explosion of new schnapps released in every flavor imaginable, from sour apple to cotton candy, and this led to an even greater variety of new drinks. Now the flavor explosion is centered on infused vodka, flavored rum, and even flavored tequila, where the taste is less cloying but still covers a wide range, from green tea to grape. By mixing these flavors with juices and sodas, its possible to create an infinite variety of combinations. What Ive gathered here are drinks whose name alone gives you a good idea of what the drink will taste like. What will a Peppermint Pattie shot taste like? It will probably taste at least a little bit like a Peppermint Pattie.

Drinks come in and out of fashion just like clothes and hair styles. Cocktails are becoming more and more serious, with organic vodkas, house-made sodas, and juices from locally grown produce. So-called classic cocktails are making a comeback. Drinks like the Sidecar, the Manhattan, and the Gin Fizz never really went away, but their popularity is greater than it has been since the days of war bonds and the Rat Pack. Compared to these classics, a Candy Cane shot or a shot that looks and tastes just like bubble gum can seem unsophisticated, immature, and even irresponsible. But so what? These drinks are meant to be served as shots passed around among a group of friends or teammates, accompanied by cheers and toasts.

Or they are meant to be novelty drinks that double as liquid desserts. I may be coming across as a little defensive of these silly drinks. Perhaps I am. There has been a lot of criticism recently of drinks that dont taste like alcohol, that arent dry enough, that arent meant for a mature palate, that arent balanced or sophisticated. But it was the Bubble Gum shot and others like it that inspired me to start collecting drink recipes in the late eighties. They were popular crowd-pleasers then and continue to be today, in spite of the trend toward more sophisticated classic cocktails.

They may not be made from locally sourced all-natural ingredients. They probably have artificial flavors and almost certainly artificial colors. But they taste good, theyre fun to pass around, and they make people happy. What more can you expect from a Juicy Fruit shot or a Black Forest Cake Martini? I think the finest compliment a bartender can receive is when a customer turns to a friend and says, Youve got to try this! This is the reaction I see when I serve the drinks in this bookand it seems to happen more often with these drinks than with most others. Im not fooling myself into thinking that Im some kind of superstar mixologist, the Wolfgang Puck of the back bar. I suppose you could say that when I create these drinks, Im as much a flavorist as a mixologist.

With these drinks, its all about the novelty factor, about combining unlikely ingredients to come up with a concoction that matches a specific taste memory: Wow! This tastes just like...