Looking for your next favorite Christmas cocktail? Our gingersnap martini, inspired by James & Everett, is the festive libation that will make your holiday season the most wonderful time of the year.
Smacking of fresh ginger and warm spices, this tongue-tantalizing cocktail delivers all of the sweet and spicy flavors you crave from a gingersnap cookie, but it comes to the holiday party in a luscious liquid form. Instead of nibbling a crisp Christmas-ready cookie, you get to sip and savor a yummy cookie-flavored drink decoratively rimmed with honey and crushed gingersnaps.
ALSO TRY: Cranberry margarita
Though this cocktail isn’t a true martini (there are far too many ingredients to call it a classic), you and your Christmas party guests will be too busy sipping your drinks to care. What makes this complexly mixed martini so good? It starts with a well-chosen array of ingredients and then excels with the way they are prepared. Instead of just shaking and straining the cocktail, the fresh ginger, molasses, simple syrup, ground cinnamon, cloves and allspice are first muddled to maximize their flavors. Muddled?
Muddling is a fancy bartender term for smashing ingredients against the side of a glass or shaker with a tool called a muddler to release their flavors. Muddlers are rods made of unvarnished wood or stainless steel designed specifically for the muddling job, but the end of a wooden spoon or skinny rolling pin can be used just as effectively. The real key to successful muddling is more about the technique than the tool. Muddle the ingredients just enough to unleash their flavors yet not enough to shred the ingredients into bits.
A word about amaretto. Amaretto is a sweet almond-flavored liqueur that originated in Saronno, Italy. While it was originally made from bitter almonds, many brands are now made from almonds and apricot or peach pits. This unparalleled uniquely flavored liqueur is lovely sipped by itself, but it is strategically used as an ingredient in cocktails or to flavor coffee drinks.
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Rim the martini glass with honey and crushed gingersnaps
Give your martini a bartender-caliber look by rimming the glass. Pour honey in a small plate. Place the crushed gingersnaps in a second small plate. Dip the rim of a martini glass in the honey, then roll the rim in the crushed gingersnaps to coat. The cookie crumbs will deliciously stick to the honey.
Muddle the martini ingredients
In a cocktail shaker, combine fresh ginger, molasses, simple syrup, cinnamon, clove and allspice. Use a muddler or a small wooden spoon to mash the ingredients together to release their flavors.
Add ice to the shaker
Pour vodka and amaretto over the ice and shake.
Add the vodka and amaretto to the shaker. Cover the shaker and shake vigorously
Strain cocktail into the prepared martini glass.
Garnish and serve
Garnish the glass with a piece of crystallized ginger and serve immediately.
A stunning looking cocktail!
These martinis scream the holidays
Delicious winter spices and amaretto…you can’t go wrong!
Gingersnap martini
Yield 1 servings
Ingredients
- Honey, for rimming glass
- 6 gingersnap cookies, finely crushed
- 2 to 3 thin slices peeled fresh ginger
- 1/4 ounce molasses
- 1/2 ounce simple syrup
- Pinch ground cinnamon
- Pinch ground cloves
- Pinch ground allspice
- Ice
- 1-ounce pear-flavored vodka
- 1/2 ounce amaretto
- Crystallized ginger slice
Instructions
- Pour honey in a small plate. Place crushed gingersnap cookies in a second small plate.
- Dip rim of martini glass in honey, then roll rim in crushed gingersnap cookies.
- In a cocktail shaker, combine fresh ginger, molasses, simple syrup, cinnamon, clove and allspice. Muddle together well.
- Add ice to the shaker. Pour vodka and amaretto over ice.
- Cover shaker and shake vigorously.
- Strain cocktail into martini glass. Garnish with piece of crystallized ginger. Serve immediately.
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