Spiked Mint Coconut Milk Hot Chocolate

Today (February 19) is National Chocolate Mint Day! With the cold temperatures across most of the U.S., I think we can all use a nice warm beverage to keep us toasty, and this is the perfect food holiday for such a beverage! So, I present: Spiked Mint Coconut Milk Hot Chocolate!

Blue Chair Bay must feel the same way, so I developed this non-dairy hot chocolate beverage to pair with their Coconut Spiced Rum. The coconut rum, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove is the perfect accompaniment to hot chocolate, don’t you think? To enhance the coconut flavor in the rum, I decided to use coconut milk which makes a rich and creamy hot chocolate base.

Rum always reminds me of warmer weather, and the Coconut Spiced Rum is no exception. Blue Chair Bay offers a collection of premium-blended rums inspired by multi-platinum singer-songwriter Kenny Chesney’s love of the island lifestyle. So even though most of us probably are not soaking up the sun at the moment, we can have our own little escape with this winter-weather treat!

For readers over 21 years of age, I also have an exciting giveaway! Blue Chair Bay has offered to give one bottle of Blue Chair Bay Rum to a lucky winner! Details after the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 2 (13.5 oz) cans full fat coconut milk
  • 4 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
  • 4 teaspoons turbinado sugar
  • 4 oz Blue Chair Bay Coconut Spiced Rum

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Sparkling Honey-Ginger Bourbon Lemonade

When I have friends coming to visit, I like to  make a batch of cocktails beforehand so that I have a pre-made refreshment to serve. Lemonade-based drinks are a favorite of mine: I’ve made a Rhuby-Lavender Lemonade as well as a Bourbon-Peach Lemonade in the past.

 

So to keep my trend going, I decided to make this Honey, Ginger Sparkling  Lemonade with Rosemary and added in some bourbon. (My friends are big bourbon fans, if yours aren’t, vodka would work as an easy substitute). I changed the recipe a bit to fit my tastes, but you can find the original recipe here.

 

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup local honey
  • 1/2 cup water
  • the juice of 5 lemons, plus the zest of 1 lemon
  • the juice of 1 lime
  • 1/4 cup minced ginger
  • 10 full rosemary stalks
  • 2 1-liter bottles of club soda
  • 1 1/2 cups bourbon
  • Ice cubes

 

Note: Bourbon does include grains that contain gluten. However, distilled alcohol is considered gluten-free because the process of distillation removes the harmful gluten protein, which is why I have this recipe listed as gluten free. If you are highly sensitive to gluten, bourbon may be off limits for you.

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Rhuby-Lavender Lemonade

This weekend, we had two beautiful spring days: a little bit of chill in the air but sunshine and clear skies. To celebrate the return of outdoor weather, I wanted to make a lemonade. I found this Martha Stewart recipe for Lavender Lemonade and kicked it up a notch by adding in some Rhubarb Tea, a spirit made here in Philadelphia by the people at Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (the same makers of Sage, Root, and Snap).

Rhubarb Tea, or Rhuby, is made from rhubarb, beets, carrots, lemon, petitgrain (an essential oil extracted from the green twigs of a bitter orange plant), cardamom, pink peppercorns, coriander, vanilla, and pure cane sugar and delivers a tangy yet sweet flavor, perfect for this drink! Even better, the ingredients are all certified organic.

Ingredients (this recipe makes 4 drinks):

  • 4 lemons
  • 1/2 cup dried lavender
  • 1/2 cup raw honey
  • 6 oz Rhubarb tea

Continue reading Rhuby-Lavender Lemonade

Slow Cooker Mulled Wine

My goodness it dropped in temperature quickly! It feels like we went straight from September weather to December weather. Luckily, I have the perfect warm drink to keep you toasty. This is a (probably) oversimplified version of a drink my aunt and uncle always have at their house for the holidays: Wassail. It’s basically a mulled wine that warms you up from the inside out. I’ve been thinking about Wassail since the change in temperature so I decided to make a quick batch with things I already had in my house.
Ingredients:
1 bottle red wine (I used a red zin)
2 cinnamon sticks
3 whole cloves
5 allspice berries
1 orange
2 oz whiskey
1 oz triple sec
1/4 cup brown sugar
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