Never Quite Perfect

I must admit that I was a bit weary of this cocktail because it contains vinegar. While I certainly make use of vinegar in my house, I do not typically drink it. But I am trying to be more open and adventurous with my drinking so I went ahead and gave it a try. Here is the recipe for the shrub and the cocktail:

Cranberry Shrub
8 oz apple cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 cup cranberries

Heat the apple cider vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the cranberries and bring to a simmer. Smash the cranberries into the mixture as they soften. Simmer for 2 minutes and then remove from heat. Let mixture cool and then strain into a glass container. Shrub can be stored in refrigerator for 5 days.

Cranberry Shrub Cocktail
2 oz cranberry shrub (above)
3.5 oz vodka
Ginger ale (for topping off)
3 fresh cranberries (for garnish)

Fill highball glass halfway with ice. Pour in cranberry shrub, add vodka and stir. Top with ginger ale. Garnish with cranberries on skewer.

This cocktail turned out to be way better than I expected. It is definitely worth a try, even if you aren’t a fan of drinking vinegar.

Lemonades are one of my favorite Girl Scout cookies. I just really enjoy lemon because it reminds me of laid back summer days. This made it hard for me to settle on just one Lemonade worthy cocktail so I decided to try 4 different cocktails and see which one best matched the Lemonades cookies.

Lemonades Cookie Cocktail 1:

For cocktail option 1 I did a simple mix of RumChata and Limoncello. It was a good cocktail, but the RumChata spices were very prominent so it did not really taste like the Lemonade cookie.

Lemonades Cookie Cocktail 2:

This cocktail is more of a traditional Lemondrop cocktail. It contains lemon juice, vodka, Cointreau and simple syrup. It was absolutely delicious and very lemony. I loved this cocktail, but it was not like the Lemonade cookie because it was all lemon flavor and no shortbread notes to it.

Lemonades Cookie Cocktail 3:

The third Lemonade cookie cocktail option I had used the Tazo Iced Lemon Loaf tea, limoncello and amaretto cream. This cocktail was delicious and absolutely reminded me of the Lemonade Girl Scout Cookie. The version I made had a subtle lemon flavor that matched the cookie very well. However when I make this in the future I will definitely use more limoncello because I personally like more lemon flavor in my drinks.

Lemonades Cookie Cocktail 4:

For my final Lemonades cookie cocktail option I did a simple mixer of amaretto cream and Italian lemon soda. While this mix was delicious the lemon in the soda curdled the cream in the amaretto cream which made for a chunky drink. When I try this drink again I will use regular amaretto instead of amaretto cream to avoid the chunks.

Here are all the cocktails lined up together. You can see the curdling on the 4th cocktail. Otherwise all the cocktails were pretty normal looking. The best match for the Lemonade cookie is Cocktail 3. It was delicious and definitely something that I will be having again.

My favorite Girl Scout cookie is the Caramel deLite (also known as the Samoa in some areas). I just love all that caramel and coconut with just enough chocolate to tie it all together. So I was super excited when I found a recipe for a Samoa Martini on Delish. You can find that recipe here.

When I made my version of this martini I wound up using coconut creamer instead of coconut milk and I replaced the creme de cacao with Godiva milk chocolate liqueur. My version was absolutely delicious and I definitely recommend you try it if you like caramel deLites or Samoa’s.

Don’t forget to follow me if you enjoy these Girl Scout cookie themed cocktails. I will be posting the cookie themed cocktails throughout the month of November.