margarita for dessert? Yes.

So maybe at your next gathering you want to change it up and eat your Margarita instead of drink it. This lime sorbet with tequila is a game changer for your menu.

Ingredients for 8 servings:

• 1 lime, cut into 8 wedges
• 2 pints lime sorbet
• 1 oz St Germain Elderflower liqueur
• 1/2 cup Tequila Añejo

Preparation:

Rub the lime wedges around the rims of 8 stemmed glasses. Place the sugar on a small plate. Turn each glass upside down and dip the rims in the sugar to coat.

Place 2 scoops of sorbet in each glass and pour 1 tablespoon of tequila, preferably Tequila Añejo, and 1 teaspoon of St. Germain over the top of each. Serve with a spoon.

Cheers!

Culinary Vixen's Sun-dried Tomato & Goat Cheese Ball

I was asked to be a judge for the Cheese and Champagne blog's Cheese Ball Invitational competition recently.  It was a pleasure to look over all the recipes and help to decide the winners.

It also inspired me to create my own cheese ball recipe. Just in time for the big game this weekend. This recipe is based on a dip I have been making since the 1980's and the ingredients certainly show it! Classic combination.

Ingredients: 

• 1 11-ounce package soft fresh goat cheese (such as Montrachet)
• 1/2 cup chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
• 4 teaspoons minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled
• 1/4 cup (about) sour cream
• Cracked Black Pepper
• 2/3 cup pine nuts
• 2 French bread baguettes, sliced 

What to do:

Combine the goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes & thyme in a bowl. Use a fork to break up the cheese, add enough sour cream to make a creamy texture, but keep the texture firm. Add a grind or two of black pepper. Taste and add more thyme, salt or pepper if needed to balance the flavor. Refrigerate the cheese mixture for one hour. 

Heat a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and toast them lightly. Let them cool. Lay them out on a plate. Using plastic wrap or waxed paper to cover your hands, create a ball with the cheese dip mixture. Roll the cheese ball into the pine nuts to coat completely.

Serve with the sliced baguettes.

Article written by contributing editor Vickie McCorkendale

See it wiggle and jiggle

If you're looking for a new and creative way to serve cocktails, then I'd like to introduce you to the wonderful world of Margarita Jelly Shots.

Jelly Shots are classic cocktails translated into gelatin, a grown-up rendition of the Jell-O Shot. The signature of a Jelly Shot include: a flavor true to the margarita cocktail and a free-spirited jiggly form that makes them dangerously delicious. Here's what you need:

• 1 (6 ounce) box lime Jell-O gelatin
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup cold water
• 1/8 cup fresh-squeezed   lime juice
• 3/4 cup clear tequila
• 1/4 cup triple sec
• 10-15 thinly sliced cucumber
• Rock salt
  

Directions:

Mix boiling water and Jello. Stir for a minute until dissolved. Add rest of ingredients, stir. Pour into square of retangular baking pan, cool flat in the refrigerator for about 5 hours. Once it's set, cut into squares and wrap with cucumber skins and plate some salt on the side.

Cheers!

Salt air meets a margarita

Want salt with your margie, but just a lot less of it? Salt does great things to tequila and lime, but in small doses. Too often that gritty, too salty sensation is overkill. Now, we've got it covered. With foam. The Lybations margarita comes with a cloud of lightly salted foam on top. No grit. No overkill. Just the right balance of the sweet, sour, and salty. The secret? Egg whites? A cappuccino foamer? Nope, we've made it much easier than all that.

Salt Air Foam:

1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
2 cups water
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon soy lecithin (available at any vitamin store)

Preparation:

Combine ingredients. Tilt the bowl away from you and blend with hand-held blender held away from you. When there's an inch or so of foam on top, it's ready to use. Skim off foam onto margarita. When you've used it all up, repeat the process. Juice mixture can be refrigerated for several days, so it's great for multiple uses.

a martini that gives you wings

The Midnight Martini is an perfectly simple cocktail that, when darker liqueurs are used, looks as dark as midnight. It does include a coffee liqueur (coffee brandy can also be used) which could keep you going to midnight if there’s any caffeine in the spirits and better than a Red Bull. Try this one out with Double Espresso Vodka and Kahlua, it’s a perfect match. Midnight Martinis are also often served as a shooter, just shake, strain into a shot glass and go for it.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 oz vodka or coffee vodka
• 1/4 oz coffee liqueur
• shot of espresso (optional)
• blood orange slice for garnish

Preparation:

Pour the ingredients into a shaker filled with ice, shake gently and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a slice of blood orange, it will give the effect of a full moon.

Cheers!