Monthly Archives: October 2019
Buzzed Zombie Brain
Its Halloween and it was time to make something fun. We made a video of Bat Wings and while we are filming it, we had so much fun making it, I decided we should make a drink video. While I am having my coffee, I started to think I should make a coffee drink. The idea started as an actual cup of coffee with some other stuff. But quickly, morphed into a shot!
I have a bottle of Cooper’s Hawk Vin Chocolat Noir, this delicous chocolate wine that even though is good, is a little bit sweeter than my go to dry red wines. I love dry red wines!! So I am thinking, how cool it would be to make a shot with the chocolate wine. I never seen one. Then I am thinking about the visuals, I thought why not add irish cream liquor. I know it gets all brain like when you put it into other liquors. So all I needed was the coffee. I love this Knight Gabriello Italian Espresso Liquor! It is soooo good!! Not too sweet but with a strong coffee flavor.
Buzzed Zombie Brain
This shot tastes delicious and it looks really spooky, perfect for your Halloween celebrations or any time you want something different!
Ingredients
- .6 oz Cooper Hawk's Chocolate wine or any chocolate wine
- .6 oz Knight Gabriello Italian Espresso liquor or any coffee liquor
- .8 oz Baley's Irish Cream liquor or any Irish cream Liquor
Instructions
-
This shot is composed of 3 ingredients divided into equal 3rds. First, pour the chocolate wine filling 1/3rd of the glass. Then pour the espresso liquor, again filling the 2nd 1/3rd of the glass.
-
With a kitchen syringe or a spoon, slowly drizzle the Irish cream liquor into the shot glass until filled, spreading the cream throughout the glass, giving it the look of a brain swimming into the other liquors.
Recipe Notes
- Chill the Irish Cream before preparing the shot for a better effect.
- Serve immediately. The Irish cream will start to curdle when sitting on the glass with the other liquors. Some people will have issues with the texture, but it will not change the taste a bit.
The shot is delicious, is strong, so be prepared for it! I used a kitchen syringe to drizzle the Irish Cream into the drink. But you can use a teaspoon and slowly drizzle the cream into the teaspoon and pour it around so you create the brain look. Irish Cream curdles once is sitting into alcohol for a while, so if you are not a fan of the curdled texture, I suggest you have your shot immediately after you make it.
I want to thank my friend Aracelis Jaffe for the awesome makeup job she did! I had a vision and she made it even better than what I had in mind! And thanks for her husband Ron Jaffe, who is not only a great friend of mine, but the best hand in all of town!! When Aracelis, Ron my hubby Doug and me get together, we always end up laughing too much!! Thank you Ron and Aracelis!
We usually when make drink videos, don’t make big productions because they are quick and short. It’s Halloween and we wanted to make something fun and different! In the cooking videos, we always add outtakes at the end of the video becuase they are fun. For the drink videos,we usually don’t. But we had some funny outtakes happen while making this one, so we decided to make a short outtakes video. We hope you enjoy it!!
Bat Wings – Halloweentastic!!
I wanted to make a Halloween episode. I wanted to make it last year, but ran out of time and it didn’t happened. So this year, we planned ahead. When it was time to figure out a recipe to make, I went thru a bunch of different ideas. Making meats bloody, side dishes gross, goulish desserts: but none of those ideas really worked in my head. Google to the rescue! I saw a bunch of people making bat wings. Most of the recipes were the same, but the idea was brilliant. So I thought, why not give it a try and make my own recipe.
First I thought of going with a Middle Eastern recipe. Then I thought of an Asian recipe. Couldn’t make up my mind. At the end, decided to make a recipe pulling ingredients from both cuisines. They turned out pretty good. I made them twice to make sure the recipe was a good one. Some adjustments were made to the second attempt to improve the recipe. The pictures here are from the first attempt. Second attempt was recording the video and let me tell you, it was a busy day, forgot to take good photos!
The best advice I can give you with this recipe is this: Watch the black food coloring!! It is probably the most important ingredient on this recipe because if makes the wings black that makes them “bat wings”! But the same way it will stain your wings, it will stain your hands, clothing, plastic container and even the kitchen counter! So be very careful when handling the coloring and the marinade after you add the coloring. I used stainless steal tongues to handle the chicken and they worked out great!
When placing the wings on the baking sheet, make sure you cover with aluminum foil. It is going to save you a lot of cleaning! When you bake the wings, the marinade is going to cook and get encrusted into your baking sheet. The aluminum foil will help you prevent all the extra cleaning. Also, spray the aluminum foil with cooking spray. Stucked wings to aluminum is not pretty!
When adding the pinneaple juice, got smaller and increase to your taste. First attempt I used half a cup and second attempt a whole cup. I liked the consistency of the marinade with the half cup better, it was thicker and stuck better to the wings. Use whole wings. The effect of the bat wings is best when you use the whole wing. When I was trying to recipe, I used cutted wings and didn’t look as batty!
"Bat Wings"
This is a fun recipe to convert chicken wings into bat wings, perfect for your Spooky Halloween Party! They will be great as an appetizer or as part of the main dish.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs chicken wings whole
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper Add up to 1 tsp for spicier wings
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 cup honey
- 1 cup almond butter
- 1 tsp sea salt or to taste
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp black food coloring
- Non Stick cooking spray
Instructions
-
In a glass container mix all the ingredients except the chicken wings, adding the food coloring last.
-
In a large ziplock back, place the wings and pour the marinade on top. Lock the bag and spread the marinade to cover all the wings.
-
Marinade the wings in the refrigerator between 6 to 24 hours. The longer, the better.
-
Remove the bag with the wings and marinade from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.
-
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
-
Take a large baking sheet and cover with aluminum foil. Spray with non-stick cooking spray.
-
Place the wings in a single layer on the cooking sheet, spreading the wings open. Save the marinade leftover.
-
Bake the wings for 25 minutes. Turn the wings. Cover the wings with the leftover marinade making sure you cover all of the wing. Place in the oven for another 25 minutes.
-
Serve them in your favorite spooky dish or bowl.
Recipe Notes
- Make sure you use the whole chicken wing and not cut into pieces. That will give the bat wing effect.
- The most important thing about this recipe is : Be careful with the black food coloring!!! It will stain your hands, plastic bowls or anything that can absorb the color. I use stainless steel tongues to handle the wings.
- You can adapt the amount of cayenne pepper to the spiciness you prefer. Also the amount of salt. Using 1/4 tsp of cayenne is not going to be spicy, just flavorfull.
- You don't have to use aluminum foil cover the baking sheets if you don't want to, but it will your life much easier. The marinade when it bakes is messy and will stick to your baking sheet. Also, do not forget the non stick cooking spray or the wings will stick to the foil.
- You can replace the almond butter with peanut or cashew butter, it will work well with either one of them.
Making this video was so much fun! I wanted to make a funny Halloween video and finally got it done! It take a village to do this much work, and thank goodness to my super talented husband that rolls with all the stuff I come up with. Being married to a musician, studio engineer and video editor is a big plus, I really recommend it! Also thank you to my good friends Aracelis and Ron Jaffe. They did the make up and kept me laughing the whole time! Make sure you also check the Buzzed Zombie Brain video, was made the same day and is as wacky as this one! Hope you enjoy it!! I can tell you, we sure did!
Guava Colada
Everybody loves a good Piña Colada. And why not, it is refreshing, sweet and delicious. But have you ever had a Guava Colada? One day I was at home thinking how much I love guavas. The fruit, the juice, nectar or anything that has guava. And why not have a piña colada, but instead of pineapple, how about using guava instead. And that is how this recipe came to life.
It is very easy to make, all you need is a blender and simple ingredients. A guava colada is refreshing, sweet and very easy to make. Make sure when blending all the ingredients the ice is completely crushed. Should have the texture of a smoothy.
Guava Colada
Everybody knows about Piña Coladas, but how about a Guava Colada? It's deliciously refreshing!
Ingredients
- 4 oz coconut cream
- 4 oz spiced rum
- 12 oz guava nectar
- 2 cups ice
- Whipped Cream
- 1 maraschino cherry
Instructions
-
Pour in a blender the coconut cream, guava nectar, spiced rum, and ice and blend until all the ice is crushed, around 30 seconds in High.
-
Pour in a tall glass and top with whipped cream and the maraschino cherry.
Recipe Notes
You can replace the spiced rum for any kind of rum, but I prefer the flavor the spiced rum adds to the drink.
Guava nectar is thicker and than the juice and helps with the smoothy like texture of a colada drink.
Use as much whipped cream or as little as you like.
