A Little Cocktail Decadence: Caramel Vodka Martini

The arrival of fall in north Texas has me thinking of Halloween, Thanksgiving and yummy sweet treats. I decided to make caramel and what better to do with caramel than to turn it into caramel vodka. Making your own caramel is easier than you think and it is worth the effort but if you just aren’t into making candy, you can substitute a good store bought soft caramel candy in this recipe.

Note:  OK don’t wig out on me. You can do this. Read the entire recipe before you start. Make sure you have a candy thermometer and have everything you need within reach. Be sure to make the caramel at least the day before you want to make your caramel vodka so it can set. That may seem weird because the caramel will totally dissolve in the vodka but trust me on this one. 

CARAMEL

PREP 15 minutes       COOK time approximately 20 minutes

Makes approximately 40 caramels.

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

3 tablespoons water

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

PREP – Lightly oil ( you may use spray ) a pan or glass baking dish approximately 9 X 5 inches. A loaf pan will work. Cut parchment paper to fit in pan coming up about 1 inch around the edges. Spray the parchment paper and place in the pan.

Cut butter into 8 pieces then combine with the heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in microwave until butter is melted. Start with 30 seconds and stir until melted. Set aside.

MAKE CARAMEL

In a small saucepan combine the water and corn syrup. Then add the sugar, but try your best not to splatter the sugar up the sides of the pan. Use a spoon to gently stir the sugar into the water and corn syrup, just dissolving the sugar.

Heat over medium heat until the sugar has come to a boil. Cover with a lid for 1 minute. This adds steam/moisture to the pan, so any sugar that may have stuck to the sides of the pan melts and falls back into the boiling sugar.

Remove the lid and attach a candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan. Cool sugar for 5 to 10 minutes, until the sugar reaches a temperature of 320 degrees. At this temperature, the sugar will take on a light Amber color around the edges of the pan.

The moment the sugar reaches 320 degrees carefully pour about a sixth of the butter and cream mixture then stir using the base of the candy thermometer to incorporate it. Repeat with the remaining cream and butter (adding a sixth of the mixture at a time). This will cool the caramel slightly. Heat until the mixture reaches 245 degrees. Add sea salt and stir. Remove from heat and pour into prepared pan.

Now let’s turn this caramel into the base for a mouthwatering cocktail.

When the caramel is set turn it out onto a cutting board and cut about 3/4 of it into pieces small enough to fit into the opening of a bottle of vodka.

You’ll need a 750 millimeter bottle of vodka. I chose a local Texas vodka, Western Son 10X Distilled, that I tasted one afternoon at Specs. It was smooth enough to  enjoy straight, so I knew it would make great caramel vodka.  It is column distilled and bottled by Western Son Distillery in Pilot Point, Texas. Check out their story here:  westernsondistillery.com

Next (BONUS!) you need to remove about 4 to 6 ounces of vodka from the bottle, so the caramel will fit. (Hint: Make a martini, cosmopolitan or vodka tonic)

Once all the caramel has been added to the bottle. Close it up and shake. When it sits the caramel will settle, and then you’ll need to shake again. I just shake it every time I walk by. In about 2 days all the caramel will dissolve. Then it’s cocktail time.

I created this cocktail recipe myself with a little tasting help from my friends. We tried three different liqueurs, based on suggestions from Carlos, one of my favorite bartenders. The recipe below won top accolades from my friends.

CARAMEL VODKA MARTINI

2.25 ounces caramel vodka (that you made yourself, yea you!)

1 ounce butterscotch schnapps**

.75 ounces heavy cream

For rimming: Savory Spice Brand – Spiced Vanilla Bean Sugar

Glass: Chilled Martini rimmed with Spiced Vanilla Bean Sugar

Put all the ingredients in a shaker with plenty of ice and shake vigorously. Strain into the chilled rimmed martini glass.

I would consider this a dessert cocktail. It is decadent.

** You can substitute Kahlua or Irish Cream for the Butterscotch schnapps. I liked the Kahlua, but all my friends preferred the Butterscotch schnapps. The Irish Cream came in last.

I was pleased with my first attempt at creating a cocktail recipe.  It was so much fun figuring out the balance of liqueur and cream to vodka. If you try it yourself, be sure to let me know what you thought. All I can say is YUMMMM!!!  ~~Kay

In case you were wondering…

The vodka in this recipe was column distilled 10 times but what does that really mean? Column stills or “continuous stills” are really responsible for the distilled beverage industry today. Distillers originally used pot stills—and some still do—craft distillers and moonshiners for example but pot stills are very labor intensive and only distill small amounts at a time. To distill a neutral spirit to 95% alcohol can take up to a week and the pot has to be cleaned between each distillation, not an easy undertaking. At about the same time in the 1820s several people in different countries created what is known as a column still. This type of still didn’t require the distiller to stop and clean the still once a day and so they were able to distill much larger volumes of spirit.

Vodka is required to be distilled at least 3 times. Generally speaking, the more times a spirit is distilled the smoother it can be but other factors play into this—grain, water filtering—so that’s not always the case. ~~Lynda

Thanks for joining us this week. Have fun with the decadent dessert drink and be sure to let us know if you have any special requests for cocktails.