Chocolate Martini

Chocolate Martini

Today marks a first for me, or should I say a first for Desserts Required. I am blogging about a drink. To be fair, it is a Chocolate Martini to which I am referring, so I think we can all agree it belongs in my blog.

I have been ordering Chocolate Martinis in restaurants for years, often times to the surprise of the waiter, because most restaurants list these drinks after the dessert and I order mine before dinner. It was not until my 50th birthday party that I decided it was about time to learn how to make my own.

I searched many websites and tried several concoctions before finding one I loved. Life was great because I could now have a pitcher in the freezer waiting for friends to stop by and have a drink with me. That is, until I finished the last drop and went to make another pitcher only to realize that I had forgotten to write down the recipe.

As hard as I tried to mix up the exact same drink, I was never quite able to do it. Then one evening I was in a restaurant in Delray Beach and I asked the bartender how she made a Chocolate Martini. It was not like the one I used to make, but it sounded intriguing. I gave it a try and the rest is history.

What makes this Chocolate Martini so special is that it calls for vanilla vodka, something I had yet to try. A friend suggested buying the brand of vodka I prefer and steeping vanilla beans in it. Have I mentioned that I have very smart friends?

Now, on any given day I generally have a pitcher of chocolate martinis in the freezer sitting near the bottle of vodka that has the vanilla beans in it. There was only one problem with steeping my own beans. I wasn’t able to dig them out and because I steeped them in a very large bottle.

It will be challenging, but I know that I will be able to ‘endure’ my next Chocolate Martini pitcher with a stronger vanilla taste. If you are not up to the task, don’t fret. Vanilla vodka is on the shelves, all ready to go. You don’t have to make a whole pitcher, but you may regret it if you don’t. Cheers!