Friday, January 27, 2017

Chocolate Martinis & Behind Chocolate Bars




Between writing the Chocolate Covered Mystery series and making chocolate caramel martinis, Kathy Aarons' life is full of sweetness. Today she is here on Drinks with Reads to tell us how it all goes together... 

In the fictional town of West Riverdale, Maryland, the Chocolates and Chapters store serves as an unofficial community center. What more could anyone want? Delicious chocolate truffles, bestselling books, and town gossip! 

In Behind Chocolate Bars, chocolatier Michelle Serrano and bookstore manager Erica Russell are gearing up for the West Riverdale Halloween Festival when they learn that their high school intern is the chief suspect in the murder of a local woman. 

The teen swears he didn’t do it, but he’s obviously hiding something—leaving Michelle and Erica with a witch’s cauldron of questions. Soon they discover that the dead woman was tricking a whole bunch of people out of more than just treats. Now these two friends must go door-to-door if they hope to unmask a killer…

Writing the Chocolate Covered Mystery series means lots of research, especially taste testing chocolates at my local chocolatier – Dallmann’s Confections in San Diego, California. I can never resist the combination of sweet chocolate and salty caramel in their Fleur de Sel Caramels, and tried to recreate the essence of it in the following martini recipe. 

I enlisted my husband in creating a recipe for a delicious chocolate caramel martini. After a little taste-testing, this is the best result: 


Lee and Kathy’s Chocolate Carmel Vodka Martini 


-       1 ounces Godiva chocolate liqueur
-       1 ounces Crème De Cacao
-       1 ounces premium vodka (distilled five times)
-       1 ounces ½ and ½
-       Caramel sauce
-       Chocolate syrup

Carefully pour caramel along rim of martini glass – it will drip inside, which is fine. Spiral chocolate syrup along the inside of the glass. In a shaker, shake all ingredients (except ½ & ½) significantly with ice until frosted. Add ½ & ½ and shake gently. Pour into glass. 


Enjoy!

7 comments:

  1. Fun drink Kathy - and who doesn't want to read (and eat) chocolate!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just finished the first book in this series. I absolutely LOVED it! Ready to start book 2. The different flavored caramels sound divine. Are there going to be more books in the future? Please say yes, please say yes...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The series ends with Behind Chocolate Bars, but I think you'll like it!

      Delete
  3. Chocolate vodka martinis? Sign me up. Great series!!

    ReplyDelete