Say Bonjour to 5 Delicious Grand Marnier Cocktails

Grand Marnier cocktails
We dedicate this edition of Madtini to the delicious orange French liqueur Grand Marnier. The liqueur was first created in 1880 by Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle and is made from a blend of cognacs and the distilled skins of bitter oranges. Grand Marnier uses only variety of orange, the Citrus Bigardia which are grown on their own plantation in the Caribbean. The peels are dried in the sun and then macerated and distilled to release their essence. The results are combined with aged cognac to create the final liqueur.

We’re featuring five of the most delicious cocktails from the list featured on the Grand Marnier website. Á votre santé!

Grand Cosmopolitan
Grand Sidecar
Grand Romance
Grand Mojito
Grand Ginger


Grand Cosmopolitan

Madtini Grand Cosmopolitan Ingredients

  • 3/4 oz Grand Marnier
  • 1 oz vodka
  • 1 1/2 oz cranberry juice
  • 1 dash lemon juice

Preparation
Add the Grand Marnier, vodka, cranberry juice and lemon to a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice.

Shake, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.


Grand Sidecar

Madtini Grand Sidecar Ingredients

  • 1/2 oz Grand Marnier
  • 1 3/4 oz cognac
  • 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice

Preparation
Add the Grand Marnier, cognac and lemon juice to a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice.

Shake, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.


Grand Romance

Madtini Grand Romance Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 oz Grand Marnier
  • 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
  • 2 1/2 oz cranberry juice
  • 1 dash Angostura bitters
  • 1 dash raspberry syrup*

Preparation
Add the Grand Marnier, cognac and lemon juice to a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice. Shake, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

*Raspberry Syrup Recipe
Ingredients

  • 2 cups raspberries
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preparation
Add the berries, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 cup of water to a saucepan. Stir slowly ad you cook over medium heat for 4 minutes until berries begin to release their juices.

Add 1 1/2 cups of water and 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice. Bring the mixture to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth lined strainer.

Return the liquid to the saucepan, add 1 1/2 cups sugar. Stir the sugar until it dissolves, then bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the stove and let cool. The syrup can be refrigerator and stored for up to 3 weeks in a tightly sealed container.


Grand Mojito

Madtini Grand Mojito Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz Grand Marnier
  • 4 oz club soda
  • Half lime
  • 7 mint leaves
  • Crushed ice

Preparation
In a tall glass, add Grand Marnier and mint leaves. Add fresh lime juice from half a lime. Add ice cubes and top off with soda water.

Grand Ginger

Madtini Grand Ginger

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz Grand Marnier
  • 4 oz ginger ale
  • Wedge of lime
  • Ice cubes

Preparation
Fill a tall glass with ice cubes, pour in the Grand Marnier. Fill the rest of the glass with ginger ale. Squeeze the lime wedge over the drink and then add the wedges to the glass.

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Easter Cocktails – Chocolate Caramel Easter Egg

Chocolate Caramel Easter Egg
Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz Baileys Caramel
  • 1 1/2 oz crème de cacao
  • 1/2 oz butterscotch schnapps
  • Mini creme egg

Preparation
Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well then strain into a chilled martini glass. Drop a chocolate mini creme egg into the drink.

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Leprechaun’s Buttery Nipple

Leprachaun's Buttery Nipple Thankfully we don’t have any idea whether Leprechaun’s have buttery nipples or not, but this minty variation on the slippery nipple will have forgetting why you were wondering in the first place.
Ingredients

  • 1/2 oz Bailey’s
  • 1/2 oz butterscotch schnapps
  • 1/2 oz creme de menthe

Ingredients
Layer in the creme de menthe, butterscotch schnapps and Bailey’s into a chilled shot glass.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Madtini readers!

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It’s Friday Cocktail-O-Clock – Chocolate Fontini

FontiniIt’s time for everyone to get up and wave your hands in the air like you just don’t care. Yes, it’s Friday dance time here at Madtini World Headquarters. This Friday, we’re taking our cocktail clue from the good folks over at GirlyDrinks.com to make a  toast to the weekend with a glass of liquid chocolate-coffee awesomeness.

Cheers, here’s to the weekend!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur
  • 1 1/2 oz Kahlua
  • 1 1/2 oz Baileys
  • Chocolate Syrup

Preparation
Drizzle chocolate syrup around the inside of a chilled cocktail glass. Return glass to the freezer. Combine the white chocolate liqueur, Kahlua and Baileys in a cocktail shaker with 2-3 ice cubes. Shake for 7-8 seconds. Strain into the chilled cocktail glass and serve to your chocolate loving friends.

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It’s Friday Cocktail-O-Clock – Kahlua & Coke

Kahlua & Coke

It Friday and it sure as heck feels like Patio weather to us here in Toronto today. The sun is shining and the temperature outside of our igloos has climbed to a balmy 9 degrees celsius.

We’re throwing caution to the warm breeze and stripping off our gloves, trapper hats and snow pants.  Yes, we’re trying to forget that the temperature is forecasted to drop to -6 C overnight with snow on the way for Sunday.

In the meantime, let’s drink to Friday with something simple, yet delicious: Kahlua and Coke over ice. Cheers!

Ingredients

  • 2 parts Kahlua
  • 3 parts Coke
  • Splash of fresh lime juice

Preparation
Pour Kahlua into a tall cocktail glass. Add ice, then pour coke over the ice. Add a squeeze of lime.

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Madtini’s Hot Cocktails of Winter – Grand French Coffee

Grand French CoffeeOur ‘Hot Cocktails of Winter’ Series continues today with a touch of French sophistication. The aroma of the bitter orange cognac liqueur is subtle at first, but the taste and aroma of the Grand Marnier comes through clearly in every warm delicious sip.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz  Grand Marnier
  • hot coffee
  • Whipped cream

Preparation
Stir the whipped cream with a teaspoon of sugar, then place in fridge. Add the Grand Marnier to a warmed glass mug. Add the coffee then spoon in the whipped cream. Add 4 espresso beans to garnish.

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Liquid Breakfast – the French Toast Martini

French Toast Martini
If I remember my Sunday School lessons right, (and there’s no guarantee of that) on the seventh day god rested, but just before he did that he created the all-day breakfast. If you’re in Toronto and its 3:30am and you’re just heading home from an evening’s debauchery – or, you’re a local wannabe rockstar or amateur intoxicologist waking up at 4pm in the afternoon – the first place you’re taking your ravenous appetite to is Fran’s Restaurant.

Fran’s started out nearly 70 years ago in Buffalo, NY by Francis Deck and his older brother Greg. (yes Virginia, Fran is a dude). Greg was running a chain of nearly 50 Deco Restaurants just in the Buffalo area alone. Fran and his wife Ellen started to open Deco Restaurants outside of Buffalo, including one at Toronto’s Yonge & St. Clair in 1940 that became the original Fran’s. The restaurant has since become an institution in Toronto, and the term ‘meet you at Fran’s’ is a commonly mumbled phrase among the late night party crowd.

My favorite meal at Fran’s has to be the French Toast (here’s Fran’s menu). Made with thick slices of bread and dusted with cinnamon and/or icing sugar – and of course ordered with a side of peameal bacon. During the holidays this year it seems that the Madtini crew is waking up a bit later everyday, so we decided to see if we could come up with something that tasted close to French Toast, but in its liquorious form. We did find a drink online at 1001 Cocktails and it turned out to come pretty close. The addition of cinnamon and icing sugar topped the drink off nicely. Now if we can just figure out how to add bacon.

Cheers and Happy Holidays from Madtini.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz Baileys
  • 1 1/2 oz Goldschläger
  • 1 1/2 oz Butterscotch Schnapps
  • pinch of cinnamon
  • pinch of Icing Sugar

Preparation
Add the Baileys, Goldschläger and Butterscotch Schnapps in a cocktail shaker with 3-4 ice cubes. Shake several times to combine the liquids, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add a pinch of cinnamon and icing sugar. I hope you made two or you’re unlikely to be very popular with your house guests.

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Note to the purists: we know we are playing fast and loose with the term Martini these days. We can assure you we know that the classic gin and olive martini will always be our favorite.

12 Days of Madtini Holiday Cocktails #7: The Grinch

The GrinchOne of the most eagerly awaited moments each holiday season is the annual airing of the Dr. Seuss classic ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas‘. Produced and directed by Chuck Jones, the animated show features the voice of horror movie legend Boris Karloff as the voice of the narrator and the Grinch.

The Grinch’s sour personality is tasted through the melon liqueur. The maraschino cherry represents his heart, which was ’2 times too small’.

Ingredients

  • 3 oz of Melon Liqueur
  • 1.5 oz of fresh lemon juice
  • tbsp simple syrup
  • 1 Maraschino cherry

Preparation
Add the melon liqueur, lemon juice and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice. Shake vigorously, strain and serve. Add a maraschino cherry as a garnish representing the Grinch’s shrunken heart.

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Halloween Cocktails #9, The Dra-Kahlua

Dra-KahluaThe Boris Karloff version of Count Dracula will always be the ‘definitive’ vampire in our minds here at Madtini Labs (although Gary Oldman did an awesome job too). Our interns may go on dreamily about spending eternal life with Twilight’s Edward, Bill or Eric of True Blood – we know that the Count could have kicked their brooding, sparkling butts around Transylvania any day of the week.

Once we read the name of  this drink on the Intoxicologist’s blog we knew we had to include it in our 2010 collection of Halloween drinks. The drink is a classy blend of coffee liqueur and citrus flavours – but be careful we haven’t tested this one is daylight yet.

Cheers and Happy Hallowe’en from Madtini.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz Kahlua
  • 1/2 oz Cognac
  • 1/2 oz Triple Sec
  • 3/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
  • 1/2 oz Simple Syrup

Preparation
Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice. Shake, then strain into your chilled martini glass. Add a blood-orange wedge s garnish.

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Drink adapted from the Intoxicologist