Raspberry and Chocolate Valentine Cocktail
Raspberry and Chocolate Valentine Cocktail with vodka, half and half, raspberry syrup, and white chocolate liqueur is the perfect after dinner Valentine’s Day elixir. LP
While I do love making cocktails for different holiday occasions, I admit I might struggle a bit with Valentine’s Day. I’ve done chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate and very much wanted to make something this year that was a bit more unique. This Raspberry and Chocolate Valentine Cocktail fit the bill perfectly.
I wanted to make a cocktail with a fruit component. A red fruit of course and I initially started with strawberries. Quite honestly this Raspberry and Chocolate Valentine Cocktail was my second attempt.
My first attempt was Irish Cream with Strawberries and I really tried to convince myself it was good. But it wasn’t. It’s simply not a good time for strawberries; the flavor was so ‘meh’ that after my foray I wonder where all the people that proudly display their chocolate covered fruits find them.
Strawberries delivered to our stores at 5200′ were simply too flavorless to add enough to a cocktail to be able to share it. I’ll wait until Mothers Day!
When my strawberry idea went bust and I had to punt, I didn’t have any other fresh fruit besides apples and pears and that just wasn’t going to cut it for this holiday when either pink, red, or chocolate must appear. Frozen raspberries to the rescue!
I’ve been stocking up on frozen fruits this winter. I only shop once a week and I was too often pitching berries. I always crave a variety but if I purchase an assortment, something is always bound to bite the dust before I use all of them so I’ve been using frozen and it’s been great. Strawberries in smoothies, blueberries on top of cereal and now raspberries in this luscious Raspberry and Chocolate Valentine Cocktail.
The raspberries are used to make a syrup that has a touch of raspberry liqueur and then the syrup is combined with half and half, vodka, and just enough chocolate liqueur to flavor it without changing the color.
White chocolate liqueur is actually my first choice but the first time I made this cocktail I had let my bar ingredients slide and I didn’t have any Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur in the house. I used regular chocolate and it was fine but since then have procured my first choice and it does make a prettier pink cocktail. Still use either, both taste great!
Celebrate your Valentine’s Day with loved ones and this Raspberry and Chocolate Valentine Cocktail, whether that is a beau, a husband, girlfriends, or even your adult children; it’s like love in a glass.
PIN IT! ‘Raspberry and Chocolate Valentine Cocktail’
Raspberry and Chocolate Valentine Cocktail
Ingredients
For the Syrup
- 12 oz raspberries, fresh or frozen thaw if using frozen
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp Raspberry Liqueur
For the Cocktail
- 3 oz half and half
- 2 oz vodka
- 2 oz raspberry syrup
- 1 oz white chocolate liqueur
For the Garnish
- Cake Decorating Sugars in a variety of colors
Instructions
To Make the Raspberry Syrup
- Combine the fresh or frozen raspberries with the sugar in a medium saucepan. Simmer until the the berries break down and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat; strain, and refrigerate until cool.
- Add the Raspberry Liqueur and stir to combine.
To Make the Cocktail
- Chill the glasses in the freezer for at least 5 minutes.
- Rub the edge of the glass with white chocolate liqueur. Dip into either pink, red, or white crystals or a combination of all three.
- Combine the half and half, white chocolate liqueur, vodka, and raspberry syrup in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until ice cold. Pour into chilled glasses and serve.
You can get decent strawberries at this time of the year from Florida, but that’s about it (I don’t much like the Mexican ones this early in the year). When we lived in Florida we had really ripe, really good local strawberries (from farms within 30 miles of where we lived) from around mid-January to sometime in March. Anyway, this drink sounds better than your strawberry idea — and looks spectacular. Love the rimming sugars in this one!
Yes occasionally I see some from FL but it’s rare up in these hills!
Know what I love to use for rimming? Cake decorating sugars. They have much larger crystals and so I love the tactile feel of it but of course I also love the way they look. Michaels has a big assortment too, it’s always nice to know where to find them.