Grab your cocktail shaker and get ready to shake up a frosty, coffee-laced cocktail that’s perfect for all your holiday entertaining. Move over pumpkin spice, it’s December and peppermint mocha is the reigning flavor of the season. Everyone’s favorite wintertime coffee shop treat marries perfectly with the “it” martini of the moment for a creamy Christmas cocktail.
In case you haven’t heard, the espresso martini is having a moment.
And while the classic is, well, a classic, various iterations have taken this tasty tipple to a whole other level. One that immediately caught my eye was a take on everyone’s favorite winter latte flavor – peppermint mocha.
This has got to be, hands down, the perfect Christmas cocktail, and with a chocolate and candy cane rim, it looks seriously impressive when served.
As someone who fell madly in love with peppermint mocha lattes way before pumpkin spice was a thing (yes, there was a time before PSLs), I have strong feelings about this holiday flavor combination. So, when shaking up a peppermint mocha espresso martini for myself, I had strong opinions about this cocktail, as it mimics my all-time favorite Christmas coffee guilty pleasure.
The recipes I looked at fell short of my expectations, relying too heavily on chocolate liquor for the chocolate aspect of the mocha and failing to capture the creaminess of a good latte.
And most, if not all, had a glaring oversight for those of us making this cocktail at home – not everyone owns an espresso machine.
For this recipe, I made a few key changes, and they make all the difference in the world in the flavor and body of this incredible cocktail.
First, I skipped the chocolate liquor and used chocolate syrup instead. (Hershey’s, of course, I am a Pennsylvania girl.)
As I searched through recipe after recipe, I kept thinking, “Why bother with chocolate liquor?” Chocolate syrup delivers the perfect shot of chocolate flavor without the need to go out and buy an entire bottle of chocolate liquor only to use half an ounce or so per martini. It’s already quite a boozy cocktail to begin with. And this time of year, it’s likely you already have chocolate syrup on hand.
Secondly, I knew I wanted my version to lean more towards the latte than the espresso martini. Meaning I wanted it to be a creamy coffee concoction.
I always drink my morning coffee with a healthy splash of heavy cream anyway, so adding it to the cocktail was an obvious choice. And because it’s a shaken cocktail, that means you get a nice creamy, frothy head on it.
Finally, I opted for unsweetened cold brew coffee instead of espresso. For anyone who knows their coffee, you’ll see why this works better than straight espresso.
Heat is what brings out the bitterness in coffee, especially in espresso.
The crema, or the foam on top of a shot of espresso, is notoriously bitter because it’s filled with the now-burned oils from the beans. In Italy, your espresso comes with a demitasse spoon specifically to scrape off the crema before drinking it. (Not to add cream or sugar. Perish the thought!)
This is why cold brew is naturally sweeter and less bitter than coffee brewed using heat, and that works to great effect in this cocktail. Look for the darkest roast of unsweetened cold brew you can find if you aren’t going to make it at home.
(If this all sounds a bit too sweet for your tastes, consider my Christmas Old-Fashioned, instead.)
Now, enough food-blogger chatter. On to the recipe!
Tools
- You’ll need a cocktail shaker and a strainer if using a Boston-style shaker.
- I highly recommend double-straining this cocktail to remove any flecks of ice. (For the uninitiated, all this means is that you pour your cocktail over a fine-mesh strainer.)
- A well-chilled coupe or martini glass.
- If you want to garnish with crushed peppermint candies (the classic) and chocolate syrup, you will need two shallow dishes, a plastic zip-top bag and a rolling pin or similarly heavy kitchen utensil (a sturdy coffee mug works well).
- A jigger or shot glass for measuring.
Ingredients
Makes one cocktail
- 1 ½ ounce Kahlua
- 1 ½ ounce unsweetened cold brew coffee or espresso (chilled, crema removed)
- 1 ounce vodka
- ½ ounce peppermint schnapps (such as Rumple Minze)
- ½ ounce chocolate syrup
- 1 ounce heavy whipping cream
- Extra chocolate syrup and candy canes or soft peppermints for rim.
Instructions
- Put your coupes or martini glasses in the freezer to chill.
- Pour enough chocolate syrup onto a small plate or shallow dish for you to dip your cocktail glass rim, and then set the dish in the freezer to firm up a bit.
- While your glass and chocolate syrup are chilling, place candy canes or soft peppermint sticks into the plastic bag and smash them into breadcrumb-sized pieces with a rolling pin or coffee mug. Transfer smashed candy to the plate.
- Take the glass and chocolate from the freezer. Carefully dip the rim of your glass into the chocolate, ensuring you coat the entire rim. Now roll your glass in the crushed candy, coating the rim well. Set your glass aside.
- Fill your cocktail shaker with ice, then add Kahlua, cold brew (or espresso) vodka, peppermint schnapps, chocolate syrup and heavy whipping cream. Seal and shake well for approximately 30 seconds or until the container is too cold to handle.
- Immediately strain into your prepped glass, ensuring you get the shaken cream at the end of the pour.
Sip, sigh, and groan and roll your eyes in delight! Happy Holidays!
