Cocktail Party
Dunkaroos Alexander
- Prep time 5 minutes
- Serves 1
Author Notes
With some limited exceptions, my parents kept our house pretty junk-food-free. Growing up in the '90s, this meant missing out on some big hitters in the snack world. Having something like Dunkaroos in my lunchbox would have been an outlandish extravagance that my pre-teen self would only have been able to dream of.
Fortunately for me, the year is now 2023, I am firmly in middle age, and can order a case of Dunkaroos to my doorstep whenever I please. When developing the drinks for Saved by the Bellini, I mined my childhood’s latent and unfulfilled snack desires, and Dunkaroos was top of the list. (I will spare you my revolting attempt at re-creating Crystal Pepsi.)
When it came time to actually incorporate this cookies-and-frosting dessert snack into a cocktail, my options were limited. My savior was the often-overlooked Brandy Alexander, which seems to have fallen by the wayside in favor of more “serious” drinks. The classic is a combination of brandy (Cognac), crème de cacao, and heavy cream—topped with nutmeg. If you squint, you can see the resemblance here, as well as the nod to a current drink-of-the-moment: the Espresso Martini. The rye whiskey stands in for the cognac, the vermouth, coffee, and simple syrup take the place of the crème de cacao, and the frosting stands in for heavy cream.
Don’t be scared by the thought of crushing up cookies to go on the glass rim. These particular cookies crumble into a very fine powder, so the resulting rim should look fairly civilized and not at all clumpy. Lastly, feel free to use whichever cold brew concentrate you prefer. I make my own, but there are plenty of very respectable brands out there. —John deBary
Test Kitchen Notes
Reprinted from Saved by the Bellini. Copyright © 2023 by John deBary. —Food52
Ingredients
- For the Heart in a Blender simple syrup:
-
1 cup
filtered water
-
1 cup
granulated sugar
- For the cocktail:
-
1 packet
Dunkaroos Vanilla Cookies & Chocolate Frosting, divided
-
2 ounces
rye whiskey
-
1 ounce
cold brew coffee concentrate
-
1 ounce
sweet vermouth
-
1/4 ounce
Heart in a Blender simple syrup
Directions
- For the Heart in a Blender simple syrup:
- Combine the water and sugar in a blender. Blend on high until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 2 minutes. (Alternatively, and more traditionally, you can combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring until dissolved, about 1 minute. Let cool before using.)
- Regardless of method, store the simple syrup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three weeks or in the freezer for up to three weeks. (Makes about ½ cup.)
- For the cocktail:
- Crush Dunkaroos cookies into a fine powder on a small plate. With a finger, apply a rim of frosting around the cocktail coupe. Dip frosting-rimmed glass in the cookie powder to coat.
- In a shaker, combine the rye whiskey, coffee concentrate, vermouth, simple syrup, and the rest of the chocolate frosting. Shake, without ice, for five seconds to dissolve the frosting. Fill the shaker with ice and shake vigorously for 15 seconds. Strain into the prepared glass.
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