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
Reprinted from Saved by the Bellini. Copyright © 2023 by John deBary. —Food52
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