Vampire’s Kiss

A few weeks ago, in the leadup to Halloween, we picked up a pack of amazing looking spiderweb drink umbrellas that were made by Wilton. They were just begging to be used to garnish a tiki Halloween drink of some kind. The problem with the umbrellas is that we wanted the drink to actually match the creepy look of the umbrella – and that meant that popping them onto a regular mai tai was out of the question. We needed something that was just as Halloween-themed as our umbrellas, yet still tiki enough to look good with a funky umbrella on top!

It was a batch of homemade raspberry puree that gave us the inspiration for this Vampire’s Kiss cocktail. It’s doesn’t have a typical tiki drink name, but it definitely a tiki drink – it’s just a tiki drink that happens to look like it will get a vampire’s mouth watering. It may not be the world’s most sophisticated cocktail, but it is a heck of a lot of fun to serve and a very enjoyable cocktail to sip while celebrating Halloween!

The cocktail combines coconut cream, fresh lime juice,  Velvet Falernum and rum with homemade raspberry sauce. All of these flavors play very well together, and this drink is no exception. It is sweet, tart, creamy and sweet again, thanks to that last “kiss” of raspberry. at the bottom of the glass. The lime does an admirable job of cutting through the coconut and really makes this drink bright, while the falernum adds a subtle hint of spice that gives the drink a little complexity. It also helps to take a bit of the acidity away from the fresh lime juice, which the coconut cream doesn’t really do on its own. The raspberry puree contrasts extremely well with the white drink and looks quite a bit like a blood swirl down at the bottom of the glass. It also happens to taste delicious with both the lime and the coconut You don’t need to go as crazy as we did on the “blood” rim on top,  as it can get a bit messy, especially if you accidentally drizzle on a little too much puree. That said, it really makes the drink look the part of a Halloween cocktail, so getting sticky fingers might very well be worth it.

Vampire’s Kiss
1 oz raspberry puree*
1 oz coconut cream (Coco Lopez)
1 1/2 oz lime juice
1/2 oz velvet falernum
1 1/2 oz Jamaican rum (Appleton X/V)

Pour raspberry puree into a large glass (a hurricane glass will work well), then fill with crushed ice.
In a mixing glass, combine coconut cream, lime juice, velvet falernum and rum, fill with ice and shake. Strain into your glass and drizzle a little extra raspberry puree near the rim. Garnish with a lime and, if you have one, a spiderweb cocktail umbrella.

Serves 1.

*For the raspberry puree, blend together 6 oz of raspberries (fresh, or frozen and defrosted) with 1/4 cup sugar until smooth. Press through a fine mesh strainer to remove all the seeds.