Hot Cocoa Brandy Alexander (with Lewis Road Creamery Chocolate Milk)
Makes one drink

1.5 oz brandy
1 oz creme de cacao
1 cup Lewis Road Creamery chocolate milk (or other high-quality chocolate milk)*
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 cup cream
Optional: fresh grated nutmeg and/or chocolate shavings

Combine brandy and creme de cacao in a mug or other heat-resistant glass. In a small saucepan over low heat, whisk chocolate milk with the cinnamon stick for 5-7 minutes, until just boiling and fragrant. Pour warm chocolate milk in the mug with the liquor and stir to combine. Using the steam wand on an espresso machine or other frothing device, stretch the cream until achieving a velvety texture and a temperature of 70 degrees celcius (about 150 fahrenheit).** Pour this over the boozy hot chocolate and garnish with grated nutmeg and chocolate shavings.

*See below to understand why Lewis Road Creamery is at the sweet pinnacle of chocolate milk production.
**Alternatively, whip the cream using a hand mixer.

I think it’s fair to say the classic Brandy Alexander is mine and Christy's “friendship cocktail.” In the earliest days of our fraternization, we would meet up at one of our little college apartments and cook elaborate French Moroccan fusion dishes while listening to Corinne Bailey Rae and drinking endless Brandy Alexanders. I’m not sure how we first discovered the recipe, but I blame Feist’s doozie of a song by the same name. We were both at university then, in our early 20s, and it was an era marked by the discovery of alcohol, our independence, and ourselves. The song, with those snapping fingers and catchy lyrics—“he’s my Brandy Alexander, always gets me into trouble… goes down easy”—drew us in to a hazy, jazzy world where it made sense to relate that not-right-for-you, but irresistible guy with 3 ounces of smooth, boozy chocolate. We’ve long since dropped the guys of that era but we kept the cocktail as a continuing souvenir of the saucy women we saw ourselves as back then.

Drinking it now, in an expensive martini glass with that spicy dusting of nutmeg on top, I’m always brought back to the nights Christy and I spent drinking, laughing, and building the foundation of our friendship together. So last week, when we were hanging out in my cozy, New Zealand home in the middle of winter, it made sense to revive the tradition… with a little twist.

Enter Lewis Road Creamery’s cult-favorite chocolate milk, made with Whittaker’s real chocolate. New Zealand readers, you’re all nodding your head right now thinking, “oh girl, I KNOW where this is going. I knowwwww.” And you’re so freaking excited. Hold that thought.

For the rest of the world: I’m sorry. I’m sorry you don’t live in New Zealand for so many reasons. But the number one reason for my purposes today is that you don’t have access to the greatest chocolate milk ever produced. In the world. Ever. This chocolate milk is so good, and the demand for it is so high, that trucks transporting this manna direct from heaven have to be GUARDED. Because this is New Zealand, where police officers do not carry firearms, but the chocolate milk has to be escorted by burly men to grocery stores around the country.
 (The NZ Herald later reported this was a myth, but I believe all good fables are partially grounded in truth.)

Basically, Lewis Road Creamery, the producers of some of the freshest dairy in the world, had the brilliant idea to create organically rich chocolate milk by injecting their dairy with real Whittaker’s chocolate (the Kiwi favorite). Their goal was to make the finished product taste as close to “liquid chocolate” as possible. It worked. And the people went mad.

When Christy and I decided to winterize our favorite Brandy Alexander recipe, the chance to incorporate this golden chocolate milk into a boozy hot cocoa concoction was too good to pass up. The end result is magic. Just like all the New Zealand readers knew it would be as soon as I said “Lewis Road Creamery chocolate milk.” It tastes like the coziest night of your life, in liquid form. My god, this is the greatest recipe we’ve ever invented. Of course, you can make yours with any high-quality or even homemade chocolate milk, but if you live in New Zealand, do not settle for less than cult classic. These kinds of things are legend for a reason.

If you're on the other side of the world, and looking to escape from the summer heat, try Christy's frozen twist on the Brandy Alexander.

Either way, our Brandy Alexanders certainly do go down easy.

VEGAN BRANDY ALEXANDER FLOAT

Vegan Brandy Alexander Float
Makes one drink

1.5 oz (3 tablespoons) brandy
1.5 oz (3 tablespoons) creme de cacao
3 oz (6 tablespoon) almond milk
1/4 cup almond milk vanilla ice cream
Optional: vegan whipped cream and fresh grated nutmeg

Scoop ice cream into a glass by rounded tablespoons (you should end up with roughly 3-4 scoops). In a measuring cup, mix together brandy, creme de cacao, and almond milk. Pour over ice cream and top with vegan whipped cream and freshly grated nutmeg.

A few notes about this recipe:

Traditionally, a Brandy Alexander is composed of equal parts brandy, creme de cacao, and half and half. However, I upped the milk quantity because almond milk is obviously significantly less creamy than half and half. Also because I’m a bit of a baby when it comes to how strong my alcoholic beverages taste.

You can use any milk/ice cream you prefer, of course. I generally use almond milk/ice cream because I find, when you’re veganizing a recipe, it doesn’t alter the flavor the way other milks (looking at you soy and coconut) do. American readers--So Delicious makes excellent vegan ice cream (cashew, coconut, soy, or almond) but if you can’t find that near you or if you live in a country where there’s not every product imaginable available to you *coughNewZealandcough*, you can always try making your own (and then let me know how it goes! I just added making my own ice cream to my list of veganizing challenges).

I’ve made this with both chocolate and vanilla ice cream. I prefer the vanilla but if you’re a massive chocolate fan, you can definitely try it that way instead!

For the love of your tastebuds, ONLY use freshly grated nutmeg. I cannot tell you how much better it tastes than packaged ground nutmeg. Not kidding, I always hated nutmeg until I was making a recipe with a friend that called for it and, because we were in France and you can’t find pre-ground nutmeg in grocery stores there, THANK GOD, our only option was to grate it ourselves. ROCKED MY WORLD. Also, you know if the French are doing it to their food, it’s gotta be better. Do yourself a favor and go buy the real thing.

And finally, I would be remiss if I told you how to make a Brandy Alexander but didn’t tell you to listen to Feist’s song Brandy Alexander. Especially since that was essentially mine and Kaitlin’s theme song for the summer of 2010. Kaitlin describes the significance that the drink/song has played in our friendship with her usual eloquence in her Brandy Alexander post and also gives you a killer recipe for a Brandy Alexander hot cocoa. Seriously, what can that girl NOT do?

Anyway, read her post and then fly to New Zealand to make said drink with Whittaker’s chocolate milk because she is not hyperbolizing when she said it’s the best chocolate milk in the world. How an alcoholic drink recipe turned into a pitch for a trip to New Zealand, I don’t know. But, in all fairness, I think I could make anything in my life a pitch for going to New Zealand.

Sorry, I digress. To sum up this post, always use freshly grated nutmeg, move to New Zealand, and make yourself Brandy Alexanders because Feist describes them with perfect accuracy when she sings they "go down easy."