Fireball Screwdriver Jelly Shooters

JULY 19th, 2013 — My friend Jesse was such a supportive and vocal fan of my first batch of gourmet jell-o shots so I was determined to make a batch for him for his birthday. It was especially convenient for me that he expresses this his favorite liquor is Fireball cinnamon whiskey, so I knew exactly what I had to do. 😉

So what did you do?
Earlier this year I found this amazing blog, the Jelly Shot Test Kitchen, which does some amazing things. This time, instead of simply pilfering her own recipes, I did have to get creative on my own, since none of her recipes call for whiskey. I did some quick research on what kinds of cocktails are successful with Fireball, and found some ones with lemonades, even a spiked cinnamon-y root beer float, and also—a variation of a screwdriver! I figured that would work well, and I had a much easier time envisioning orange and cinnamon going together (better than lemon or berries with cinnamon). When I went to the store and then found the Simply Orange juice with Banana, I thought that’d be great, since the milder fruit often involves cinnamon when it comes to banana desserts (think Bananas Foster!).

So I used the following ingredients:

• 2 cups Simply Orange with Banana
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2+1/2 envelopes unflavored Knox gelatin
• 2/3 cup Fireball cinnamon whiskey

I dissolved the gelatin in the orange-banana juice and lime juice over a saucepan over low heat. After stirring for 5 or so minutes, after everything has been fully dissolved, I took the juice off the heat, and then added the whiskey.

I was sure to watch the episode of Good Eats about gelatin before I started, and you’ll need 2 tsp (1 envelope) of gelatin for every cup of liquid you need, so I was sure to use 3 whole envelopes.

I poured the whole mixture into a glass casserole dish and let it set overnight.

For presentation I dusted the whole tray with ground cinnamon. I had thought about a dusting of cinnamon sugar as well… but nobody likes cloyingly sweet cocktails.

Result? Awesome. The juice was not too sweet, and the cinnamon flavor starts tingling at the back of your throat for a little bit, and then there’s also that cinnamon aftertaste that’s got a kick to it.

Lessons learned?
Naming cocktails is kind of a challenge. I wanted to do something based off the screwdriver, but include the new ingredients. If only my titles could roll off the tongue as smoothly as these roll down the tongue and into your throat. 😉