Shaken, not stirred

The Washington Post food section did a story on boozy ice cream drinks last week. The opening gambit was something called the Pink Squirrel, which allegedly hails from Milwaukee. (WaPo never reveals the recipe for this drink, but you can find a flock of them here. Basically—crème de cacao, crème de noyaux, cream and ice, shaken like crazy. I’d be up for trying it except I’ve no doubt that the Confederacy’s liquor stores don’t carry the crème de noyaux.)

Well, when I lived in Milwaukee, I noticed they were big on drinks that involved liqueurs, cream and ice cream. It was practically impossible to end a meal anywhere without a Brandy Alexander (and Wisconsin was the largest consumer of brandy in the country; they regularly substituted brandy for whiskey in drinks like Whiskey Sours and Old Fashioneds). At the time I wasn’t all that enthused by cream-based drinks, although I’m sure I drank way more Drambuie during my years there than was healthy. Drambuie was what I’d have while friends were Brandy Alexandering.

Well, but one night, at some place on the South Side, the barman asked if we’d like a Raggedy Ann, which turned out to be (as I recall) crème de cacao, peppermint schnapps and vanilla ice cream, mixed in a milkshake post mixer. (Aside: I forgot to mention that peppermint schnapps was Wisconsinites’ other go-to beverage. I once went to a Wisconsin-Purdue football game played at Lafayette. At the end of the game, we waded through peppermint schnapps bottles on the Badger side of the stadium.)

Well—this wasn’t bad; not bad at all. I might have had two. (My capacity was greater back then.)

There was also a Raggedy Andy, which I think had crème de cacao and possibly crème de banane with ice cream. I am not fond of bananas in any form (except fried plantains), so I stuck with Raggedy Ann.

I still have my bottle of crème de cacao, with its Wisconsin tax seal intact, which I have schlepped to about five states and a foreign country. The peppermint schnapps appears to have disappeared; I might have used it in baking. I’ll have to see if the Confederate Booze Shop has any.

Okay, I’ve searched the interwebz for both of these drinks, and cannot find them. So, if I want to recreate the boozy ice cream drink of my youth, I-I’ll have to experiment. You know—mix one, taste, adjust, repeat. Hmm.

I’ll let you know how it goes.