Carrot Cake Cocktail

A few days ago, I got a package in the mail and it contained a whole lotta carrots.  This veggie largess was compliments of Grimmway Farms with whom I will be working on a project next month.  My immediate reaction was to get a tub of hummus and start munching away while I decided what else I could do with them.

Since there's only so much hummus a woman can eat (I'm kidding, actually, because I go through a whole lot of carrots and hummus), I did all the expected things one would do with a big box of carrots.  I tossed them into salads, roasted them with butter and maple syrup and added them to pots of soup and stew.  But there were still more carrots.  With Easter approaching, should I make carrot cake?  Healthy carrot muffins?  I could, of course, but this was way more fun.  Cheers!

For Two Servings:
10 Baby carrots
4 oz. Cream or half & half
2 oz. Vanilla vodka
2 oz. Spiced rum
1 oz. Irish cream liqueur
2 oz. Butterscotch sauce (recipe follows)
Pinch of sea salt
Pinch of cinnamon
2 Tablespoons easy cream cheese frosting (recipe follows)
1 Tablespoon finely chopped walnuts

Easy Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 Tablespoons cream cheese, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
1 Teaspoon vanilla

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly until the sugar has dissolved.

Butterscotch Sauce:
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup heavy cream
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of sea salt

Note:  I noticed that many recipes for carrot cake martinis call for butterscotch liqueur but I didn't have any and didn't want to buy a whole bottle just for this recipe.  I found that making a butterscotch sauce worked jut fine and the remaining sauce is great over ice cream!

Melt the sugar in a pot over a low to medium flame.  Do not walk away.  When the sugar has completely dissolved, remove it from the heat and add the heavy cream.  The mixture will bubble up.  Return to a low heat, add the butter, vanilla and salt and stir until all lumps are gone and the sauce is a light golden brown.

Prepare the glasses by dipping the rims into the cream cheese frosting and immediately rolling them around in the chopped walnuts.  Place in the refrigerator to set while you assemble the rest of the cocktail.

Add the carrots and cream to a blender and puree until the carrots are completely broken down.  Add the liquid to a cocktail shaker along with the vodka, rum, Irish cream liqueur, 2 tablespoons of butterscotch sauce, sea salt and cinnamon.  Fill with ice and shake vigorously.  Pour through a strainer into the prepared cocktail glasses.

Note:  Although I received the carrots as a gift, I was not otherwise compensated and under no obligation to use them in a recipe or write about them.