Morning Joy

This cocktail belongs in the cannon of breakfast drinks. The Morning Joy is strong, sweet and tropical and accompanies a lot of sweet or savory breakfast dishes. I'll take it over the Mimosa any day.

The recipe relies on banana liqueur and orange juice for flavor and gin for strength. In actuality it is a very strong morning drink. Three ounces of orange juice simply mitigates the alcoholic burn and covers any unpleasant flavors. A creme de bananes will do here, but I used the natural banana flavor of MurLarkey banana whiskey.

There's no sweetness other than orange juice, though. So it might be helpful to sweeten this cocktail to taste. A teaspoon of sugar will help.

• 2 oz. gin (MurLarkey ImaGination gin used.)
• 1 1/2 oz. creme de bananes (MurLarkey banana whiskey used)
• 3 oz. orange juice
• (optional sugar to taste if using unsweetened banana whiskey.)

Combine all ingredient in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled sour glass. 

Cafe Au Lait (Non-Alcoholic)

So simple, I'm surprised it is even in the New York Bartender's Guide. I've learned, however, that a bartender needs to know how to serve coffee as well as alcohol, and I've applied a little knowhow to this recipe to make it more special for drinking at home.

• black coffee
• hot milk
• sugar to taste (demerara used)

Heat milk in a saucepan on low temperature--do not boil. Add sugar to milk and whisk until it dissolves. Once heated, whisk milk to produce foam. Pour hot coffee in a mug and use a spoon to add milk foam to the top of the coffee.