W is for: White Russian Pudding Shots, Pumpkintinis & Rainbows

Dude.

This post is somewhat of a sensory overload of delicious alcoholic treats. I am also well aware that “W” week has spilled into a second week. I blame it on all of the traveling I’ve been doing lately. Plus, it’s baseball season during a playoff push, which is a crazy time for me. Besides, my blog, my rules.

But before I get to my ode to the Big Lebowski, let’s talk about Pumpkin Spice Lattes. People go crazy for these things. The first day they were available, I saw no less than 12 photos of this delightful fall beverage in varying filters jamming my Instagram feed. But you know what’s better than a pumpkin latte? A pumpkin *martini.* I’ve been making these for a couple of years now, but when Brit.co asked me to come up with a creative twist on the Starbucks craze, I decided to add a little Kahlua for some coffee flavor. Thank me later. Click here to get the step by step instructions, otherwise keep reading.

So I’ve had “White Russian something” written in my idea notes for quite some time. I considered maybe some ice cream (which I still might do at some point), but I finally decided on pudding shots. And then I stumbled upon this post which came up with the genius idea of putting pudding shots in *brownie bites.* Done and done. Besides, it gives me a good excuse to blatantly disobey the back of the brownie package which tells you not to eat raw brownie batter. What?!? That’s the best part.

Mix up your brownies according to the package directions (eat a couple of spoonfuls of batter if you’re not scared of raw eggs), and drop them into a mini muffin pan lightly greased with cooking spray. You won’t need to cook nearly as long as the directions state since they’re so small. I’d say check them after about 10-12 minutes.

Once they’ve cooled for a few minutes, gently pop them out of the pan and let them continue to cool on a wire rack. If needed, scoop a little of the brownie out of the middle and then press down with your fingers, creating a little “well” to hold the pudding.

For the pudding…add 3/4 cup of milk to a small box of vanilla instant pudding. Beat for 2 minutes.

It should have a consistency of pudding at this point. Add the vodka and Kahlua, 1/4 cup at a time until completely incorporated.

Now of course, the alcohol will sort of dilute the pudding consistency, so you’ll need to add whipped cream. A lot of it. I made my own whipped cream, but as much as it pains me to say it, I think Cool Whip is the way to go in this instance, as it will keep the pudding from getting as runny. Pop the bowl in the freezer until ready to serve (ideally, give it a couple hours to firm up).

From there, just fill up your brownie bites and serve immediately! White Russian Brownie Bite Pudding Shots…the Dude abides.

Now, unless you use double or triple the brownie mix, you will have a LOT of pudding leftover. I filled up some plastic shot glasses and brought them to kickball. Everyone gobbled them down in about 2 minutes flat.

Speaking of kickball, I just had to share one more delicious treat I made this week. I’m totally not taking credit for this, since I saw these on Jelly Shot Test Kitchen awhile back and have been wanting to try them out. I was inspired by last week’s double rainbow in San Francisco (what does it meaaaan??), which also coincided with an inspiring victory against the only team in our league that had previously been undefeated. Considering we have Care Bears on our team shirts, this turned out to be a magical convergence of events. (Care Bear…STARE!)

In honor of the epic victory, I made these rainbow jelly shooters for our regular season finale (which we won, obvi). Click here to get the recipe on JSTK, but note that I didn’t add the extra packets of gelatin they call for since I was just putting them in plastic shot glasses.

I’m also happy to report we will enter the playoffs as the number 1 seed. Don’t we look tough?!? (Minus Ben and Rob who didn’t get the “serious face” memo). And yes, that is our team captain in a bear suit. Wish us luck!