Have you ever wondered how to make whiskey balls like the ones you get at a fancy bar? You could buy an ice ball maker for $10-20 (or a Macallan ice mold for freakin’ $960!!! You’d have to drink barrels of whiskey to justify that!), or you could save yourself some money and make them with plastic eggs left over from Easter.
Okay friends, it’s kind of ridiculous how excited I am about this post, considering how rarely I drink alcohol. But I LOVE unexpected kitchen hacks that save money (like preserving avocado in the freezer or making your own lunchmeat), so I was thrilled when I tried this and it actually worked.
My sister and brother in law invited us to a 1920’s murder mystery dinner event for her birthday. It was actually our first date since Larkin was born. Of course she was with us, and Eric ended up getting cast as a character, so I spent a third of the night outside with her when she got gassy, but whatever, it was still loads of fun.
Eric and I decided to split an Old Fashioned, one of my favorite drinks to sip. The bar there was great, and they used a giant ice cube which lasted the whole evening (three hours).
Well the next day was Easter, and with about 20 people packed into a house, it was rather overwhelming for our introverted selves. So I was watching the kids hunt eggs, thinking of how great it would be to be alone with my hubby and sipping that Old Fashioned again, when what I was seeing and what I was thinking suddenly collided in my brain to form a brilliant idea. “I’m going to try using Easter eggs as a whiskey ball mold!”
It took a few attempts because there are so many different kinds of Easter eggs, the small ones I had seal airtight but melt quickly, the jumbo ones I had last hours once frozen but leak at the seam. But I finally figured it out, and even shot a video, all while wearing my two month old in the Ergo! Yeah, I’m hard core like that.
By the way, before anyone freaks out that I’m drugging my baby, I am very responsible about consuming alcohol, especially while breastfeeding. You can check out what Kellymom says about the effects of alcohol while breastfeeding (info I’ve confirmed with a lactation consultant) and my views on alcohol if you’re interested. Anyway, on to the tutorial!
Start by gathering some big Easter eggs. The ones I used were about 3 inches long and two inches in diameter. Check for holes.
If you have holes in both ends, you’ll need to cover the round end with some good duct tape. We really like Gorilla tape and find it to be super water tight, but I ran out by the time I was ready to photograph the eggs so that’s not what you see pictured. If there are no holes in your egg, use a nail and hammer to poke one in the pointy end. I found there was less of a risk of cracking the egg if you go from the outside in.
Test one egg to see whether it leaks at the seam once closed. If it does, seal it with a piece of duct tape and just fill the whole thing with the squirt method.
If your egg doesn’t leak at the seam, you can put your finger over the hole in the pointy end and fill that half with water. Close the egg, flip it over, and use one little stream of water squirting into the hole to fill it the rest of the way.
You can also use a squirt bottle if you have one. This is actually faster than the faucet, and lets you use filtered or bottled water, but the faucet method is great if you don’t own any squirt bottles. Oh and don’t forget to leave some room in each egg because water expands as it freezes.
Place the eggs standing up in the freezer. I have a ceramic egg container but you can also just cut up a leftover egg carton. And yes, that is totally a stack of frozen breastmilk under the eggs. It’s seriously taking over our freezer!
After a few hours, you have solidly frozen eggs! You can run them under water for about 10 seconds to get the egg open and the ice out.
While it won’t be a perfect sphere, which lasts longer than any other shape apparently, it still melts very slowly and is now my cube of choice.
Hope you enjoyed this little kitchen hack, and think of me next time you’re enjoying a good whiskey on the rocks!
Cute video! My husband loves bourbon, so I might try these!