We know that the Jewish New Year officially started last week and the high holidays are ending with the Yom Kippur, which is starting this evening. But, we figure that late is still better than never.

I don’t find it easy to make drink recommendations for most Jewish holidays. Most of the holidays are somber and don’t seem quite as festive as the Christian holidays (and for my love of other cultures, I will admit that I am not that up on the holidays). Somehow, it just doesn’t seem right to provide a litany of drinks to whip up on the holidays. Although, thinking this, I will have to come up with some type of flaming drink this year to to honor Hanukkah as it celebrates the miracle of oil lasting for days longer than anticipated during a siege.

As we are responsible for the feeding the hubby’s family for the breaking of the fast tomorrow as Yom Kippur, which is the day that you atone for your sins, ends, it got me thinking about the menu and also if there was an appropriate drink. I scoured the internets for inspiration on both the food and the drink idea. Truthfully, I wasn’t inspired. The food recommendations were the old standby’s of Eastern European Jewish dining (blintzes, tsimmies, kugels, smoked salmon, honey cakes) and there were no recommended drinks. Although, I did come across a few recommendations for Kosher wine (that will have to be it’s own article, although, I was impressed by a number of the wines that I had on trips to Israel).

But, I did find on a new honey cake recipe on epicurious that called for the inclusion of coffee and a chocolate glaze. Hmmm…those ingredients sound like they could make for an interesting drink recipe. And, how appropriate, since honey is used to celebrate the new year (may it bring sweetness) and honey cake appeared to be a popular way to break the fast for for Yom Kippur. But, honey in drinks can be a bit tricky. I knew that we had used honey syrups and honey liqueur in our DIY Cocktails book and took down the book to use as my guide (I will admit, honey drinks are definitely not my speciality). In the sweet and creamy section of the book, I found a drink that I used as my model (the Banana Creme Buzz) and I turned it into the Jewish New Year drink by substituting the creme de banane for Kahlua (which imparts both coffee and chocolate).

Here is the Jewish New Year – serve alongside your honey cake for the breaking of this year’s fast:

Ingredients:
1 oz Cognac
1/2 oz Kahlua or Kahlua Mocha
1/2 oz honey liqueur
2 oz half and half

Directions:
Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. If you don’t like your dairy based drinks shaken, stir instead and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

How was this recipe? Please post a review!