Imagine the taste of a white gummy bear: sweet, slightly tart, and pineapple-flavored. What if we told you that you could make a shot that tastes exactly like that but doesn’t contain gummy bears? 

It’s alright if you don’t believe us just yet. We’ll show you how to mix up a white gummy bear shot from fruity yet entirely unexpected ingredients that come together to taste a lot like the original candy. 

Holiday parties and candy drinks are the perfect pair. The potential for candy drinks is practically endless. If you can’t recreate the flavor with a mix of liqueurs, vodka can be transformed by infusing almost anything. You can create bright Skittles- or Jolly-Rancher-flavored delights, and around Christmas time, you’ll catch people making boozy Jell-O shots that taste and look like candy canes. 

Gummy bear shots, however, are an alcoholic drink for all seasons. They are fresh-tasting, citrusy, and light, containing only a touch of vodka and some fruit-flavored liquors. We can’t say that these drinks are right for sipping, but they also aren’t nearly as strong as other candy-themed shots. Infuse your next party with a little fun. It helps keep you young. 

Preparation time: 3 minutes

Cooking time: None

Total time: 3 minutes

Servings: 1

Ingredients:

• ½ ounce raspberry vodka

• ½ ounce peach schnapps

• ¼ ounce sweet and sour mix

• ¼ ounce lemon-lime soda (like 7-Up or Sprite)

• Gummy bears (for garnish)

Glassware:

• Shot glasses

Preparation instructions

1. Shake up the raspberry vodka, peach schnapps, and sweet and sour mix with plenty of ice to chill the liquid.

2. Strain the drink into a large shot glass and top up with a splash of lemon-lime soda. Decorate the edges of the glass with gummy bears by spearing them with a cocktail sword or toothpick and laying it across the top of the shot glass. Be sure to remove the gummy bears before drinking, since they pose a choking hazard.  

Cocktail recipe adapted from Tipsy Bartender.

anaumenko – stock.adobe.com

Variations:

Make it a martini: If a shot isn’t for you, this mixed drink recipe still has a white gummy bear flavor. Scale up the proportions of the gummy bear shots recipe shown above as follows to make a gummy bear cocktail. Use 1 ounce of raspberry vodka, 1 ounce of peach schnapps, 1 ounce of sweet and sour mix, and 1 ounce of lemon-lime soda. Shake up the first three ingredients with plenty of ice. This time, however, strain the drink into a martini glass before topping with lemon-lime soda. Garnish your martini with different colored gummy bears for a fun look.

If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, you can use a coffee thermos.

Make the glass edible: If a gummy-bear-flavored shot with gummy-bear garnish still isn’t enough candy for you, you can make a sugary, edible glass for the white gummy bear drink.

For this method, you’ll need a shot glass mold, which is kind of like a silicone ice-cube tray. Start by heating 2 cups of white gummy bears in the microwave until they have turned to liquid. You can scale this proportion up or down as needed to make more or fewer shots. Pour the melted gummy bear liquid into the shot mold, distributing evenly between each well. Then, transfer the mold to the refrigerator and wait for the candy to harden up again. Finally, remove the edible glasses from the mold and pour gummy-bear shots into each. Shoot down the liquor and eat the surrounding candy as a chaser.

Make booze-infused bears: Unlike many other sugary candies like caramels and sweet tarts, gummy bears won’t dissolve in vodka. The bears will suck up all the booze. You can make vodka gummy bears by placing a generous amount of gummy bears in an appropriately-sized bowl and then covering them completely with vodka. Let the gummy bears sit in the liquor for roughly 20 hours and watch as they expand and soak up the vodka. Using a slotted spoon, transfer these slippery treats to a plate for consumption. If you’re having a party, just be sure to let guests know that these are drunken gummy bears, not regular candy.

Make it with triple sec: If peach schnapps isn’t your thing, you can make a citrusy substitution to this drink recipe. Swap out the schnapps component for the same amount of triple sec.

Make it even sweeter: If you have an insatiable sweet tooth, you can amp up the sugar content of this already sweet drink by rimming the shot glass (or martini glass if following that preparation method) with sugar. Draw a line of simple syrup around the rim of the glass, and then dip the glass into granulated sugar. It’s best to spread a thin layer of sugar onto a flat surface like a plate to ensure that just the edge of the glass gets coated.  

Alp Aksoy – stock.adobe.com

Other white cocktails

If you’re doing a winter wonderland theme, you can mix up party drinks in glacial hues to stay on theme. Here are a few ideas to inspire you:

• White sangria

• Spiked egg nog

• White chocolate martini

• Peppermint bark martini

• Velvet hammer

• White Russian

• Shamrock shaker

• Bushwacker

• Brandy alexander

• New Orleans fizz

• Orange creamsicle

This weekend, have some fun and surprise your friends with shots that taste just like their favorite childhood candy. Order gummy bears, mixers, and liquor from Gopuff, and don’t forget to throw in some salty snacks as well because after a couple of these sugary shots, you’re going to need a palate cleanser.