Drinks for the Drinking Nonthusiast: Frozen "Screwdrivers"

The Contestant:
Homemade frozen "Screwdrivers"

My ugly mug getting tipsy
(with bad smudged makeup from that morning)

The Review:

First off, the glass in the above picture is from a local Irish Pub that does these insanely alcoholic drinks.  And sorry for the awful pic; I was too interested in my drink to actually make myself look pretty!  Anyway, on to the review! (and recipe) These are actually made from a modified Orange Julius recipe that my good friend learned in Girl Scouts.  We modified them to make them a bit more to our tastes with added vodka!  

What are your initial thoughts?

Well like the name suggests, these drinks are orange-flavored, but kind of taste like an orangecicle.  They make perfect summer drinks for that reason, or at least I think so.  My friends and I have always put this drink on the shelf during the winter in favor of more basic drinks (like rum and coke), but bust out this messy concoction as soon as pool season hits.  The alcohol taste isn't too strong, but the recipe can easily be modified to put in more or less alcohol to your tastes.  I think I put in too much vanilla extract in this batch, but it doesn't taste bad, just stronger than usual.  They're sugary sweet and taste like innocence, if innocence had vodka in it!  The only downfall is that they get foamy when they melt and it's kind of weird to me, but as long as I drink fast enough, I don't have to worry about that.  But I think a lot of blended cream-based drinks do that?

So what's the recipe?

This recipe can be easily modified to suit your tastes, and could probably be made with different fruit flavors, but I haven't tried it.  My roommate seems interested in trying it in grape instead of orange, so if that happens I will post about how that went over (or comment and tell me if you try a different flavor!)

Frozen Screwdrivers:

6oz  frozen concentrated orange juice (or other fruit concentrate if you're feeling adventurous)

1 cup milk

1/3 cup water

2/3 cup vodka

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

8-9 ice cubes

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth!  That's it!  Makes about two large portions. Or one and a bit extra if you have a giant glass like I do!

I generally us more ice than the recipe calls for, but that's just because I like the extra crunch!  To make this recipe more or less alcoholic, just change the ratio of water to vodka.  For the nonalcoholic version use 1 cup of water and no vodka, and for a strong drink use all vodka.  Usually this version is far strong enough for me though (but I am a light weight)

So would you buy (make) this again?

Considering this is an old favorite of my friends and I, I don't think I could get away with not making these again multiple times throughout the summer.  They're not to everyone's tastes because of the orange flavor, and they are messy to make, but I like them.  And the price is right for this sweet drink, since all of the ingredients are rather inexpensive to buy, especially if you get cheap vodka!