Almond Joy Shot

Malibu, amaretto, and cream — the Almond Joy (Peter Paul, 1946; Hershey, 1988), Malibu (c. 1980) and Disaronno's benzaldehyde providing coconut and almond.

The Almond Joy Shot is a novelty dessert shooter inspired by the Almond Joy candy bar, which has been produced since 1946 when the Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company of Naugatuck, Connecticut launched it as a companion to its existing Mounds bar (dark chocolate and coconut without almonds, introduced in 1920). The Almond Joy's specific formula — milk chocolate coating over a coconut filling topped with two whole almonds — was Peter Paul's version of the chocolate-coconut-almond combination that the candy's tagline sometimes called "indescribably delicious." Hershey acquired the Peter Paul brand in 1988, and Almond Joy remains one of the company's standard bar products. The shot replicates the candy's flavor architecture directly: coconut rum (most commonly Malibu, produced from Caribbean rum and coconut liqueur since its introduction by Malibu Beach, Inc. in Barbados around 1980) provides both the rum spirit base and the coconut character; amaretto — the Italian almond liqueur most commonly associated with Disaronno, produced in Saronno, Italy and whose apricot-kernel-derived benzaldehyde provides the almond flavor — approximates the nut's aromatic quality; and a measure of cream or cream liqueur provides the dairy richness of the chocolate coating. The combination produces a flavor impression of the candy that is as accurate as any dessert shot achieves.