Festive Drinks

As it is Christmas Eve, the pinnacle of festivities, I thought I would follow on from my previous post ’10 things to… Beat that hangover’ by supplying you with the possible causes to your seasonal headaches.

Here I have some tried and most definitely tested festive drinks recipes to see you through the dinners with distant relatives and screaming cousins or just to give you a little liquid courage to kiss that good-looking individual under the mistletoe.

Orange Hot Chocolate

 Serves: 1

 

Orange and chocolate will forever be a favourite flavour combination of mine, and so it seems, the rest of the country at Christmas time. So given the opportunity to make it boozy? Of course I jumped at the chance!

Ingredients…

 

• 30ml Cointreau (or any other good brand of Triple-sec/orange liqueur)
• 3-4 tsp Orange hot chocolate powder
• Mug full of milk
• Whipped cream (optional)

Method… 

Heat the milk in a jug in the microwave for a minute and a half, stir, and then repeat until the milk is a little too hot to drink. Stir in the power, and add the Cointreau and pour into your favourite mug. Top with whipped cream and prepare to be hit by a warming taste sensation with a little kick.

A 30ml ‘shot’ is a standard measurement, however add as much or as little as you like to fit your taste preference. If you are not a booze fan, you can always make the recipe with melted Terry’s Chocolate Orange, or just the chocolate orange powder on its own.

Or if you are like my Dad and are not a fan of chocolate orange full stop, (sacrilege), then you can substitute the Cointreau for something like dark rum or Bailey’s to keep the kick and add a different flavour.

 

Christmas Cosmopolitan

Serves: 4

 

The traditional has only a few ingredients, this variation adds ginger to make it that little bit more seasonal, and has become a personal favourite of the evening.

Ingredients…

• 200ml Vodka
• 200ml Ginger wine
• 400ml Cranberry juice
• Juice of 2 limes
• Few slices of stem ginger
• Handful of ice

Method…

Shake the vodka, ginger wine, lime, ice and stem ginger together and pour into a glass. Top up with the cranberry juice, garnish and enjoy!!

Frozen Berry Margarita

Serves: 4

 

Mum discovered this seasonal twist on a classic a few weeks ago, and we were all too keen to volunteer ourselves as guinea pigs this evening to test it out. Now I’m fairly sure you are supposed to use white Tequila to make this, but we did not have any to hand, whatever is your preference I am sure will work just as well!

Ingredients…

• 125ml Tequila
• 75ml Cointreau (or again, any other good brand of Triple-sec)
• 225g Frozen mixed berries
• 25g Sugar
• A handful of ice

Method…

To up your classy cocktail levels, rub a wedge of lime round the rim of the glass and dip it in sugar, this not only makes it looks festive and fancy, but also offsets the tart berries.

 

The actual cocktail? Could not be simpler! Place all of the ingredients in a blender, blend until smooth and pour into the glass to serve. (note: we did not have any proper cocktail glasses so a wine glass had to suffice!).

Now I will admit, the recipe was VERY strong, so you might want to adjust the quanities, other than that, after a few sips, I am fairly sure this was the best cocktail I have ever made…

So all that is left to say is MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you all have a wonderful festive season and I will hopefully see you all in the New Year. x