5 Christmas cocktails you can make at home
Sparkling wine, warm punch and mulled wine are all on the menu as we enter the Christmas party period.
While bars and restaurants will be swapping in some festive alternatives to their usual cocktail menu, why not give it a go yourself this season?
It may seem a bit daunting but you don’t need any equipment or special skills, and you’ll probably have most of the ingredients in your cupboards already.
Here are five wonderfully simple and yummy cocktails you can make at home.
1. Mocha Espresso Martini
Ingredients
1 shot of chilled Tia Maria
1 shot of chilled vodka
1 shot (75ml) of good coffee, cooled
1 tbsp of chocolate ice cream
Method
Mix the Tia Maria, vodka and coffee together until you have a creamy, golden-coloured combination.
Scoop a spoon of ice cream into the centre of a champagne glass.
Pour the martini around the ice cream until you can see the ice cream ‘iceberg’ rise to the centre of the glass.
Recipe by Wren Kitchens.
2. Sloe Gin Toddy
If gin is your normal tipple, then this is the cocktail for you.
Ingredients
30ml Hayman’s Sloe Gin
1 tsp honey
4 whole cloves
Pinch of cinnamon
Hot water
Whole orange
Method
Add the honey and spices to a heat-proof glass or mug.
Pour in hot water leaving room for the Sloe Gin.
Add the Sloe Gin and squeeze in orange, stir until the honey is melted.
Serve with a cinnamon stick to garnish.
Recipe by Haymans.
3. Red Robin
This rum and winter berry number is sure to perk you up.
The recipe and method couldn’t be simpler.
Ingredients
35ml Golden rum
15ml Belvoir Spiced Winter Berries Cordial
75ml Red grape juice
Orange & lemon peel
Grated nutmeg & cinnamon
Method
Warm ingredients in a pan and serve hot… Simple.
Recipe by Belvoir Fruit Farms.
4. Hot Cider Buttered Rum
This recipe encompasses all things Christmas.
Just imagine yourself curled up by the fire, with a mug of this in your hands.
Ingredients
85g butter, slightly softened
200g brown sugar
¾tsp cinnamon
¼tsp nutmeg
¼tsp allspice
¼tsp sea salt
1tsp vanilla extract
2tsp honey
Dark or spiced rum
Staffordshire Brewery Whisky Toddy Cider
Cinnamon sticks (optional)
Method
Make the buttered rum batter by mixing together the butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, sea salt and vanilla until well combined.
Add the brown sugar and honey and mix well.
Place the batter in an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.
To create each finished cocktail, add two teaspoons of the batter into a mug with 25ml of rum and fill with warm cider.
Garnish with a cinnamon stick and serve.
Recipe by Cottage Delight.
5. End of the Earth
Whilst coconut and pineapple say Caribbean, marshmallows say Christmas.
This is a fantastic fusion of the two.
Ingredients
20ml Coconut Puree
15ml Vanilla Syrup, like Marie Brizard
15ml Lemon Juice
25ml Pineapple Juice
22.5ml Bacardi Superior
22.5ml Coconut Rum, like Koko Kanu
Garnish: Pineapple wedge, desiccated coconut and marshmallows
Method
Combine all ingredients together into a shaker and shake hard.
Strain into an Old Fashioned glass over crushed ice.
Top with pineapple and marshmallow skewer.
Recipe by The Trading House.
Bryony is a journalist and major foodie. She writes about food and health over at www.abellyfullof.com.
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