Raise a Glass! 3 flavorful and festive holiday drinks

As November comes to a close, we put away the beautiful and bountiful reminders of the fall harvest and make room for our final celebration of the year.

The season we call, “The Festive Season.”

Every year, as the holiday season approaches, we get pretty excited and start to feel the special magic that fills the air.

Some years it seems to happen almost spontaneously as we see the red, green, white, blue and silver of the season show up in displays across our cities.

Other years it takes a bit of nudging for us to catch the warm and welcoming holiday spirit. But whether we catch the feeling of the season early or later it always seems to touch us and with it comes joy.

The winter holidays are a time for cherished traditions, joyful gatherings, and of course food and drink that add an extra sparkle to our celebrations.

This blog post focuses on three very special drink recipes, each one adding an extra layer of joy to our celebrations and a touch of warmth and good cheer to our holiday festivities.

So grab a cup of whatever, and let’s drive into the wonderful world of holiday drinks. We hope our short drink list shows you, with just a few ingredients and a bit of time, each sip can be a celebration in itself!

Oh, by the way, I don’t drink alcohol. Beth does. So, throughout our list Beth will add the splash of spirits and I’ll suggest the nonalcoholic way to add a little “jingle to the juice!” (Don’t us just love corny holiday humor!?)

Let's get started with:

The POINSETTA - courtesy of a couple of cooks. This is a beautiful cocktail showcasing the vibrant red of the season. Calling for only three ingredients, and no special equipment, this is an easy one to put together. Pop a few cranberries to float on top and you’ve got one beautiful drink.

The Ingredients:

2 tablespoons Cointreau (or other orange liqueur)

4 tablespoons 100% cranberry juice (UNSWEETENED)

½ glass chilled champagne

The Instructions:

Place the Cointreau and COLD cranberry juice in a champagne flute. Top off the glass with champagne (no need to measure.) Garnish with cranberries and serve. Of course, you can also make a large batch of Cointreau and cranberry juice ahead if serving a group. When ready to serve, simply measure out 6 tablespoons of the mixture in the glass and add the champagne.

BETH ADDS THE ALCOHOL – Beth thinks this would also be delish with another type of sparking wine like Asti instead of champagne.

PENNY ADDS THE JINGLE – I would hold the booze and add a generous squeeze of fresh orange juice to the cranberry juice and add this mixture to sparkling water or better yet, cold ginger ale.

GINGERBREAD SPICED COCKTAIL - This original recipe comes to us courtesy of Delish. If you don’t have time to execute the original recipe, our version is easier, and we think, equally delicious. For both Beth and me, our favorite flavor of the season, is hands down, the warm spices of gingerbread. If you love it as much as we do, we urge you to try this one.

The ingredients:

Ice

2 Tablespoons Gingerbread Ice Cream

1 ounce Bailys Irish Cream

1 ounce vodka

½ ounce Kahlua

The Instructions:

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine ice cream, Baileys, vodka, and Kahlua. Cover and vigorously shake until the outside of shaker is very frosty, about 20 seconds.

Strain cocktail into prepared glass. Note: it’s really cute to add a generous dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon as a garnish. If you really want to go uber festive add a little gingerbread person to the mound of whipped cream.

Beth loves the alcohol mix in this one. She wouldn't change a thing. She said she'd simply add a straw! (Beth humor)

Penny adds the jingle: I would make this delicious drink with an eggnog base and gingerbread ice cream. You could either serve the drink like a float, with eggnog over the ice cream or soften the ice cream and mix it in the eggnog. If this was for adults, I’d add one tablespoon of cold coffee or espresso to mimic the flavor of the Kahlua. Garnish with whipped cream and a cookie.

Jolly Holly Holiday Punch

It doesn’t take much during the holidays to look around your home and realize you’re about to feed a crowd. With out-of-town family and friends, neighbors and co-workers visiting, suddenly individual drinks served in small glasses need to be replaced with pitchers or punchbowls so your guests can serve themselves. This is a beautiful punch, adapted from the Pioneer Woman that goes from alcoholic to non-alcoholic in a snap. Of course, this recipe can be doubled or tripled to fit your expanding crowd.

THE INGREDIENTS

3 cups unsweetened pomegranate juice

1 cup of orange juice

1 cup of pineapple juice

2-inch knob of fresh ginger peeled and sliced

25-ounce bottle of sparkling apple juice, such as Martinelli’s

THE INSTRUCTIONS

Combine all the fruit juices and the peeled and sliced ginger in a vessel. Let this mixture sit in the refrigerator overnight or for 24 hours

When it’s party time simply take the juice mixture and ginger from the fridge. Remove the ginger slices. Put the juice mixture in your party bowl and add the full amount of sparkling apple juice. Stir and enjoy.

Of course you can add ice and a garnish of your choice.

Beth adds the alcohol – Beth thinks this punch would truly come alive with a generous splash of vodka.

Penny adds the jingle – the sparkling apple juice is wonderful. But another way to enhance the flavor of the blend of juices and ginger, is to use non-alcoholic ginger beer – that would be a real treat.

We promised you three recipes. But In keeping with the generous spirit of the holidays, here’s an final recipe you might also want to try:

Peppermint Hot Chocolate (follow the link for the short recipe)

Penny adds the jingle– Of course you can purchase the cocoa readymade or make it from a dry mix from any grocery store. Hint: If you’re making the hot chocolate from a dry mix, instead of using fresh milk, make the cocoa with evaporated milk. A true game-changer – it’s rich and delicious. Don’t forget to add a drop or two of peppermint extract. Or simply add a candy cane.

Beth adds the alcohol – where peppermint hot chocolate is delicious so is hot chocolate with a splash of bourbon, or Baily’s Irish Cream. For a truly special treat Chambord is heavenly.