What’s cooking? Holiday cocktails
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| Clockwise from far left: Cranberry Sauce Punch, Holiday French 75, Pink Pom-Pom, Classic Champagne Cocktail, Rosemary Cranberry Margarita, Cranberry Pink Pomegranate Margarita |
Getting into the holiday spirit is a lot easier if you actually start with spirits. In my neighborhood in Texas, we have an annual celebration for which we rotate hosting duties, and all the “cheffy” types contribute their specialties for the crowd. The Kitchen Goddess naturally supplies a batch of her decorated roll-out cookies, but it has been settled on me to also recommend a holiday cocktail. As is my wont, I try to make a big deal out of little, so I hold a “tasting” for a few of the ladies, at which we sample my collected ideas and choose a winner. Nothing like a party to prepare for a party.
This year, I went a little overboard (surprise, surprise) and found 6(!) candidates to be judged. You can imagine that, by the end of the tasting, we agreed that all of them had merit, but we went with number 5 (more on that later), as being not just tasty but also working without the alcohol for the teetotalers among us. We had to fess up to those folks that we couldn’t make it without the Cointreau, but no one seemed to mind.
As the season is all about sharing, I offer the lot of these cocktails to you, dear readers. You could even have a tasting of your own! (If you do, please let me know your winner.) So here they all are, in no particular order other than the order in which I presented them.
Classic Champagne Cocktail
from The New York Times (June 2024)
I started with the simplest and – in my opinion – the most sophisticated. According to Chilled Magazine, the classic champagne cocktail goes at least as far back as 1862, when it appeared in Jerry Thomas’s 1862 Bartender’s Guide. The drink has made glamorous appearances in film, notably Casablanca, when Victor Laszlo and Ilsa order a round at Rick’s Café (Rick himself gets a French 75), and An Affair to Remember, when Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr share pink champagne cocktails during their shipboard romance.
Serves as many as you have champagne flutes.
1 sugar cube (or 1 teaspoon granulated or Demerara sugar)
4-6 dashes Angostura bitters (enough to saturate the cube)
4-5 ounces champagne or other dry sparkling wine, such as Cava
Garnish: Long, thin lemon twist
1. Chill your champagne flutes. (Not really necessary, but whatever...)
2. Add a sugar cube to each flute.
3. Douse each cube with bitters, then top slowly with champagne. (Slowly, because the sugar will cause the bubbly to be extra bubbly.)
4. Garnish with lemon twists.
Serve in a champagne flute.
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Pink Pom-Pom
from Cocktail Chameleon, by Mark Addison
Mr. Addison describes this drink as a “refined combination of elderflower and grapefruit flavors,” to produce a delicate balance of sweet and tart. The lemon-infused vodka, which is easy to make and might even improve in flavor on the commercial stuff, adds a “zesty brightness” to the drink. And the champagne keeps it refreshingly light. It’s flavorful and pretty, especially with the pomegranate seed garnish.
½ ounce St. Germain elderflower liqueur
½ ounce lemon vodka* (see below for how-to)
1 ounce red grapefruit juice
4 ounces brut champagne, chilled
Garnish: 5-7 pomegranate seeds
1. Fill a shaker with ice and add the liqueur, vodka, and juice, shaking until well chilled.
2. Strain into a flute and top with champagne.
3. Garnish with pomegranate seeds.
Or, if you are serving more than one, combine the quantities of liqueur, vodka, and juice ahead of time, and refrigerate. When ready, pour 2 ounces of the mix into each flute and top with the champagne.
Serve in champagne flutes.
*Kitchen Goddess how-to on the lemon vodka: If you want to commit an entire bottle of premium vodka to the project, pour it into a one-quart mason jar and add 1 cup of lemon zest. For smaller batches, combine 12½ ounces of vodka with ½ cup of zest, or 6 ounces of vodka with ¼ cup of zest. Seal the jar and shake it, then set aside in a cool, dark spot for 3 days. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth and discard the solids. Store in a cool, dark spot for up to a year.
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Pink Pomegranate Margarita
from Superman Cooks blog (supermancooks.com)
As celebratory as it is to serve champagne, a margarita also lends itself to creative variations, and is a great way to start the evening. These were a big hit at a Kitchen Goddess dinner party. I took time the day before and added red food coloring to my rimming salt; the effect of the red salt with the green lime zest brought out the “Ho-ho-ho” in everyone.
2 ounces of your favorite tequila
1 ounce triple sec or any orange liqueur
1½ ounces fresh squeezed lime juice*
1½ ounces unsweetened pomegranate juice
1 teaspoon simple syrup**
¼ cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon lime zest
4-5 pomegranate seeds
Lime wheel
*Kitchen Goddess note: Before juicing your limes, use a zester to remove just the outer green skin and set aside. It’s really hard to zest an already squeezed lime, and you’ll need that zest for the salt rim. To get the most juice from the limes, roll them on a hard surface before juicing.
**Kitchen Goddess note on simple syrup: Combine 1 cup water with 1 cup sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring only until the sugar has completely dissolved. Once the mixture reaches a boil, remove it from the heat and let cool. Refrigerate in a tightly sealed jar for up to 2 months. (I have actually kept it for several months to no disadvantage.) Simple sugar is an essential ingredient in many bar drinks, so it never hurts to have some on hand.
1. For a single drink, add tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, pomegranate juice and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker. Fill the shaker with ice, place the top on the shaker, and shake vigorously for 20 seconds.
Alternatively, if you are serving a group, combine multiples of those same ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate. This is easy to do a day ahead of time. The Kitchen Goddess served this cocktail to a dinner group of 6, and it was so popular, I was glad I had made enough for more than one drink per person.
2. Mix the kosher salt and lime zest in a shallow dish large enough to dip the top of the glass in.
3. Using a lime wedge, wet the rim of the glass and dip the glass into the salt/zest mixture.
4. Fill the rimmed glass with ice and strain the margarita over the ice. Garnish with more lime zest, pomegranate seeds, and a lime wheel.
Serve in a small rocks/old fashioned cocktail glass (6-8 oz).
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Cranberry Sauce Punch
from Cocktail Chameleon, by Mark Addison
This is the most labor-intensive of the drinks, so you can imagine I did not encourage the voting for it. But everyone agreed that the taste was quite nice. So I won’t discourage you from trying it. The cooked cranberry-spice mixture gives this cocktail an extra holiday flavor (Thanksgiving or Christmas), and the recipe makes enough for 8. I would definitely cook the cranberry-spice mixture (steps 1-4) a day ahead and refrigerate it combined with the orange juice.
½ cup frozen cranberries
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 cloves
1 star anise pod
1 cardamom pod (optional)
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
3 cups fresh orange juice, separated
1 bottle chilled champagne
1. In a small saucepan, combine the cranberries, sugar, spices, water, and orange zest, and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring often to keep the mix from sticking to the pan. Remove the mix from the heat and cool completely.
3. Add 1½ cups orange juice to the pan and stir to combine, scraping down the sides.
4. Strain the mix into a tall pitcher or quart-sized jar, add the remaining orange juice, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
5. To serve, pour 2½ ounces of the cranberry-orange juice mix into each glass and top with 2½ ounces of chilled champagne.
Serve in a wine glass.
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Rosemary-Cranberry Margarita
from Food & Wine Magazine (November 2024)
Most people associate margaritas with Cinco de Mayo. This winterized riff on the classic combo of lime, orange, and tequila, gets its warmth from the added flavors of woodsy rosemary and tart cranberry. (If you like a lighter colored drink, use white cranberry juice.) Our tasting committee found it delightful, but VERY boozy. So in order to serve it at our holiday party, we added a couple of ounces of club soda to each drink, and it was perfect. A huge hit.
For the rosemary simple syrup:
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup water
3 4-inch rosemary sprigs
For the cocktail:
1½ ounces blanco tequila
¾ ounce unsweetened cranberry juice
½ ounce orange liqueur (such as Cointreau)
½ ounce lime juice, plus lime wedge
½ ounce rosemary simple syrup
Garnishes:
4 tablespoons granulated sugar plus 2 tablespoons kosher salt
rosemary sprigs
fresh cranberries, or sugared cranberries (recipe at the end of this post)
1. Make the rosemary simple syrup, even a day or two ahead: Stir together the sugar, the water, and the rosemary in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer over medium-low, then simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture is syrupy and rosemary has wilted, 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool completely, about 20 minutes. (If making ahead of time, remove rosemary sprigs, and store syrup in an airtight container in the refrigerator.)
2. Make the rimming mixture: The F&W writer suggests rubbing the rosemary leaves into the sugar/salt mix with your fingers to get the oils to release, but the Kitchen Goddess got the same result ahead of time and without ruining her manicure by combining the sugar and salt in a lidded plastic container with a rosemary sprig, adding the lid, and shaking the whole thing for about a minute. Then let it sit until serving time. When you’re ready to serve, toss the rosemary sprig and pour the sugar/salt mix into a saucer, rub the rim of a rocks glass with the lime wedge, and dip the glass rim into the sugar/salt mixture. Fill glass with ice and set aside.
3. Make the cocktail: Combine tequila, cranberry juice, orange liqueur, lime juice, and rosemary simple syrup in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until well chilled, about 20 seconds.
3. Strain cocktail into prepared rocks glass. Garnish with rosemary sprig and fresh cranberries.
To batch this cocktail in advance, stir together 1½ cups tequila, ¾ cup cranberry juice, ½ cup orange liqueur, ½ cup lime juice, and ½ cup rosemary simple syrup in a large pitcher. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes (overnight is good). Serves 8.
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| I served this to a group of friends for our annual Christmas lunch. Happy Holidays to all! |
Holiday French 75 (a.k.a. Holiday Spritz)
from Food & Wine Magazine (November 2024)
“A Mimosa, a French 75, and an Aperol Spritz walk into a bar...” That’s how Food & Wine Magazine described this cocktail, and if that doesn’t intrigue you, well.... The drink was in fact inspired by a group of classic brunch drinks; it’s bright and citrusy, with a touch of effervescence.
The freshness of the Holiday 75 flavor profile comes by combining citrusy, acidic ingredients in balance. The bitterness of the Aperol cuts through sparkling wine and simple syrup; lemon and orange juices bring mouthwatering acidity and an ultra-fresh edge, and a citrusy gin like Tanqueray provides a boozy backbone.
And by the way, this is a drink that works well to accompany a Christmas pancake-and-bacon brunch.
1 ounce orange juice
¾ ounce gin
½ ounce Aperol
½ ounce lemon juice
½ ounce simple syrup (See directions under Pink Pomegranate Margarita)
2 ounces dry sparkling wine, such as Cava, chilled*
1. Combine orange juice, gin, Aperol, lemon juice, and simple syrup in an ice-filled wine glass. Stir to combine.
2. Top with sparkling wine and garnish with orange slice.
The Holiday 75 can be partially batched in advance for a crowd. To make 8 servings, combine 1 cup orange juice, 3/4 cup gin, and ½ cup each of Aperol, lemon juice, and simple syrup in an airtight container. Chill the mixture in the fridge, even overnight.
When ready to serve, pour 3-4 ounces of the refrigerated mix into ice-filled wine glasses. Add 2 ounces of sparkling wine directly to each glass when ready to serve. Garnish with orange slice.
Serve in a wine glass.
*Kitchen Goddess note on dry sparkling wine: You could use champagne for the Holiday 75, but why would you? For half to a third of the price, you can get a nice Cava (Spanish). Why not Prosecco (Italian)? Both are sparkling wines, but they differ in production method, grape varieties, and flavor profile. For the consumer, you should know that Cava is drier and more complex than Prosecco, with notes of green apple and pear. Prosecco is sweeter and fresher, with primary fruit aromas. With all that citrus already in the cocktail, the dryness of a Cava will provide better balance.
