If you're entertaining guests over Christmas, New Year or just because, a gorgeous cocktail is the perfect way to greet them into your home, not to mention the best way to get the party started. Whether you prefer zesty, sparkly, shaken or stirred, you'll love these recipes for five favourite Winter cocktails that I'm looking forward to sipping over the holidays (including one for the designated driver!).
Mulled Pear & Cranberry Punch
Ingredients
1l pear cider
1l pear (or cloudy apple) juice
1l cranberry juice
good handful fresh or dried cranberries
150ml sloe gin
2 cinnamon sticks
2 vanilla pods, scored lengthways
Method
Put all ingredients into large pan or casserole dish. When ready to serve, heat to just below simmering point and ladle into glasses.
Rose Scented Strawberry Cocktails
Ingredients
100g strawberries, hulled and halved
50g caster sugar
2 tbsp rosewater
chilled bottle of Champagne or prosecco
Method
Blitz the strawberries with the sugar and rosewater in a blender or small food processor to form a purée. Add a spoon or two to each glass, then top up with your choice of chilled bubbly.
Vodka & Cranberry Blush
Ingredients
200ml/7fl oz each vodka and Cointreau
600ml cranberry juice
400ml orange juice
strips of peel from 2-3 limes
crushed ice, to serve
Method
Pour vodka and Cointreau into a jug, add cranberry juice and orange juice, stir well.
Pare strips of peel from 2-3 limes. Fill 12 glasses with the crushed ice, then pour over the cocktail. Finish each glass with a strip of lime peel.
Mulled Wine Cocktail
Ingredients
100g/4oz light muscovado sugar
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
150ml water
1 lemon
2 clementines
150ml Cointreau
750ml/ 1¼pint bottle light red wine, such as Beaujolais
Twist of orange zest and a star anise, to serve
Method
Add 100g light muscovado sugar to pan with 1 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick, 4 cloves and 150ml water. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Simmer for 2 mins, pour into a large jug and leave to cool. Add 1 lemon and 2 clementines, thinly sliced, to jug with 150ml Cointreau and a 750ml bottle light red wine, such as a Beaujolais. Stir well, cover and chill for at least 2 hrs or overnight if poss.
Serve chilled or over ice, with a twist of orange zest and a star anise. Can also be served warm in heatproof glasses.
Winter Punch (alcohol free)
We enjoyed delicious Appletiser mocktails last month at our Juice Women event, which was part of Alcohol Awareness Week, so I experimented and researched and have come up with this beauty! A new personal fave 😊
Ingredients
100g cranberry
100ml/3½fl oz cranberry juice
500ml blood orange juice (Sanguinello)
juice of 1 lime
thin wedges of lime
thin wedges of orange
mint sprigs
600ml Appletiser
Method
Put the cranberries in medium freezer container, cover with water (by about 2.5cm), freeze until solid.
Mix cranberry juice in a large jug with orange and lime juices.
To serve, smash the sheet of frozen cranberries into shards and pop into eight highball glasses. Add a wedge of lime, orange and mint sprig in each glass, pour in the mixed fruit juices and top up with Appletiser.