Christmas Eve: Hot Toddy
As we’re bombarded with snow and ice, there’s nothing better than
snuggling up under your duvet with a Christmas film of your choice (if
it doesn’t feature ninja Santas, you’re just wrong though) and a nice
warm drink. So why not make it a bit alcoholic at the same time? The hot
toddy is a drink that has been around for years, apparently brought
over to Scotland through the East India Company. A mix of alcohol and
spices with a bit of lemon juice it was, for a long time, considered a
suitable cold/flu cure but is now just a pretty tasty nightcap. As you
wait for Santa to finish his rounds like a much more reliable postman, a
hot toddy is a perfect Christmas Eve drink. Stupidly easy to make, you
can knock up a couple of glasses in just a few minutes.Ingredients:
150ml whisky
200ml water
1 tablespoon of runny honey
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
8 cloves
• Place all the above ingredients into a small pan and stir until simmering and your kitchen smells a bit spicy and wintery.
• If you’re a bit more extravagant and have any cinnamon sticks, pop them in the pan as the drink starts to simmer a bit.
• Pour all resulting concoction into a few mugs and add the cinnamon sticks.
• Sit down with your flatmates and just watch Jingle All The Way at least five times in a row.
Christmas morning: Let It Snow
If you want to class up your Christmas party, why not serve your guests this cocktail? Easy to make, it can instantly turn your party from a National Lampoon failure to something from a James Bond film, minus the espionage and constant threats of terrorism while you’re trying drink. Served in a martini glass with a little candy cane garnish, it’s minty and it’s vodka-y (a proper technical term) with a little bit of lemon. It takes a bit more effort than the other cocktails, since it involves a bit of muddling. That doesn’t involve you throwing your cocktail shaker about in the mud for a little bit, you just need to use the back of a heavy spoon to smash the mint leaves up a bit to release a more minty flavour. Luckily, it is probably the cheapest to make since nearly everyone has some vodka and lemonade in their house and a pack of fresh mint leaves is really cheap in supermarkets. Looks really nice and is pretty cheap; worth the extra effort I’d say!Ingredients:
50ml Vodka
5 fresh mint leaves
Ice cubes
Lemonade
Tiny mint candy canes for garnish
• Pour your vodka into the cocktail shaker (with a strainer so you don’t get stray mint leave bits in the drink) and add your mint leaves.
• Muddle your mint leaves with the back of a spoon to bash the minty flavours out to make it all Polo like.
• Fill the rest of the shaker with ice cubes, pop the lid of the shaker on (making sure it’s on properly so drink doesn’t just fly everywhere) and shake it like a Polaroid picture (hurray for way out-dated musical references).
• Strain it into your cocktail glass and top it up with your lemonade and pop your candy cane in the glass as garnish.
Pre-Christmas Dinner: Santa Baby
Be it your flat Christmas dinner or your family Christmas dinner, this cocktail is perfect as a little fun cocktail before you tuck into your £10 Aldi dinner or one that your mum prepared where the turkey probably cost more than your entire flat dinner did. Suitable for adults and kids (just replace the vodka with a bit more juice because you’re responsible), it looks a bit like Santa’s hat which is always nice for a bit novelty when you’re fed up of yet another glass of some plonk from the corner shop. The mix of cranberry and orange juice keeps it both fruity and a bit festive while the vodka helps to make listening to your uncle’s re-telling of his venture into the world of banking for the fourth time or the screaming cousins being little terrors go down a little bit easier.Ingredients:
25ml Vodka
50ml cranberry juice
25ml orange juice
Ice cubes
Granulated sugar to rim the glass
• Dip the rim of your cocktail glass into water, then the plate of granulated sugar to make the edge of your glass look like the fluffy bit of Santa’s hat.
• Pour the vodka, cranberry juice and orange juice into your cocktail shaker and fill it up with ice cubes.
• Shake hard and strain it into your proper fancy decorated cocktail glass.
Boxing Day Morning: Bloody Mary Christmas
Boxing Day. You drank too much. Your Nan drank too much. Your little cousins have worn themselves out by running around the house on a chocolate coin sugar high. Your head probably feels like it’s been cracked open. That boozy Christmas pudding probably didn’t help your case either. Whilst Bloody Marys probably don’t alleviate hangovers as is commonly suggested, there’s nothing quite like the hair of the dog with a few dashes of cupboard essentials (at least if you really really love cheese on toast) and tomato juice (which barely anyone has in their cupboard but is not that expensive). With a huge celery stalk left over from the Christmas buffet because, when you have breadsticks as well, celery gets overlooked like Pippa Middleton next to Kate, you have yourself an impromptu stirring implement and, with a post-Christmas nap, you’ll be right as rain in no time.Ingredients:
50ml vodka
½ lemon for juice
6 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
3 dashes of Tabasco sauce
150ml tomato juice
Ice cubes
Salt and black pepper
• Place the ice cubes in a tall glass and add the vodka.
• Add the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce and tomato juice. Stir well.
• Add salt and pepper to taste and drink that right up to ease that nasty nasty hangover.
