Favourite Christmas Cocktails

Everyone loves a tipple at Christmas, right? I’m not a big drinker anymore, it just doesn’t agree with me on a regular basis, but I love going out to celebrate, cocktails and mixers at Christmas time and of course, Baileys and any creamy liqueur. One thing you won’t see on this list is mulled wine because I don’t like it, and it’s my list! Always remember to add the ice first, or put all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with the ice and shake away.

Here are eight of my favourite cocktails and recipes for Christmas time:

Snowball

It’s got to be done, hasn’t it?

• 10-15ml lime juice or lime cordial, (optional)
• 50ml advocaat
• 50ml sparkling lemonade
• ice, to serve
• 1 maraschino cherry to garnish

Bloody Mary

This is one of my husband’s festive favourites, especially on boxing day.

• A large handful of ice
• 100ml vodka
• 500ml tomato juice
• 1 tbsp lemon juice, plus 2 slices to serve
• few shakes of Worcestershire sauce
• few shakes of Tabasco sauce
• pinch celery salt
• pinch black pepper
• 2 celery sticks, to serve

Place the ice in a large jug or cocktail shaker. Measure the vodka, tomato juice and lemon juice and pour it straight onto the ice. Add 3 shakes of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco to taste and a pinch of celery salt and pepper. Stir to mix, then strain the cocktail into 2 tall glasses. Top up the glasses with fresh ice, add a celery stick and lemon slice (optional) to both glasses and enjoy.

Eggnog

• 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out
• 4 eggs, separated
• 100ml sugar syrup
• 100ml double cream
• 500ml whole milk
• 100-150ml brandy
• ice

Put the vanilla seeds in a large bowl and add the egg yolks and sugar syrup. Beat with an electric whisk until pale (takes about 2-3 minutes). Add the cream, milk, and brandy, and beat again until combined. Strain into a punch bowl.

Clean the beaters you used for the yolks, then beat the egg whites in a clean bowl to soft peaks. Fold a third of the whipped egg whites into your mixture in the punch bowl, then add the remaining whipped egg whites. Gently fold these in until the eggnog is fluffy and smooth. Chill until ready to serve. Just before serving, add plenty of ice, then stir gently and ladle into glasses.

Buck’s Fizz

• 100ml orange juice
• 200ml champagne

You can adjust the orange juice amount to suit your taste.

Aperol spritz

• handful of ice
• 50ml Aperol liqueur or apple sourz
• 90ml dry prosecco
• 15ml sparkling water
• Cinnamon stick to garnish

Add the ice to the glasses and combine the ingredients together in a cocktail shaker then serve. Add a cinnamon stick for garnish if you like to give it a festive flavour.

Festive punch

• a bunch of red grapes
• 750ml prosecco
• 1L cloudy apple juice
• Ice
• 250ml sloe gin
• 50ml herbal liqueur (like jaegermaister)
• 1 ball stem ginger, finely sliced plus 2 tbsp of the syrup
• 3-4 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 clementine, finely sliced

The day before you want to serve, freeze the grapes for around 8-12 hrs or until frozen. Chill the prosecco and apple juice in the fridge.

When you’re ready to serve, put the frozen grapes and a generous handful of ice in a large 2-3 litre punch bowl and pour all of the remaining ingredients on top. Stir gently to combine, then serve. You can always make an alcohol-free version for the kids too, just don’t get them mixed up!

Home-made Irish cream liqueur

Why not have a go at making your own Baileys-style drink? I don’t think it is any cheaper but you can adjust the ingredients to your taste.

• 300g dulce de leche 
• 1 tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 300ml Irish whiskey
• 284ml and 142ml pot single cream

Spoon the dulce de leche into a bowl, then beat in the coffee, vanilla and whiskey until smooth. Add both pots of cream until well mixed, then pour into a sterilised bottle. It keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks or drink it straight away!

Campari Negroni

• 1 measure of gin
• 1 measure of Campari
• 1/2 measure of sweet vermouth
• orange peel twist to decorate or a slice of orange
• Ice

Put the ice in a mixing glass or cocktail shaker. Pour over the gin, Campari and Vermouth and stir well to mix. Strain into a chilled glass and garnish with the orange.

When I told my husband what I included in this list, he said it sounds like a great party!

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