Easy to make Christmas Drinks and Cocktails - Perfect for the festive season

Christmas season is the perfect time of year and ‘excuse’ to dabble in a little extra festive cheer. It’s the time of year when we cherish our family and friendships even more and there’s no better way to celebrate than creating some Christmas drinks and cocktails.

We have included some traditional drink experiences for you below, as well as some you may want to experiment with. It doesn’t matter if you’ve made them before, even if you’re a complete novice, it’s all about getting together and enjoying each others company.

Like many alcoholic drinks, mulled wine was the drink of choice four hundred years ago. Why do you ask? Because water was not the safest drink back in the 16th century when the Black Death was around.

Enough about the history of mulled wine, let’s create your first festive drink.

How to make Traditional Mulled Wine

Ingredients

Serves…. well, enough for you and a friend, maybe a couple more.

1 x 750ml bottle of red wine 5 x Cloves 3 x Strips of lemon zest 1 x Cinnamon stick 2 x Star anise 4 x Tablespoons of caster sugar

Method

Start by inviting family or friends around, this is a key step to create the perfect drink. Then add all the above ingredients to a large pot and heat at a low temperature for 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let it cool for around 30 minutes allowing the spices to infuse. Then place your pot back on the heat to warm the wine through again – make sure you don’t boil it.

Serve in your favourite mugs or heatproof glasses and enjoy your festive season.

You can add some lemon thyme flowers as a decorative floral element along with a cinnamon stick and star anise.

If you don’t drink all your mulled wine, you can keep it in the fridge for 24 hours, we are guessing you’ll probably finish it off with your friends the day you make it.

But if you don’t, why not create a mulled wine cocktail and invite everyone back for round two.

Ingredients

Serves 1

50ml of dark rum 50ml of mulled wine, cold Ice cubes Ginger ale

Method

Half fill a shaker with the ice cubes, then add the dark rum and chilled mulled wine - seal and shake well for 30 seconds. Pour the contents of the shaker, including the ice, into a tall glass and top up with ginger ale. How easy is that?

Add some edible flowers as a garnish and your friends and family will be singing deck the halls.

Ingredients

serves 6

4 eggs
6 tablespoons of sugar
4 ½ cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Method

Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend well.

That’s it, so simple, just chill and serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Did you say where’s the alcohol? I know right, if you want that extra warm festive glow, add a touch of rum. You can also substitute out a cup of milk for heavy cream for a thicker, richer drink.

Add a mint leaf or two as a garnish or some lavender petals. Lavender is a genus of flowering plant in the mint family and may calm the stress from holiday season (along with the rum).

This recipe contains raw egg. It’s recommended that pregnant women, young children, the elderly, and the infirm do not consume raw egg.

Ingredients

Serves 1

60ml Advocaat
60ml Sparkling lemonade
Ice
Lime juice or lime cordial (optional)

Method

Fill a glass with ice. If you want to add lime, now is the time. Pour the lemonade and advocaat over the ice and gently stir until chilly.

Garnish with a cherry and hold your ‘snowball fighting champion’ trophy high.

Ingredients

Serves 10-12

1L tonic water
500ml cranberry juice
250ml your favourite Gin
2 tbsp orange juice
2 Sprigs of fresh thyme
Fresh cranberries, sugar, and rosemary sprigs to garnish

Method

Add the gin to a large bowl with the thyme. Crush the thyme to release its flavour and leave for a few minutes.

Remove the thyme. Add orange and cranberry juice, then stir in the tonic water.

Prepare a jug with ice and pour in your concoction.

To prepare you glasses for this amazing brew you can sugar dip the rims and add a sprig of rosemary to complete your festive creation.

How to sugar dip a glass rim.

Dip the tops of your glasses in water and shake off the excess, they only need to be damp. Then dip in a dinner plate of sugar and twist to make sure the rim is covered.

ngredients

Serves 5-7

125ml clementine gin
750ml prosecco
Edible gold sprinkles for a festive touch

Method

Around half an hour before you are ready to serve put your jug and glasses in the fridge to chill.

When you are ready to serve, add the gin and some gold sparkles to the jug then top up with prosecco. It’s that simple. Be careful, the clementine royal packs a punch.

Ingredients

Serves around 24 shots

4 gelatine leaves
4 freshly squeezed lemons or oranges
2 1/2 Cups water
1 1/2 Cups sugar
1 1/2 Cups vodka and 1/2 cup of Cointreau

Method

Heat the gelatine, lemon or orange juice, water, and sugar until it’s completely dissolved (around 5-10 minutes). Let this mixture cool slightly before adding the alcohol.

Pour your jelly mix into shot glasses and add some edible flowers to complete your perfect festive creation. Place them in the fridge overnight ready for your festive get together.

We love the citrus flavour this time of year, however, you can add whatever flavour you like - just take out the Cointreau and use two cups of vodka.