6 Holiday Cocktail Recipes

Happy New Year! To celebrate, I wanted to share some fun festive cocktail recipes...Enjoy!

Champagne with Strawberries

1 pint lemon sherbet
2 pints strawberries, hulled and sliced
2 cups champagne

Drop scoops of sherbet into 4 tall clear glasses
Top with strawberry slices.
Pour champagne until glasses are full and serve.



Cranberry Champagne Cocktail

1/8 cup vodka
1/4 cup champagne
1/2 cup cranberry juice
1 cup Sierra Mist, 7up, or lime Lacroix (sparkling water)

Combine above quantities over ice and optionally garnish with limes, raspberries or cranberries.



Champagne Julep

1/2 oz ginger syrup
champagne
fresh mint leaves for garnish

Combine the syrup with champagne and garnish with mint leaves



Ryan's Italian Mojito (from Vento in Bay Village)

1 1/2 oz Bacardi
2 lime wheels (wedges?)
10 mint leaves
3/4 oz Campari
2 oz Prosecco
1 oz syrup

Muddle mint and limes in syrup. Pour Bacardi and shake. Top with Campari and Prosecco.



Gluehwein

Traditional German/Austrian spiced wine (warm) drink served during the holidays, often at family gatherings or local Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas markets)

1 cups OJ
1 cup water
2 cinnamon sticks
1 orange
10 whole cloves
2 bottles 750 mL red wine (Cabernet)

In saucepan combine OJ, water, and cinnamon sticks. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer. Cut orange in half, squeeze juice into pot.  Push cloves into outside of orange (into the peel) and place orange halves into pot. Simmer 30 min until thick. Pour in wine and heat, remove clove studded oranges and cinnamon sticks.  Optionally can add orange slices for garnish and keep warm in a crock pot.  Serve in mugs or warmed glasses.



Old Bay Bloody Marys 
(from A Cup of Joe blog, link provided below)
Makes 2 drinks

4 oz vodka (can use cucumber or pepper vodka)
16 oz tomato juice
1 T Worcestershire sauce
Juice of one lemon
2 T olive juice
2 T horseradish
1 t hot sauce
Freshly ground pepper
1 t Old Bay, plus extra for the rim

For the garnish:
2 stalks celery and/or pickles
A few olives
Two lemon slices

Combine all the ingredients - minus the vodka - in a pitcher. Taste and adjust seasoning to preference. Run lemon along rims of each glass. Dip each rim in a dish filled with Old Bay seasoning.
Fill glasses with ice, pour 2 oz. vodka in each, finish with Bloody Mary mix. Garnish with lemon slice, olives, and celery/pickles.

http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-best-bloody-mary-youll-ever-have.html