14th December: Traditional and Crazy Christmassy Cocktails

I know this post is a little bit late because its not the 16th, but this is like leaving some chocolates in your Advent calendar and then eating three days of them in one go, good times. I have also updated my post about decorating my Christmas tree and my Grandma's, so please have a peek here, if you enjoy glittery baubles, lots of beads, a cat dressed up and an awful lot of lights. Also don't forget to enter my online design a Christmas jumper competition to win a goodie bag of fabulous prizes! You can find the details and enter it here at: 12 Days of Christmas Jumpers.

 Christmas is full of giving presents, stuffing your face with food and chucking sweet wrappers at your snoozing party hat wearing relative, or is that just me? But we all know what Christmas is really about, drinking yourself silly. Christmas day is one of the rare days in a year that you can have buck's fizz for breakfast and lots of mulled wine during the rest of the day, without people thinking you need to go to an AA meeting.
Let's face it in some ways we use drink as a numbing way to get through Christmas, either that's the really boring office party or getting through Christmas day sitting next to your incredibly boring uncle that just wants to talk about his fishing trips. Of course we can go too far with it and be regretting that drunken kiss with that guy at work, the one with the cheesy jokes and who smells of wet dog. Its even worse if they text you all Christmas telling you all they want for Christmas is you and chase you around the office with a piece of mistletoe trying to kiss you at every available opportunity, maybe you won't go in to work on that report in between Christmas and New Year.

There are a range of drinks we all drink around Christmas time, including eating an awful lot of chocolate liqueurs. In my house my Daddy Second Hand Rose likes to release his inner bartender and takes charge of doing the drinks. He particularly likes shaking the cocktail shaker whilst trying to do gymnastics with it, yeah the stain still hasn't come out of the carpet from last year. We get presented with a drink in a cocktail glass, with a cherry and an umbrella, Del Boy eat your heart out. So every week before Christmas I get asked to dig out the 20 page cocktail list we have and find out what juices we will need for our range of cocktails. We don't just get one juice, oh no we have pineapple, orange, cranberry and lime juice. Our cocktails do seem to end up being more juicey then alcoholy, us having the bottles from three years ago that are still half full kind of prove this.
So what's your favourite drink to have over Christmas? Do you love mulled wine, a tumbler of whiskey after Christmas dinner, a swanky cocktail, a glass of eggnog, a snowball with your Grandma or just scoff the whole box of chocolate liqueurs like me?

Now just call me your Christmas Cocktail Queen, I have recipes for you for every Christmas themed cocktail you could imagine. Everyone, get some pen and paper and start writing a shopping list

So, if you want to get on the right side of your Grandma over Christmas or at least stop her talking about her next door neighbour's new fence, you can use this traditional recipe to fix her a Snowball, a guaranteed popular drink for the over 60's. There are many versions of this, but this is the safe version so you don't get your 80 year old  grandma completely drunk and have to listen to her rendition of 'Mistletoe and Wine' all day.

The shopping list (sadly not shoes):

- 1 lime, juice and zest only or 0.25 measure of lime juice

- 2 1/2 measures of Advocat

-Cold lemonade

-2 Cocktail cherries

What you do:

-Shake the Advocat and lime juice together or stir it in a mixing glass.

-Pour into an ice filled highball glass.

-Top up with lemonade, a slice of lime, lemon or orange whatever your grandma favours.

-Add a Father Christmas umbrella and a plastic deer and you will be the favourite relative all Christmas.

Of course this drink is not just for your grandma, but it will definitely go down well and stop her talking about the new bus routes.

Now for the other Christmas tradition, eggnog. Yes, it doesn't really sound that nice but its a rich, indulgent favourite and Christmas wouldn't be the same without it, apparently. This recipe is for eight to twelve servings, so be the Christmas angel and make this for your family, either that or save it all for yourself as a way to get through Christmas.

The shopping list:

-6 eggs

-1 (300g) of condensed milk

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- 945ml of milk

-160 ml of heavy whipping cream

-1 pinch of ground nutmeg

-1pinch of salt

What you do:

-Beat eggs and mix in condensed milk, vanilla, the milk and salt.

-Beat the whipping cream until soft peeks form.

-Fold the cream into the egg and milk mixture and sprinkle with nutmeg.

-Remember this recipe has raw egg in, so if you are a bit wary of that you can use pasteurised eggs, or heat the eggnog mixture, needing to reach a temperature of 160 degrees F (71 degrees C). 

For a quirky take on the recipe add 400g of peppermint ice cream or an ice cream of your choice to the mixture. Sprinkle some chocolate on the top and complete it with a couple of candy canes, even Santa's elves won't be able to resist this.

Mulled wine is a really popular drink to have at Christmas too, plus you can get away with drinking it at 10am in the morning with your reindeer jumper on. This recipe makes 6 decent servings or in reality probably around three.

The Shopping List:

- 1 bottle of red wine

- Half a pint of orange juice

-A measure of Brandy

- Mulled wine spices you can buy from the supermarket or add a couple of cloves and a cinnamon stick.

-Add as much sugar as you like.

What you do:

-Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat very gently on a low heat until its as warm and cosy as a pair of fluffy slippers and a thick dressing gown, just don't let it boil.

Now for some less traditional Christmassy cocktails full of puns and lots of alcohol.

The Christmas cookie is a delicious dessert drink. Instead of being full of chocolate chips its full of alcohol, sadly I don't see Millie's cookies selling it anytime soon though.

The Shopping List:

-1 fluid ounce (28ml) of peppermint schnapps

-1 fluid ounce of Kahlua

-1 fluid ounce of Bailey's- you can also try Tia Maria

What you do:

- Combine the ingredients in a shaker with ice.

-Shake thoroughly, then strain the ingredients into a chilled glass.

-Add a mini chocolate or a candy cane and welcome to Christmas cookie paradise, much better then a real cookie.

Next on the list is the Santa Shot, its a red and green layered shot that tastes like a candy cane, but without breaking your teeth and your dentist won't moan at you. Don't leave any out for Father Christmas though, he can't drink and sleigh drive.

The Shopping List:

-1 measure of grenadine syrup

-1 measure of creme de menthe

-1 measure of peppermint schnapps

What you do:

- Pour grenadine into a third of the shot glass.

-Carefully layer the creme de menthe and then the peppermint schnapps.

- Be amazed by the two colours and down in one.

The Poinsettia, no not the flower you give your grandma every year, the Champagne cocktail that is perfect for brunch ie. 7 in the morning.

The Shopping List:

-Champagne

-1/2 a fluid ounce (14ml) of Cointreau

-3 fluid ounces (84 ml) of Cranberry

What you do:

-Pour the cointreau and cranberry juice into a chilled champagne flute.

-Stir them together and top the rest of the way with champagne.

-To make it a little stronger add a fluid ounce of vodka or tequila.

-To be good replace the champagne with ginger ale, but who wants to be good at Christmas?

The Red Hot Santa Tini is a drink for you if you want to liven up your Christmas with a bit of spice.
The Shopping List:
- 2 ounces (56ml) of chili-infused vodka
-2 ounces (56ml) of chocolate liqueur
-Cocoa powder
-Cayenne pepper
- Canned cream a.k.a squirty cream
-One small chili pepper
What you do:
-Mix some cocoa powder together with a pinch of cayenne pepper, and rim a chilled martini glass with it.
-Shake the vodka up with the chocolate liqueur and pour the mixture into the glass.
-Top it off with the squirty cream and garnish by floating the chili pepper on top of the squirty cream.
-End it with squirting the squirty cream into your mouth, come on you know you want to.

The happy holly-daze (I did warn you about bad puns), is completely full of alcohol, to get you tipsy whilst wearing your paper hat and pulling your cracker.
The Shopping List:
-2 measures of Irish Cream (Bailey's)
-2 measures of Kahlua
-1 measure of spiced Rum
-1 measure of Peppermint Schnapps
-3 measures of milk
What you do:
-Shake ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, tricks with the shaker are required.
-Strain mixture into a glass and enjoy but don't have too many, that would be a hell of a hangover.

Ladies I know its hard to find a wise man, especially three wise men but whilst you are waiting, enjoy this 'Three Wise Men' drink and you don't have to sit at the phone waiting for it to call in the morning.
The Shopping List:
-1 part Jack Daniel's
-1 part of Bourbon
-1 part Whiskey, blended (Johnnie Walker)
What you do:
-All you have to do is combine the ingredients into a shot glass, its wise, not complicated and easy to deal with, now if only you could really turn it into three wise men.




Before I turn you all into alcoholics, this is the last one of the cocktails on my list. Gingerbread man is full of sweetness and creamy flavours, I hear Hansel and Gretel are a fan.
The Shopping List:
- 1 part Irish Cream (Bailey's)
-1 part Goldschlager
-1 part Butterscotch Schnapps
-1 part Vodka
What you do:
-Combine ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice.
-Shake and strain into a shot glass, complete with a gingerbread lady biscuit, well we can't be sexist can we.

So I hope all you lovelies fancy one or few of these drinks, whether you want to try and old favourite or numb your Christmas with one of these cocktails. Just don't drink too much ladies and gentleman, being sick with a Christmas hat and snowman slippers on isn't the best thing to do on the day. So everyone enjoy and enjoy safely, no drinking and sleigh driving please, especially you Father Christmas.

Second Hand Rose
XxxX