Cup of Cheer Recipes for your Holiday
To me, the holidays are what every Christmas song says they are. It’s the most wonderful time of the year! So how can we make the most wonderful time of the year as wonderful as it deserves to be. We spent too many holidays outside of our traditions because of COVID-19, we are done wasting time on making the holidays less than special!
My favorite part of the holidays is the food, drinks, and games!. I’ve shared with you a handful of food recipes already. Let’s spread the holiday cheer with some drink recipes! I’m sure you all have your favorite board games but I’ll make a board game special to introduce you to something you might not have heard of yet, and maybe give you an idea for your next gift!
Some of these you’ve probably heard of and others, unless you’ve been inside my mind, you probably haven’t heard of.
I’ll start with something for the whole family:
A Butterscotch Hot Coco -
It’s easy! All you have to do it add half a bag of butterscotch chips and a half of a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips to a crockpot with a half-gallon of milk and 16 ounces of heavy cream. Top with whipped cream and serve with a gingerbread cookie.
You can cut this recipe in half if it’s just for a cozy day inside instead of for your holiday gathering day.
Now for the adult only drinks. This one is called a Cape Codder –
I don’t know why it’s called that. I did not name it, it’s just one of my favorite drinks and is perfect for the holiday. It’s super simple and goes down really easy, so drinker beware!
All you need is equal parts Vodka (of choice, I use Reyka), apple cider, and cranberry juice. If you want to cut it down some more, add an extra part cider. If you’re fancy, you can garnish this with cinnamon or cranberries.
Serve in a saucer cocktail glass and enjoy!
Next is what I call an Orange Cinnamon Bun –
This one is fun for me because it was a wild guess creation of mine that ended up being requested at gatherings. It’s also a little sentimental because every holiday morning in my family, we have orange cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
All you need is about 8 oz. of Orange Juice (if you get orange juice with pulp than, I’m sorry, but we live in two different worlds), a shot of fireball, and a dash of bitters. It’s delicious for a Christmas brunch! If you want to dress it up a little, you can garnish it with an orange peel, or a cinnamon stick.
Serve in a beer mug or a whiskey glass and enjoy!
Lastly is a Mojito –
This is the more common of the drink listed but since it’s such a classic and the mint feels so festive, yet savory, I wanted it to be included in the running. Plus, it’s my favorite drink and I order it wherever I can (unless we’re having Mexican, then it’s obviously a Margarita). I like to muddle fruit into my mojitos to give some extra pazazz! Usually it’s raspberries for me, but you can use virtually any fruit you want to.
First, you’ll need some mint. There is a specific variation of mint called mojito mint, but since you can’t really buy that at a store (that I’ve ever been to), I use spearmint in place of it. The flavor is a lot closer than peppermint which tends not to have the savory effect of spearmint. Although, if you happen to grow your own mojito mint then pop some off and get muddling!
You’ll also need some white rum, limes, club soda, and simple syrup (if you want to make your own simple syrup, just add equal parts water and sugar with a touch of lime juice to a pot and cook it until all the sugar is dissolved.)
Muddle your mint with about half a shot of simple syrup and your chosen fruit (if any) to get the flavors to combine. Add one shot of white rum and pour in about 8 ounces of club soda. Squeeze lime juice into it and give it a gentle stir. You can garnish with mint or a pick of your fruit.
Serve in a Collins glass and enjoy!
If you’re looking for something way simpler than any of those for the holidays, come visit us in our shop! We have an assortment of different cocktail mixers and spices perfect for the holidays as gifts, or to treat yourself with!
I don’t know about you, but my family loves to play board games while we wait for dinner! I’m the person that shows up at the party and pulls out the board games before anything else happens. Between my cup of cheer and kicking butt in a game of Sequence, I’m always excited to get the holidays into full effect.
Tell me your favorite things about the holidays. Your favorite games, favorite part about dinner, something you do that you’ve never heard of another family doing, and it doesn't have to be about Christmas! The holidays should be special for us all.