Mocktail and Cocktail Punch for the New Year Holiday!

I have to say I am always more ambitious than my time actually allows, but I must admit I was not expecting to be as busy as I have been this fall.  I should have had a clue when when people where Christmas shopping from in in July.

I have been teaching online and that takes more preparation and concentration that one might realize exhausting my ability to write a post.  I have never been one to pre-program most of my posts so those that are pre-programed were kinda the only ones that happened recently.

As a result the recipe theme ended in October.  Since November and December were not my most creative theme ideas anyway, I just dropped them from the schedule and will start a new set of recipe ideas come January for 2021.

Instead I thought I would share a few punch recipes with you.  If you are entertaining during the holidays, these are a fun way to share flavors.  If not, making a punch and keeping in the refrigerator is a great way to extend the holiday fun when, like us, the number celebrating is rather small.  You can also share these recipes with family and all share the same beverage while Facetiming or Zooming.

Merry Mocktail

4 cups cranberry juice

1 bottle sparkling apple cider

1 liter ginger ale

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

Orange slices studded with cloves

Put some ice in a punch bowl or pitcher. Combine all the liquid ingredients together and give them a stir. Float a few orange slices in the punch and add a few fresh cranberries. Or stud the orange slices with cloves and keep on the side to use as garnish for people to add to their glasses. Add 12 ounces of vodka to the recipe for a cocktail.

Mocking Fall Apple Punch

4 parts Sparkling Apple Cider

1 part Mulled White Grape Juice

½ part Lime Juice

Apple slices studded with cloves and kept in lemon juice until used as a garnish and apple mint sprigs.

Put some ice in a punch bowl or pitcher. Put all the liquid ingredients together, and give them a stir. Float a few apple slices in the punch and add a few sprigs of apple mint. Or stud the apple slices and place in lemon juice on the side as garnish for people to add to their glasses. Substitute hard cider  and/or mulled white wine for a cocktail.

This Bourbon Punch is a variation on the HARRY ELLIS COMMEMORATIVE Knockout PUNCH, but I was never able to definitively determine which Harry Ellis the drink was designed to commemorate, so if you have details, please share.

Sneaky Bourbon Punch

Bourbon is a smooth alcohol, and anything made with it can sneak up on you, so enjoy this punch when you know you will not be driving.

• 8 cinnamon sticks
• 1 750ml bottle of bourbon
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 oz. ginger beer
• 4 oz. lemon juice
• 4 oz. unsweetened cranberry juice
• 6 oz. Madeira Wine
• 24 oz. sparkling or soda water
• Fresh nutmeg

GARNISHES

• Mint leaves
• fresh cranberries

PREPARATION

Let cinnamon sticks sit overnight in bourbon. Strain. Stir sugar into the juices and ginger beer until completely dissolved. Pour juice/sugar blend, Madeira, and cinnamon-infused bourbon into a punch bowl and stir. Top with sparkling water and stir again. Grate a healthy amount of nutmeg—about a quarter of the whole—on top.

To serve, pour a 3 oz. ladleful over ice in a punch cup. Garnish with a cranberry and a mint leaf. Don’t dilute the punch with ice, always have the ice in the glass!

 

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  

To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018, or Recipe2019 

You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD in the () to search for each  month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2020 so you can find them all.

The themes are:

Feb 2020 - Footbal Tailgate Favorites (AppFeb)

March 2020 - Kabobs (KabobMar)

April 2020 - Brunch (BrunchApr) more in 2021 also

May 2020 - Non-Traditional Pizza (PizzaMay)

June 2020 - Stir Fry Dishes (StirJun)

July 2020 - Salads with no lettuce (SaladJul)

August 2020 - Pickled things (PickleAug)

September 2020 - Quiche (QuicheSep)

October 2020 - Squash Soups (SquashOct)

Hurricane with Herbed simple syrup - Final Cocktail for the Year

Happy New Year!

Today I want to wrap up the month of cocktail / mocktail recipes by speaking about the making of simple syrup.  A simple syrup is the key to many cocktails and with herbs as a base you can create an unlimited combination of flavors to make an equally numerous series of drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.

Once you learn how easy it is, you'll discover just how essential it is to keep simple syrup in stock in your bar and kitchen. It's found in many mixed drink recipes, including the mojito, daiquiri, and hurricane. You can also use it to sweeten your coffee, tea, and homemade lemonades and sodas.

Just add a Tablespoon to 8 ounces of seltzer water or club soda and you have your own flavored drinks.  You can also add to still water for a refreshing beverage.  Below I share how to make the syrup and a hurricane which is a fun citrus drink to brighten the long winter days.

Traditional Herbed Simple Syrup

      1 cup water

      1 cup sugar (white, turbinado, raw demerara sugar, your choice)

      1 cup fresh (only half if using dry) herbs

Directions:

1.         Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan.

2.         Add sugar and stir until it has dissolved completely.

3.         Reduce the heat, add the herbs and cover the pan.

4.         Remove the pan from the heat. Allow it to cool and steep for at least 1 hour until room temperature.

5.         Strain out the herbs, pour the syrup into a bottle, and refrigerate. The syrup will be good for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

NOTES:

·       Because of the short shelf life, I place my syrup in plastic squirt bottles and freeze it.  When you want a cocktail it only takes about 15 to 20 minutes for the frozen syrup to thaw.

·     Don't expect the syrup at either ratio to be as thick as maple syrup or honey. Instead, it will be thin and very easy to pour—more of a consistency similar to a liqueur.

·     Do not allow the syrup to boil for too long or the syrup will be too thick once it cools.

·     To prolong the shelf life, add a little vodka. Usually between a tablespoon and an ounce is enough, depending on how large the batch of syrup is. 

Using your Simple Syrup to Make a Cocktail

The hurricane is an iconic tropical cocktail that you should know and will never forget. It is a fun rum-filled drink that includes the captivating pairing of passion fruit and orange juices. While it looks and tastes rather complex, it is quite easy to make.

This cocktail became popular at Pat O'Brien's bar in 1940s New Orleans. It's said that O'Brien created

the heavily rummed drink as a means to get rid of the large stock of rum his Southern distributors forced him to buy.

The story says that it debuted during the 1939 World's Fair in New York City and was named after the hurricane lamp-shaped glasses that the first drinks were served in. This style continues to be known as a hurricane glass.

Tropical Hurricane with Herbed Simple Syrup

2 ounces light rum 

2 ounces dark rum

2 ounces passion fruit juice

1 ounce orange juice

1/2 lime

1 tablespoon simple syrup made with herbs – lavender, mint or lemon balm are all good choices

1 tablespoon grenadine (see below to make your own!)

Garnish: maraschino cherry and orange slice

Directions:

1.                  In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, squeeze the juice from half a lime.

2.                  Add the other ingredients.

3.                  Shake well, until the outside of the shaker tin becomes frosty.

4.                  Strain into a hurricane glass and garnish with a lemon slice.

Other Simple syrup flavors you can create

·         Sour mix (aka bar mix or sweet and sour) is also used in the bar, often for tropical cocktails. You make a plain or herb flavored simple syrup and add 1 cup of the syrup to 2 cups of citrus juices and you have a homemade sour mix.  It is great with lemon and lime juice, but also with tangerine and orange.

·         Cinnamon simple syrup is an excellent sweetener for coffee as well as classic and modern cocktails. Cinnamon is warming and is perfect for use in winter. The cinnamon can be combined with other flavors like apple, cherry, thyme, and vanilla. Make yours by combining 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar and 2 cinnamon sticks and follow the typical directions.

·         Ginger simple syrup made with 1 cup of sugar added to ¾ cup water and 1 cup of sliced peeled ginger offers a subtle spice that is very versatile. Because ginger is a root, you will need to bring the syrup to a light boil then reduce the heat and allow to simmer over heat for 15 minutes to truly gather the unique flavor of the ginger.  It can be added to tea or mixed into cocktails where you might use ginger ale or ginger beer and it's a good substitute for a ginger liqueur. Ginger can be combined with other flavors; vanilla or habanero are just two very fun possibilities.

·         Use 3 Tablespoons of dried lavender flowers with 1 cup water and 2 cups sugar and use the above instructions to make a lavender simple syrup which are a great an easy way to add flavor to cocktails. These are used all the time in modern drink recipes and the basic recipe works for nearly any herb, including basil, parsley, and rosemary.

·         Chile peppers in simple syrup give the sweetener a nice heat that's an excellent way to spice up your cocktails. Any pepper will work, so you can customize the spiciness to suit your needs.  Use two peppers with 2 cups of raw sugar and 1 cup of water.

·         The most popular flavored syrup in the bar is grenadine. That's right, the key ingredient to a Shirley Temple and tequila sunrise is little more than a pomegranate-flavored simple syrup and it is easy to make grenadine from scratch.

·         One uses pomegranate juice instead of water adds the sugar and flavors it with lemon balm leaves to craft your own grenadine.  If you have some orange water, you can splash a few dollops of that in to enhance the flavor.

·         Split a vanilla bean in half and pour warmed sugar/water mixture and allow to steep 8 to 10 hours to create this amazing simple syrup. It is a fantastic sweetener for almost any beverage. You can build on the sweet flavor with a little ginger.

Mint and Lemon Grass Cooler - Weekend Recipe

Today’s cocktail uses a technique called Muddling.  Muddling is when you place the fresh herbs in a tall glass with some sugar and press with a muddler (a wood or ceramic rod) several times.  You are not pulverizing the herbs, just breaking the leaf enough to release the flavor into the sugar so that when the alcohol and other ingredients are added the flavors will meld and create a robust flavor.  This cocktail uses a shaker to marry all the flavors before you pour into a glass and add soda.

Mint and Lemon Grass Cooler
2 tablespoons chopped mint
1 tablespoon chopped lemongrass (from bottom of stalk)
2 slices lemon, quartered, plus 1 for garnish (optional)
1 teaspoon sugar
Ice
1 ounce anise liquor (such as Ricard or Pernod)
Soda water
Top of lemongrass stalk, for garnish (optional)

Directions:
Muddle together mint, lemongrass, lemon slices, and sugar. Add to a shaker with ice and liquor and shake well.  Strain as you pour into a tall glass filled with ice and top with soda water. Garnish with remaining lemon slice and lemongrass, if desired.

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018. 

You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD in the () to search for each  month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2019 so you can find them all.

The themes are:

Jan 2019 – Chicken and Dumplings (CDumpsJan)

Feb 2019 - Pasta Dishes (PastaFeb)

March 2019 - Edible Flowers (FlowerMar)

April 2019 - Seafood Recipes (SeafoodApr)

May 2019 - Cajun And Creole (C&CMay)

June 2019 - Vegetarian Dishes (VegJun)

July 2019 - Zucchini Recipes (ZucJul)

August 2019 - National Mustard Day – mustard recipes (MustardAug)

September 2019 - Quiche (QuicheSep)

October 2019 - Crock Pot meals (CrockOct)

November 2019 - Pies (PieNov)

December 2019 - Mocktails (MockDec)

Christmas Herb Punch

The website Sugar and Soul gave me the idea for today's cocktail, perfect for Christmas celebrations.
They called it Christmas Punch, I modified it to include my favorite Christmas herbs and changed the name to Christmas Herb Punch.  The best part about this is you can get out the punch bowl, serve this to your guests and family and don't have to be a bartender all evening.

Christmas Herb Punch 

1 orange sliced

1 lemon sliced
1 cup cranberries
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
1/2 cup Lemon Balm leaves

2 cup cranberry juice

2 cups orange juice
1 cup pomegranate juice
2 cups ginger ale
1 cup brewed lemon grass tea
1 cup white rum, optional (or you can use vodka or whiskey)
Ice

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher or punch bowl over ice. If using a really large punch bowl, you can double the recipe.  If preparing ahead, leave out the ice and ginger ale until ready to serve to guests.

Additional Notes: if you have children in attendance, keep the alcohol on the side to allow adults to add their own as desired.

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018. 

You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD in the () to search for each  month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2019 so you can find them all.

The themes are:

Jan 2019 – Chicken and Dumplings (CDumpsJan)

Feb 2019 - Pasta Dishes (PastaFeb)

March 2019 - Edible Flowers (FlowerMar)

April 2019 - Seafood Recipes (SeafoodApr)

May 2019 - Cajun And Creole (C&CMay)

June 2019 - Vegetarian Dishes (VegJun)

July 2019 - Zucchini Recipes (ZucJul)

August 2019 - National Mustard Day – mustard recipes (MustardAug)

September 2019 - Quiche (QuicheSep)

October 2019 - Crock Pot meals (CrockOct)

November 2019 - Pies (PieNov)

December 2019 - Mocktails (MockDec)