Cozy Winter Cocktails

Ingredients
2 tablespoons tablespoons Cardinal Mendoza brandy
1 cup hot cocoa
1 marshmallow
Graham Cracker Liquor
1 liter white rum
1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
1/2 cup honey
Preparation
Whisk 1 tablespoon Graham Cracker Liquor, brandy, and cocoa in 12-ounce heat-proof mug. Top with marshmallow and serve.
Graham Cracker Liquor
Mix rum, cinnamon stick, and honey in large jar. Cover and place on sunny window sill. Shake 1 time every day for 4 days.
Recipe from bonapettite.com

Ingredients
1 quart (4 cups) fresh apple cider
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole star anise, plus 4 more for garnish
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup good-quality bourbon, or, if you must, whiskey
4 pats butter (optional)

Directions
1. Place the cider, cinnamon, and star anise in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until the liquid has reduced by half and has intensified in flavor, about 10 minutes. Add the lemon juice and bourbon and stir until warmed through. If desired, place over low, low heat and cover partially to keep warm until needed.
2. Pour into warmed mugs or snifters and garnished with a cinnamon stick and star anise and, a pat of butter.
Recipe from leitesculinaria.com

2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Pinch salt
3/4 cup spiced rum
2 cups boiling water
4 sticks cinnamon, for garnish
Using an electric mixer, beat the brown sugar, butter, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl until blended and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a 4-cup (or larger) measuring cup. Add the rum and then 2 cups of boiling water. Stir until the butter mixture dissolves. Divide the buttered rum among 4 mugs. Garnish with the cinnamon sticks and serve.
Recipe from http://intoxicology.net/

Ingredients
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup hot water
6 tablespoons bourbon or Apple Bourbon (see below for recipe)
2 3x1/2" strips lemon peel
2 cinnamon sticks
Preparation
Stir honey and water in a 2-cup measuring cup until honey dissolves. Add bourbon (or better yet, Apple Bourbon, in which case you'll use 1 Tbsp. honey). Divide between 2 Toddy glasses. Twist a strip of lemon peel over each drink, then add to glass. Stir each with a cinnamon stick and serve.
To make Apple Bourbon, combine a 750-ml bottle of bourbon, 4 cored, sliced Fuji apples, and 4 cinnamon sticks in a pitcher. Cover; chill for 3 days. Strain and sip of use in recipe above.
Recipe from http://www.bonappetit.com

Makes 1 quart
Ingredients:
1/2 cup honey (agave for vegans)
4 cups water
1 lemon, zested and sliced
1-2 cinnamon sticks
Vodka, to taste
You might also like to add fresh ginger or other spices… this can be done to taste.
Method: Give the little honey bear a big squeeze, add strips of lemon zest, the cinnamon stick and water to a medium pot. Stir to combine, cover and bring to a simmer.Simmer 30-45 minutes, or until the cinnamon flavor fully infuses the drink and your house smells like “wonderful.” Pour the resulting tea into glass mugs with lemon slices. The lemon slices not only punch up the flavor and disinfecting qualities, but they also make the drink so, so pretty. If you’re feeling brave, add vodka to taste.Sip hot and daydream yourself away to Kyrgyzstan.
Recipe from http://globaltableadventure.com/

Ingredients

8 cups apple cider
1 apple, thinly sliced crosswise
1 orange, thinly sliced crosswise
2 cinnamon sticks
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cups dark rum
Directions

In a large pot, combine apple cider, apple slices, orange slices, cinnamon sticks, and ginger. Bring to a boil over high; reduce to a simmer and cook 5 minutes. (Keep warm over low, up to 2 hours.) Remove from heat and stir in rum. Transfer to a punch bowl; serve warm.
Recipe from marthastewart.com

Ingredients
2 bottles light-bodied red wine, such as pinot noir, gamay, or cabernet franc
1 1/4 cups sugar
Strips of zest from 1 orange
Strips of zest from 1 lemon
3 black peppercorns, crushed
2 cardamom pods, crushed
One 3-inch cinnamon stick, crushed
1 clove, crushed
1 star anise
1/2 cup kirsch (optional)

Directions
1. To make the hot spiced wine, place the red wine, sugar, and orange and lemon zests into a large saucepan. Tuck the crushed spices into a tea ball or a small square of cheese cloth and add it to the saucepan.
2. Bring the wine to a very gentle simmer over moderate heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove the pan from the heat, remove the tea ball from the pan, and stir the kirsch into the spiced wine, if using. Ladle the spiced wine into heatproof glasses and serve at once.
Recipe from http://leitesculinaria.com/

You COULD just pour some whiskey into your hot chocolate, OR you could follow this recipe for a more delicious product.

serves 4 to 6
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
3 1/2 cups milk
Pinch of salt
6 ounces Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey (Jameson is also acceptable)

For the Whipped Cream:
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cinnamon or cocoa powder to garnish

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, cocoa powder, sugar and salt. Do not boil! Whisk until smooth and creamy.
Remove from the heat and add the whiskey.
In a separate cool metal bowl whisk the whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla, until stiff peaks form.
Divide the cocoa and whiskey mixture among 4 to 6 cups and top each with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. Sprinkle cinnamon or cocoa on top if desired.
Recipe from http://www.thekitchn.com/

Ingredients:
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
2 1/2 cups apple cider
1/3 cup spiced rum *
1-1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Cinnamon stick

Directions:
In a large pot, mix together the pumpkin puree, apple cider, pumpkin pie spice and the cinnamon stick. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 20 minutes. If mixture is too thick, add additional cider or water to thin it out.
Strain the mixture through a mesh strainer to remove clumps and cinnamon stick. Add rum and mix. Serve warm.
*You can reduce the amount of rum if this is too strong or omit it completely and swap in more apple cider. But I can't imagine why you would think to do that.
Recipe from http://www.sheknows.com/

For mulled cider
1 gallon apple cider
60 grams dried lavender
10 sticks cinnamon
5 lemons, halved
4 cups honey
60 grams whole cardamom pods
12 one-inch pieces fresh ginger root, peeled
Peels of 5 oranges
15 grams whole cloves
5 dashes Angostura bitters

For each drink
4 ounces hot mulled cider
1/2 ounce orange curacao
1 ounce Laird's Bonded Applejack

Directions:
1.In a large pot, simmer cider with lavender, cinnamon, lemons, honey, cardamom pods, ginger, orange peel, cloves, and bitters over low heat for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cover with plastic wrap. Let steep 8 minutes, then strain.
2.For each drink, add 4 ounces warmed mulled cider to a mug with orange curacao and applejack. Stir and serve hot
Recipe from http://www.seriouseats.com/

Ingredients
2 apples, peeled and quartered
2 tablespoons raw organic honey
¼ orange, peeled
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups of hot water

Instructions
Get out your blender or food processor
Add all the ingredients above in the order listed
Place the lid on your blender and hold it down with your hand
Blend on high for a minimum of 3 minutes
If using a food processor I recommend 4-5 minutes
Pour in a large mug and garnish with an orange slice and a cinnamon stick
Make sure you yell "WASSAIL!" before every time you take a sip.
Recipe from http://civilizedcavemancooking.com/

Ingredients:
1 lemon, juice and zest
2 lemons, thinly sliced, any pips removed
300ml gin (Gordon’s is recommended – Hendrick’s and Tanqueray also)
600ml water (bottled still mineral water)
200ml sherry (dark, ‘cream’ sherry)
150g brown sugar (demerara)

Method:
Into a saucepan add the sugar and the grated zest of one lemon. Cut the zested lemon in half and add all the squeezed juice over the sugar. Pour over the water and bring up to a simmer, stir to dissolve the sugar into the lemon juice and water.
Let this steam away for five minutes, then add in the gin and sherry. Slowly bring the Hot Gin Punch up to a boil, so it is steaming hot, then after a few minutes turn the heat off, add in the thinly sliced lemons, stir, carefully taste, and add in more sugar or water (to individual taste) if it is needed, then allow to cool for two or three minutes. Pour into heat proof glasses, adding in a lemon slice or two, and serve. Drink warm.
Recipe from http://recipewise.co.uk/

For the Chai:
8 ounces half and half
4 ounces water
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
2 black cardamom pods, crushed with a mortar and pestle
5-6 pink peppercorns, crushed with a mortar and pestle
1 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and flattened with the flat side of a large knife
2 tablespoons Turbinado sugar
2 sachets of organic whole leaf black tea, preferably Assam

For the Dirty Toddy:
2 ounces espresso (I used Stumptown Roasters Hairbender)
2 ounces Knob Creek, or other good quality bourbon
Combine half and half, water, spices and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add black tea sachets and steep for 5 minutes. Remove tea sachets, strain out spices and split chai between two pre-warmed teacups. Add one ounce of espresso and one ounce of bourbon to each teacup. Sit back and enjoy.
Recipe from http://www.food52.com/