Advertisement
Hot, cold or anything in between. There's always special beverages to go along with the edibles at our holiday gatherings. We've already had a recipe for eggnog, that's perfectly WONDERFUL. How about a nod to the rest of the drinking fare?
Hot toddies?
Hot chocolate?
Mulled wine?
Spiced cider?
I'll freely admit that I'm a coffe addict. I LOVE coffee and have, quite literally, been enjoying since I was seven years old (I was hyperactive as a child and the doctor recommended it to my parents, along with ritalin, which explains a lot). On any given day, for a twelve cup coffee maker I use about a cup of coffee grounds (I like it strong) and add about a quarter teaspoon of ground cinnamon. During the holidays I also add about one-eighth teaspoon of dried, ground ginger and several dashes of ground nutmeg. Just the coffee itself is DELICIOUS. However, for the perfect Christmas treat make a special creamer to go with it. Basically it's two parts half and half, one part creamy eggnog, one part vanilla creamer and one part hazelnut creamer. Sometimes, I even mix in a shot of toffee syrup, too. Add that to the spiced coffee brew and spike it with a shot of brandy and you'll be in Christmas beverage heaven!
Okay, so there's my favorite comforting holiday beverage. What's yours? Recipes, please?
Hot toddies?
Hot chocolate?
Mulled wine?
Spiced cider?
I'll freely admit that I'm a coffe addict. I LOVE coffee and have, quite literally, been enjoying since I was seven years old (I was hyperactive as a child and the doctor recommended it to my parents, along with ritalin, which explains a lot). On any given day, for a twelve cup coffee maker I use about a cup of coffee grounds (I like it strong) and add about a quarter teaspoon of ground cinnamon. During the holidays I also add about one-eighth teaspoon of dried, ground ginger and several dashes of ground nutmeg. Just the coffee itself is DELICIOUS. However, for the perfect Christmas treat make a special creamer to go with it. Basically it's two parts half and half, one part creamy eggnog, one part vanilla creamer and one part hazelnut creamer. Sometimes, I even mix in a shot of toffee syrup, too. Add that to the spiced coffee brew and spike it with a shot of brandy and you'll be in Christmas beverage heaven!
Okay, so there's my favorite comforting holiday beverage. What's yours? Recipes, please?
posted by:
|
Portland
|
Advertisement
Advertisement
-
Unsu...
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Sun, November 20, 2005 - 11:21 AMMine would be coffee (strong drip) & Kahlua, or hot cocoa and peppermint schnapps(or Cointreau) No recipe, really, I usually am lazy and use powdered cocoa mix. -
-
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Sun, November 20, 2005 - 11:43 AMI love the peppermint schnapps idea. Mmm. Hey, the powdered cocoas they make, nowadays, are really good. I should know, my sister-in-law developed the formulas for Swiss Miss for a while. I even gave her the ideas for their "Mayan chocolate" collection that they sell in specialty stores. I'll take credit for that. Yeah, that was me....
-
-
Unsu...
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Mon, November 21, 2005 - 11:32 AMTotally with you on the coffee, but that's an everyday thing. Very strong, almost a quarter cup of finely ground french roast coffee for my one cup of the day, with lots of sugar and half-and-half.
But for the treat, same as when I was a child. Ibarra mexican chocolate slowly melted in whole milk and then whipped to a froth; sipped langorously with a good book. -
-
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Mon, November 21, 2005 - 1:13 PMOh, yes! Ibarra is divine stuff, but it's an everyday pantry item for me. It sounds great right now, actually <wanders off to the kitchen>....
My mother used to make a great holiday cold drink that I loved...some combination of ginger ale and cranberry juice, over tons of ice, with a squeeze of lime juice. Odd that this drink only appeared during the Xmas season, since you can always get those things in the store. Maybe she liked it 'cause it was red : ).
Nowadays, I think that my favorite holiday comfort drink is Starbucks' Gingerbread Latte. I suppose that I could get gingerbread syrup and make them at home, since Starbucks' coffee is so lame...my husband does make a perfect 'Caramel Macchiato' now, after several experiments that went awry. I'll have to put that on his to-do list ; ).
Oh, and Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale. It's like pumpkin pie in a bottle! I'm a totaly lightweight, though, so I can only drink half a bottle at a time, damnitall <sigh>.
<wipes Ibarra foam off of upper lip> Mmmm. -
-
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Mon, November 21, 2005 - 1:40 PMGeez, I thought Ibarra was something totally regional to SoCal. I grew up in a predominantly (OVERWHELMINGLY) hispanic area and am now engaged to a wonderful Mexican woman so Ibarra is something that is also a staple in our home, for both hot beverages and a delicious family variation on molé.
The ginger ale and cranberry juice make perfect sense for the holidays, G. Ginger is in everything from pumpkin pie to gingerbread and cranberries are always near the gobbler. -
-
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Mon, November 21, 2005 - 3:24 PM"Geez, I thought Ibarra was something totally regional to SoCal."
Well, don't let me ruin that theory...I'm grew up within spitting distance of Santa Ana <g>. I get it at my tiny local Albertson's nowadays, but I can't imagine a food product that *isn't* available in the Bay Area. I feel very fortunate. -
-
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Mon, November 21, 2005 - 3:38 PM<<I'm grew up within spitting distance of Santa Ana>>
Uh, how did you know that was the city I was referring to?
<looks around>
You don't work for the Illuminati, do you?
Wait, scratch that. They don't drink hot chocolate. It's like a rule, or something.
-
-
Unsu...
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Mon, November 21, 2005 - 4:10 PMWell, I did grow up in SoCal, and in a very mixed racial area (lucky for me in the food area!!!). Now that I'm in Hawaii, there's no Ibarra. My dear love brought some back from his last trip to LA. I'm treasuring it!
-
-
-
-
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Mon, November 21, 2005 - 4:30 PMgood old hot cocoa, hershey style. ") -
-
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Tue, November 22, 2005 - 3:38 PMWarm eggnog spiked with rum. Maybe some cheap whiskey too! Nobody seemed too hip on the homemade eggnog so I'll have to try that one out after T-day. Luckily Eggnog is through the new year's season, so there's a few weeks yet...
Gonna have to try the peppermint schnapps in xocolalt soon though.... -
-
Unsu...
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Tue, November 22, 2005 - 7:44 PMIt's a winner, I tell ya...it was the standard drink for winter finals when I was in college...just enough booze to warm you up, not enough to make you too drunk to study. :)
Grand Marnier (or any other orange liqueur) works well too. Shoot, for that matter, try the Kahlua in cocoa, if you like the mocha flavor. (Can you tell I have a bottle of Kahlua at home? ) :) -
-
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Mon, December 19, 2005 - 5:56 PMWarm milk with a shot of brandy and a bit of honey. Got me and many of my cohorts through the winter insomnia blues of graduate school. I can no longer handle the milk, unfortunately, but damn that was good stuff! -
-
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Sat, November 25, 2006 - 10:45 AM
Here's a good mulled wine recipe:
Cheap red wine
A lot of sugar
Oranges (with peel) chopped into quarters
A couple cinnamon sticks
some cloves
cilantro seeds (optional)
Heat everything together (!DON'T boil!!!!) Mmmm... That kept me warm through a lot of cold chilean forest nights... -
-
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Sat, November 25, 2006 - 2:55 PMMish, thanks for resurrecting this one from last year. Once again, I'm enjoying my "holiday spiced" coffee for the season. Of course, I neglected to mention that cloves are an essential part of that blend. The mulled wine sounds wonderful. It's like a Christmas sangria. For all you US citizens, if you're going to do the mulled wine I recommend the "two buck Chuck" at Trader Joe's. The cabernet sauvignon is excellent for this recipe. The merlot tends to be just a little "earthy" with the oranges and can be too bitter as a result.
This year, I'm also making a slightly different variation on my oolong chai recipe for the holidays. I find myself drinking more tea than coffee, nowadays. Better for me, actually, and a more sustained lift without giving me the full-on caffeine buzz from coffee.
Happy Holidays to all!
Love and light, dear ones.
Rev -
-
Unsu...
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Tue, November 28, 2006 - 9:09 PMI buy eggnog and it just sits in the frig. Will have to try adding something to it like whipped cream. -
-
-
This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Wed, November 29, 2006 - 2:54 PMOkay, Mick, would that be homemade or acquired "corn squeezins?" Got a recipe? Where do the rest of us get hooked up?
-
-
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Wed, November 29, 2006 - 3:43 PMAdd brandy to it--or a little bourbon if you prefer. Then the whipped cream or a little vanilla ice cream, and a litle grating of nutmeg...mmmmm:) -
-
This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.
Re: Holiday Comfort Beverages.
Wed, November 29, 2006 - 5:01 PMGet 'Bud's' eggnog, if you're in the Bay Area. It's like melted ice cream, it's sooooo thick and creamy. I mean, seriously...it *instantly* coats the glass with a visually impenetrable shield of creamy goodness. I hated eggnog until I tried 'Bud's'...now I'm a convert : ).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
