Thirsty Thursday: Festive Libations

Not being one to turn down a toddy, I thought it would be fun to share some holiday cheer in the form of two drink recipes.  One an old favorite (but ONLY at this time of year) because it's warm, spicy and decadent, and the other a complete newbie to me.  I only had it for the first time last night, but think it would be an awesome gift for the Vodka lover in your life.

I myself am actually not a huge fan of Vodka typically.  I will certainly drink it in a Bloody Mary, but I would never have come up with this concoction, and am just so thrilled that my creative girlfriend Krissy was generous enough to break open her Mason Jar of goodness and share such a tasty treat with us girls last night.  She never gave me a name for it, at least I don't think she did.  To be fair the details are a bit hazy, so we'll just call it Cranberry Infused Vodka

What you need:

• a bag of fresh Cranberries
• a toothpick or two
• rind of two limes
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• Vodka
• a Large Mason Jar

What you do:
Clean the cranberries and use your tooth pick to poke a hole in each berry.  Fill your mason jar 2/3 full with the cranberries, add in rind of two limes, your sugar, and vodka and seal it up to let it sit for about a week.  I don't know about the shelf life of this home made Cranberry Vodka, as she only let hers sit for a week before we had to try it.  It was pretty amazing so I don't know if you need to let it sit longer but I am sure you can.  It had a very strong cranberry and lime flavor and aroma after just a week so it seems like that is a perfect amount of waiting. 

This was good enough to drink on it's own.  I actually watered mine down and enjoyed it that way as well.  The Jar (as you'll see in the picture) is a cute container for this drink and if you put a ribbon around the top and a gift tag, you have a merry mason jar of yumminess to give away, or keep for yourself, we won't tell!

This hot toddy recipe will warm you right up.  You may need a treadmill to walk on while your sipping this decadent cider, but it's worth it in moderation.  It's a combination of a Hot Buttered Rum and Spiked Apple Cider.

What you need:

• apple cider
• red hots (candy)
• brown sugar
• cloves (if' you use whole cloves,you'll need to strain it, I put mine in a tea infuser because I am too lazy to strain my drink after)
• Rum (I use dark rum but that's just a personal preference)
• room temperature butter 1 pat per drink
• cinnamon sticks as a garnish, 1 per drink

What to do:

In a large pot combine your cider, red hots, brown sugar and cloves and bring it to a boil.  You want your candy to melt into the cider but you do not need to boil it continuously.  Just get it hot and then you can lower your temperature back down to let it simmer.   When you are ready to serve your toddy; put a little rum in your cup, cover it with your cider and then add your butter to the top.  The cinnamon stick as a garnish, will continue to flavor your cider but it will also be your stir stick as the butter starts to melt so that you don't have to drink a mouth full of straight butter.  I mean really we know that once on your lips, forever on your hips, is sometimes worth the risk, but straight butter is not so tasty.

I apologize for the lack of exact measurements in this drink recipe, but I believe it should be a "to taste" kind of set up.  A few hints: a little bit of cloves will go a LONG way.  I think the Rum can be over powering, but you may be a lush someone who enjoys a little more of the hard stuff, and the more red hots in the mix the more sugary cinnamon flavor you'll have.  If I am not baking, then I have a tendency to add a little here, and a little there until it taste just right.  Hopefully this will work for you as well. 

I hope as this joyful holiday season is in full swing that you and yours are having a merryvolous time, and if you aren't, maybe you should go a little heavier on the rum.  That cranberry vodka works in shots too!

Enjoy!