OAKDEN

A Collection Of Cocktail Recipes

 

One measure is always equal to 25ml or 1 fld oz. A cocktail ‘jigger’ pours out one measure easily.

A Dash is a always just a few drops from the bottle. Bitters etc. are called for in dashes.

THE BEST WINTER AND FESTIVE COCKTAILS & HOT DRINKS: 1 To 10

 

These are the best winter cocktails, hot toddies and festive drinks of all time. Warming, comforting, and soothing these drinks are also deceptively powerful, a glass of glog or lambswool will soon bring a rosy glow to the cheek. Creams, eggs, apples, spices, these cocktails and hot toddies have ingredients in their recipes more akin to foods than drinks, but this is the coldest part of the year, and a substantial drink is often needed to brace against the snow. Some are fun, some are serious, some are ancient and some are modern, yet all of them give a little comfort and joy when drinking.

 

Eggnog

Recipe Ingredients: Makes just under 2 Litres

  • 8 eggs,
  • 200g of sugar
  • 1 tsp of fresh grated nutmeg – extra grated for garnish
  • 150ml of brandy
  • 150ml of dark rum
  • 700ml of full fat milk
  • 500ml of double (or ‘heavy‘) cream – you can use single (or ‘light’) cream if you wish.
  • 1 Vanilla Pod (or 1 tbsp vanilla extract)

Directions: Always chill all the liquids so they don’t scramble the eggs when everything is mixed together. First beat and whisk the eggs until they become frothy in a large mixing bowl. After whipping the eggs gradually beat in the sugar first, and then grate in the nutmeg (about 20 shavings). Add in the vanilla seeds (or vanilla extract) – use a sharp knife to cut length ways down the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds. Finally stir in the milk, cream, brandy and rum – each separately, and in that order, and each a little at a time. Be patient when adding in each of the ingredients; whisk everything thoroughly before adding in the next ingredient. Pour the Eggnog into a jug, or flask, cover or seal, and chill in the fridge. Chill for a few hours (or up to 2 days) before serving – shake or whisk the Eggnog to froth it up and then pour or ladle into glasses with a little fresh grated nutmeg on the top.

 

Egg Nogg (1862 Bar Style)

Ingredients: Makes 1 Drink

  • 1 tbsp of fine sugar dissolved in 1 tbsp of cold water
  • 1 egg
  • 2 measures brandy
  • 1 measure rum
  • 1/3 tumbler of full fat creamy milk
  • Grated nutmeg to garnish

Directions: The original 1862 recipe recommends a ‘tin egg-nogg shaker’ or what we now call a ‘cocktail shaker’. Fill a 1/4 of the cocktail shaker with cracked ice, then fill it 1/3 with milk (use a very creamy milk) then add in the other ingredients, shake, then pour (through a strainer) into a tall glass or tumbler and grate some nutmeg on the top … this is how Eggnog as a cocktail was served in bars in the 1800s.

 

Smoking Bishop

Ingredients: Makes 4 to 6 Drinks

  • 3 oranges (plus 1 oranges for garnish)
  • 1 lemon (plus 1 lemon for garnish)
  • 20 cloves
  • 550ml (1 pint) red wine
  • 550ml (1 pint) port
  • 125g sugar
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 4 to 6 cinnamon sticks
  • Grated nutmeg to garnish

Directions: Stick 3 oranges and 1 Lemon with 5 cloves each, and roast in a moderate oven (150C or 300F) for an hour. When they are almost done, in a saucepan gently heat the red wine and the port with the sugar and the spices. When the roasted fruit are brown enough cut them in half and squeeze out the juice (over a sieve or strainer) into the saucepan. Let the saucepan mull for about twenty minutes to heat through – stir gently and occasionally. Slice the extra orange and lemon up into wedges, put a wedge each into heat-proof mugs, pour in the smoking bishop, add a cinnamon stick, grate a little nutmeg on top, and serve.

 

Hot Buttered Rum

Ingredients: Makes 1 Drink.

  • spiced rum 2 measures (50ml), (see below)
  • boiling hot water 5 measures 125ml
  • butter a knob
  • natural brown sugar to taste

FOR THE SPICED RUM

  • 1 Bottle dark rum 750ml
  • vanilla bean 1 split lengthwise
  • whole cloves 3
  • cinnamon sticks 2
  • ginger root (1 fingertip-sized piece)
  • 5 black peppercorns
  • ½ whole nutmeg

Directions: Hot Buttered Rum is better made with your own home-made spiced rum (but you can buy spiced rum in). Add everything to a bottle of dark rum – steep for 3 to 4 weeks, gently shaking the bottle once every few days. Strain through a coffee filter, sweeten with sugar to taste and bottle. It can be stored indefinitely, and the flavour improves with age. Making The Drink: Add everything into a heat-proof glass hot-toddy mug, stir and garnish with a sprinkling of nutmeg and a cinnamon stick.

 

The Hunter’s Flask

Ingredients: Makes 1 Litre.

  • 600ml Irish whisky (1 pint)
  • 600ml gin (1 pint)
  • 1 mixed fruit berry punnet

THE SYRUP

  • a few thumbs of ginger, fresh and sliced
  • a whole orange, the peel
  • sugar 250g (1/2 lb)
  • water 300ml (1/2 pint)

Directions: Start by steeping the Irish whiskey and gin in a large wide-necked preserve jar, (1.8 Litres / 3 pints) with a selection of picked over and cleaned fruit berries from a large punnet for two weeks. A punnet of fruit per bottle is enough. Making The Drink: Strain the steeped whisky and gin, keeping the fruit. Add the fruit to a saucepan with the remaining syrup ingredients as well. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, to reduce into a syrup consistency. Then cool the mixture before straining the syrup into the whisky and gin, which is stored in a capped or corked bottle, ready to drink or pour into a hunting flask when out and about on a cold day.

 

Hot Gin Punch

Recipe Ingredients: Makes about 1 Litre

  • 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)

Directions: 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.

 

Whisky Mac

The Whisky Mac has been around since the 1860s, and it deserves to be made with the very best whisky (an aged Speyside for example) and a ginger liqueur (if available – try King’s) instead of ginger beer (or make your own). Built in a rocks glass over a few ice cubes, it is a perfect winter warmer.

Ingredients: Makes 1 Drink.

  • ½ measure Ginger Liqueur (or see directions)
  • 1 measure Whisky
  • 1 small piece of ginger
  • Ice cubes
  • Optional: splash of soda water

Directions: In an old fashioned rock’s glass with a few ice cubes stir in the whisky and ginger liqueur. Garnish with a fresh slice of ginger. If you have no ginger liqueur then muddle 3 very thin slices of fresh ginger and 5ml of a simple sugar syrup into the glass first. If you want it with a little ‘fizz’, add a little extra whisky and a generous splash of soda water.

 

Irish Coffee

Ingredients: Makes 1 Drink

  • 2 measures Irish whiskey
  • 5 measures black coffee
  • 2 teaspoons (natural brown) sugar
  • Double (heavy) cream to top off the drink

Directions: Pour the whiskey, coffee, and sugar into a heat-proof glass mug with a handle. Stir, then top off with a thick layer of lightly whipped double (heavy) cream, keeping the layers from mixing. Serve as is, without further garnish.

 

Tom And Jerry

The Tom and Jerry was invented in the early 1850s by “Professor” Jerry Thomas at the Planters’ House hotel, St. Louis. And while the Tom and Jerry has remained an American a winter holiday favourite for well over a century, it has only made small inroads into Britain and Ireland, hopefully with this authentic recipe that will change. It is a little bit fiddly but it is well worth the effort.

Ingredients: Makes 6 Drinks

  • 12 eggs
  • 125g (1/4 lb) sugar
  • 1 bottle brandy (or bourbon whisky) 750ml
  • 1 bottle dark rum 750ml
  • Pinch of ground allspice
  • Pinch of ground cinnamon
  • Pinch of ground cloves
  • Hot milk to top off (1.2 Litres or 2 pints)
  • Grated nutmeg

Directions: Separate the eggs into two different bowls. Beat the whites until they form a stiff froth. Add the sugar to the egg yolks and beat, “until they are as thin as water,” (as the professor advises) and while beating add in 100ml (4 ounces) brandy (or bourbon) and then add in a pinch each of ground allspice, cinnamon, and cloves.

Fold the whites into the yolk and brandy mixture. When ready to serve, give it another stir and then put 1 large tablespoon of this batter in a small mug or whiskey tumbler. Now add one large measure of brandy (or bourbon) and 1 large measure of rum, stirring constantly to avoid curdling. Fill each mug to the top with hot milk and stir until you get foam. Sprinkle a little grated nutmeg on top. Note: Some people find the milk too rich and filling, so they use half hot milk, half boiling water.

 

St. Nick’s (Cookies & Cream)

Ingredients: Makes 1 Drink

  • 1 measure bourbon whisky
  • 2 measures Bailey’s Irish Cream
  • Cracked ice

For the Glass Rim & Garnish

  • Honey
  • Finely crumbled cookies (biscuits)
  • Three frozen raspberries (a nod to Rudolph the red nosed reindeer)

Directions: Spread a little honey on a plate and dip the rim of an old fashioned rocks glass into it to lightly coat the edges. Then spread the crumbled cookies (break the cookies up very fine, almost like dust) on another plate and dip the coated rim into the cookie crumbs so that they adhere. In a cocktail shaker, half filled with cracked ice, add the ingredients and shake for thirty seconds. Add a few ice cubes into the decorated glass and pour, straining the drink in. Add the frozen raspberries. Serve.

 

Hot Chocolate Toddy

Ingredients: Makes 2 Drinks

  • 3 measures Bailys Irish Cream
  • 2 measures  Kahlua (coffee liqueur)
  • Optional: If you do not like coffee add in two measures of rum instead
  • dash amaretto almond liqueur (or orange liqueur)
  • hot chocolate made up for two mugs
  • gratings of a dark or milk chocolate bar to garnish

Directions: Make up enough hot chocolate to ¾ fill each heat-proof mug. Stir into each mug one measure of the Kahlua (or rum). Gently swirl in 1 & ½ measures of Baily’s each. Add a dash of amaretto (or orange liqueur) on top and a generous grating of dark or milk chocolate.