Holiday Beverages
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Healthy Holiday Cocktails
Barbara Morse Silva reports on Healthy Holiday Cocktails.
Published: December 4, 2008
Updated: December 5, 2008
Edward Korry, department chair, Beverage & Dining Services demonstrated how to prepare and serve classic holiday cocktails, and provides a wealth of tips and information to make your holiday parties fun, with moderation and safety for all in mind.
Faux Nog
Serves 1
Calories: 263
Ingredients:
1 ounces vodka
1 ounces white crème de cacao
2 ounces heavy cream
3 dashes nutmeg
Method of Preparation:
1. Shake.
2. Serve over crushed ice in ISO wine glass dust with nutmeg
Flip
Serves 1
Calories: 134
Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 ounces rum
1 teaspoon sugar
1 ounce egg white
Freshly grated nutmeg
Method of Preparation:
Mix and serve in cocktail glass.
Aviation
Serves 1
Calories: 220
Ingredients:
2 ounces gin
1 ounce Maraschino liqueur
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
flamed lemon peel
Method of Preparation:
1. Shake.
2. Serve in cocktail glass.
Sazerac
Serves 1
Calories: 195
Ingredients:
A splash Ricard
1 ounce Cognac
1 ounce Rye
1/2 ounce simple syrup
2 dashes Paychaud bitters
2 dashes Angostura bitters
lemon peel, for decoration
Method of Preparation:
1. Speed shake.
2. Serve in a rocks glass.
White Christmas
Serves 1
Calories: 194
Ingredients
1 ounce vodka
1 ounce amaretto
1 ounce heavy cream
Method of Preparation
1. Shake.
2. Garnish with chocolate shaving.
Note: Variation vodka, white chocolate liqueur,or peppermint schnapps can be used
Candy Cane Martini
Serves 1
Calories: 180
Ingredients
1 ounce vodka
1 ounce peppermint schnapps
1 ounce club soda
Method of Prepartion
1. Stir.
2. Garnish with candy canes or crushed candy cane.
Cranberry Cosmo
Serves 1
Calories: 153
Ingredients
1 and 1/2 ounces vodka
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
1/4 ounce lime juice
1 ounce cranberry or pomegranate juice
Orange peel, for decoration
Method of Preparation
1. Shake.
2. Garnish with flamed orange peel
The Right Way to Fill Your Glass This Season
Make these changes in your holiday glass and you can truly toast to good health.
Instead of: Eggnog—- Drink a: Hot Toddy
Why: Traditional eggnog packs nearly 350 calories and 11 grams of fat per cup — that’s as much as a McDonald’s cheeseburger. A hot toddy keeps that comfort feeling with a little over 160 calories per drink. Just mix a double shot of rum with a sugar cube that you’ve rubbed lemon onto. Then add a cinnamon stick and top off with boiling water.
Instead of a: Sidecar —Drink an: Old-Fashioned
Why: Darker drinks, like the cognac-laden sidecar, contain congeners — toxins that can give you heck of a hangover when they cross the blood-brain barrier (after you’ve had too many). The gin in the old-fashioned should reduce hangover risk — but only if you don’t drink to oblivion to begin with. Inhibitions failed? Diminish hangover symptoms by drinking a lot of fluids that contain minerals and electrolytes (like sports drinks) to help alleviate dehydration. Caffeine can also help subdue morning-after headaches.
Instead of an: Apple Martini —Drink a: Mojito
Why: Calories, calories, calories. Despite the fact that the mojito starts with a nice bit of sugar being muddled with the mint, it’s only 149 calories (per 3.5-ounce glass). The average apple martini packs about 235 calories.
Instead of: White Wine —Drink: Red Wine
Why: Red wine contains special antioxidants (quercetin, catechins, and resveratrol) that help squelch the inflammation and free radicals that make a mess of blood vessel walls. But if you just don’t do red, know that white wines (and beer) contain ethanol, which helps increase good cholesterol and discourages blood clots. But, like bling and celebrity, too much wine — or alcohol of any kind — isn’t good at all. Not only does it add to morning-after regrets, it makes your body older than you are
Calorie content for favorite holiday drinks
Eggnog with rum (1 cup serving)
Calories: 370
Peppermint hot chocolate (1 cup serving)
Calories: 380
Hot buttered rum (1 cup serving)
Calories: 292
Godiva chocolate liqueur (3 ounces on the rocks)
Calories: 310
Holiday punch (1 cup serving)
Calories: 234
Crantini: (1 cup serving)
Calories: 200
Spiced cider with rum (1 cup serving)
Calories: 150
Mulled wine (5 ounce serving)
Calories: 200
Red wine (5 ounce serving)
Calories: 120
White wine (5 ounce serving)
Calories: 120
Champagne (5 ounce serving)
Calories: 120
Vodka tonic
Calories: 200
Regular beer (12-ounce serving)
Calories: 150
Light beer (12 ounce serving)
Calories: 100
Hot Toddies
‘Tis the season to stay warm! Serve up hot beverages spiked with just the right ingredients to warm your guests on a chilly night. Hot toddies can be offered individually or you can setup the ingredients for a hot toddy buffet.
Santa’s Hot Cocoa
A mix a cup of hot chocolate powder with hot water and add a jigger of peppermint schnapps, a dollop of whipped cream and hang a mini candy cane from the rim.
Hot Spiced Cider
Simmer a gallon of apple cider over the stovetop with four cinnamon sticks, a teaspoon of star anise and a teaspoon of whole cloves. Optionally you can purchase a package blend of spices specifically for spicing apple cider. Measure into serving mugs with ample room on top to add a 1/2 ounce of apple flavored schnapps, or a splash of bourbon, and a stick of cinnamon.
Spiced Tea
Add to a steaming cup of black tea: one ounce of spiced rum, a sprinkle of ground cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, a tablespoon of honey and garnish with a cinnamon stick or lemon wedge.
Holiday Cocktail Drinks
Surprise guests with a jolly cocktail drink sure to put them in the mood to celebrate. These are best mixed in small batches.
Cranberry or Pomegranate Cosmo
In a cocktail shaker mix two parts of vodka or cranberry vodka, one part orange liqueur, one part cranberry or pomegranata juice and a splash of lemon juice. Serve with a couple of cranberries or pomegranate seeds in the bottom of the glass.
White Christmas
First variation: equal parts vodka, amaretto and heavy whipping cream mixed in a cocktail shaker and garnished with nutmeg. Second variation: one part each of vodka, white chocolate liqueur (such as Godiva’s), and peppermint schnapps, two parts heavy whipping cream, mix as above and garnish with sprig of mint or chocolate shavings.
The Candy Cane Martini
Mix equal parts vodka, peppermint schnapps and club soda in cocktail shaker until cold. Garnish with the miniature candy canes hung on the rim of the glass or crush the candy canes in a zip-seal bag with a rolling pin and roll the moistened rim of the glass in the candy pieces.
What is a Cocktail? What is the History of the Cocktail?
The official definition of a Cocktail according to the modern Merriam-Webster Dictionary is “an iced drink of wine or distilled liquor mixed with flavoring ingredients.“ That’s a pretty broad definition, but reflects the modern practice of referring to almost any mixed drink as a Cocktail. The first published definition of the Cocktail appeared in an editorial response in The Balance and Columbian Repository of 1806. This read: “Cocktail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters.“ It is this definition of ingredients that still refers to the “ideal cocktail.“
When was the cocktail created?
People have been mixing drinks for centuries but it wasn’t until the 17th and 18th centuries that the precursors of the Cocktail (the Slings, Fizzes, Toddies and Juleps) became popular enough to be recorded in history. It’s unclear where, who, and what went into the creation of the original Cocktail, but it seems to be a specific drink rather than a category of mixed drinks during that time.
The first published reference to the Cocktail appears in the Farmer’s Cabinet (Amherst, New Hampshire, April 28, 1803). The spoof editorial tells of a “lounger” who, with an 11 a.m. hangover, “…Drank a glass of cocktail – excellent for the head…“ In Imbibe!, David Wondrich attributes the first known Cocktail recipe in print to Captain J.E. Alexander in 1831 who calls for brandy, gin or rum in a mix of “…a third of the spirit to two-thirds of the water; add bitters, and enrich with sugar and nutmeg…“
Program Note:
NBC 10 is offering options to cocktails with alcohol. If you choose to use the alcohol version of these recipes, please use in moderation. We wish you a safe and happy holiday season.
Healthy Holiday Culinary and Cocktail Ideas
Johnson & Wales University chefs joined Barbara Morse Silva Health Check 10 Reporter for a check at what’s cooking in the kitchens of the College of Culinary Arts. They shared tips and techniques for preparing and serving holiday cocktails, appetizers and desserts – all with moderation and good health in mind. The following information is courtesy of Johnson & Wales University and cannot be reprinted or used without permission.
Reader Reactions
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