3 Holiday Drinks to Brighten Your COVID Christmas in Minnesota
With the coronavirus set to make the holidays a little different than usual, here are three festive cocktails to brighten up your COVID Christmas in Minnesota this year.
When it comes to holiday drinks, a tradition in my family is to have a piping hot Tom and Jerry on Christmas Eve. It's an egg nog-like drink that also has a little rum and brandy in it, along with a thick, cinnamon-infused batter. You put two heaping tablespoons of the batter in a mug, add the rum and brandy (or, if you'd prefer, you can leave the alcohol out-- though I, of course, never do) and fill the mug up with piping hot water. Stir it up and top with some nutmeg and it'll warm you up during a cold Minnesota night.
Our Tom and Jerry tradition started with my grandpa on my dad's side, who used to make his own batter. I'm not quite that industrious, so this year, I picked up some great batter at both Whistlebinkies and at Smoak in Rochester. You can check the full Tom and Jerry recipe HERE.
Next up is a drink my wife found several years ago and has now become a holiday tradition in our house: the Candy Cane Martini. If you like peppermint-flavored drinks, you'll LOVE this one. The recipe is pretty simple-- it only uses three ingredients: Vanilla vodka, creme de cocoa, and peppermint schnapps. You’ll need a classic cocktail shaker and some martini glasses in which to serve them. We even garnish the rim with some crushed candy canes to make sure our glasses are even more festive. (Get the full Candy Cane Martini HERE.)
And here's a NEW holiday drink we're going to have this Christmas, and it's one we first tried earlier this spring when the coronavirus Stay-At-Home order was in place. It's the classic Cosmo. (It was popularized by a video from celebrity chef Ina Garten-- the Barefoot Contessa who made a version in a HUGE glass.) The secret to this drink is to use Citron lemon-flavored vodka instead of regular vodka plus lots of lime juice. It also contains a little cranberry juice along with an orange liquor, like Cointreau. It's really good-- and the cranberry makes it fit right in with pretty much any holiday get-together. (Get the best Cosmo recipe HERE.)
Cheers! Maybe one of these three drinks can become a beloved part of your holiday traditions as they now are at our house. The holidays are ALL about tradition and remembering our past, aren't they? So keep scrolling to relive some memories from Christmases past and see what the holidays were like the year you were born!
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