Andrea Meyers» Beverages

Festive Cocktails for New Years Eve

Andrea — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:00:46 +0000

It wouldn’t be a New Years Eve party without an assortment of cocktails, and we have a few favorites to share that will make New Years Eve even more festive. We hope you’ll share some of your favorites in the comments, too.

The caipirinha is a new favorite for us, one that Michael discovered on a trip to Brazil this year. We like it both traditional style and with a pomegranate twist.

The Vaina is a luxurious chocolate cocktail from Chile made with ruby port, cognac, crème de cacao, egg yolk, and a touch of cinnamon. This one is so good it almost qualifies as dessert.

The poinsettia cocktail is a classic sparkling drink perfect for the holidays, with cranberry juice, Grand Marnier, and champagne.

I love this cocktail for a private New Years Eve celebration, the Pure Passion Cocktail, with passion fruit juice, lime, triple sec, and brut cava, and a sweet and spicy sugar and chili powder rimmer.

And for a cocktail without the alcohol, this sparkling pomegranate nojito is very refreshing. It’s made with pomegranate juice, a ginger-habanero syrup, mint leaves, and club soda. And of course, you can use as much or little habanero as you like.

Chrysalis Vineyards: After Harvest (Sarah’s Patio Mulled Wine)

Andrea — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:15:12 +0000

Chrysalis Vineyards is one of the easier vineyards to get to in Northern Virginia, just off Route 50 in Loudoun County. Set on 71 acres in the rolling hills of the Piedmont region, the vineyard specializes in unusual Spanish and French varietals and Norton, a native Virginia grape, as well as traditional grapes, a total of over 20 varieties. The tasting room is open daily from 10 to 5:30, and the friendly folks there will be glad to set up a tasting for you.

My first visit to Chrysalis Vineyards was in late November before the Thanksgiving holiday. The harvest was over and the grapevines were mostly empty, save for some clusters of mostly dry grapes and a few dead leaves still clinging in the wind. A vineyard looks very different in cold weather, like it’s resting, waiting. Michael and I did a tasting, a mix of reds and whites, and I ended the day with three favorites.

The first favorite is the 2009 Norton Locksley Reserve, a big red wine with peppery chocolate notes, one that I would savor with an elegant dinner of prime rib or lamb. My second favorite was the 2008 Papillon, a blend of Petit Verdot and Tannat, which yields a fruity red with touches of cedar and coffee and a hint of pepper. This is one that would age nicely and go very well with venison. And finally, one that I instantly thought of for summer pitchers of sangria, the 2010 Sarah’s Patio Red, a light semi-sweet wine that just needs some fruit and it’s ready to go.

The winery is open year round, and I look forward to another visit this winter.

Recipe Notes

I found that the Sara’s Patio Red wine, which is a 100% Norton, worked well for mulled wine. It’s semi-sweet and needed no added sugar, I just added spices to taste.

SARAH’S PATIO MULLED WINE

Serves 4.

Equipment

2-quart heavy bottom saucepan

Ingredients

750-ml bottle Chrysalis Vineyards’ Sarah’s Patio Red wine (semi-sweet light red, 100% Virginia Norton grape)
3 green cardamom pods
6 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 orange peel, in wide strips, without the pith

Preparation

Pour the wine into the saucepan and stir in the spices and orange peel. Warm over medium low heat until the wine is infused with the flavors, about 10 to 15 minutes. Just warm the wine, do not allow it to boil. Strain the spices and pour the wine it into mugs and serve. Garnish with cinnamon sticks or orange slices.

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Caipirinha Cocktail

Andrea — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 20:41:39 +0000

“You’ve got to try it.’

Michael was Skyping with me from Rio de Janeiro and telling me about a famous local cocktail that he’d sampled while there, the caipirinha, a muddled drink made with cachaça, limes, sugar, and ice. Of course we had to try making it at home, and after an evening sipping several different versions we created, we’ve decided the caipirinha is now on our cocktails list for parties.

Cachaça is a sugar cane brandy available as both aged (gold) and unaged (white). The aged cachaça is sipped straight while the white cachaça is used in cocktails. This stuff is pretty potent, so if like me you have a low alcohol tolerance, plan on having just one.

We experimented with mixing methods and decided that shaking made it pretty close to the consistency of the caipirinha Michael tasted in Rio. As soon as we perfected our basic recipe, we started playing with other flavors because there are many fruity variations on the caipirinha. We tried it with blueberries, pomegranate juice, and other citrus. Our favorite combination turned out to be the caipirinha with pomegranate juice and a little less lime (amounts listed below). For a nonalcoholic version, just use water or seltzer water.

So happy Labor Day Weekend! Pour yourself a cocktail and celebrate the last weekend of summer.

CAIPIRINHA COCKTAIL

Makes 1 cocktail.

Equipment

rocks glass, about 12 ounces
muddler
cocktail shaker

Ingredients

1 medium lime, cored and thinly sliced into 8 wedges
3 teaspoons fine sugar
ice
3 ounces (90 ml) cachaça

Preparation

1. Place the lime slices in the glass and sprinkle the sugar on the lime. Muddle the limes until they are pretty well smashed.

2. Pack ice in the glass almost to the rim, then pour in the cachaça. Invert into a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously for about 10 seconds. Pour it all back into the glass and serve.

Pomegranate Variation

1/2 lime, cored and thinly sliced into 8 wedges
3 teaspoons fine sugar
ice
3 ounces (90 ml) cachaça
3 ounces (90 ml) pomegranate juice
pomegranate arils for garnish

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Three Cooling Summer Cocktails

Andrea — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 22:44:08 +0000

The heat waves we’ve had this year have been absolutely brutal, and in the evenings the best way to cool down is with some ice cream or a chilled cocktail. I recently created three summer cocktails for Betty Crocker, and you can find them on BettyCrocker.com. These are all easy and can be made with widely available ingredients.

The first cocktail is a sangria granita that combines dry red wine with a sweet white moscato wine so you don’t need to add much sugar.

The next one is a festive mango-blueberry champagne cocktail that I like for brunch or early evening.

And this last one is a party punch with passion fruit and lime juice, rum, and mint leaves.

Luck of the Irish Milkshake

Andrea — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:11:21 +0000

Last summer we went on a milkshake kick and Michael and I spent lots of time in the evenings after the boys went to bed testing new flavor combinations. I can’t say it was a healthy thing for us to do, but all that time spent playing in the kitchen was worth it. We laughed and enjoyed creating together, sharing ideas and tasting each other’s concoctions. Good memories.

Life throws curve balls and we never know what is coming, how big or small, and though we try to plan carefully and make sure home life is safe and comfortable for our family, there are days that sometimes stretch into weeks when I think we can’t take another curve ball, whether it’s another special needs diagnosis for one of our children or unexpected bills or an illness for someone else in our family. Then unimaginable events in other places in the world jolt us, remind us to be thankful and celebrate every single day that we have together, because we don’t know how long we have.

So we are celebrating St. Patrick’s Day today, tomorrow, and probably into the weekend because we are just happy to be together. And we’re sharing with you one of our favorite milkshakes from last summer, a shake we dubbed Luck of the Irish because it’s made with some of our favorite Irish exports. The other favorite is featured in the Spring 2011 issue of Where Women Cook, a milkshake with bananas foster and praline pecans. We hope you’ll celebrate with us.

(Print this recipe)

LUCK OF THE IRISH MILKSHAKE

Makes 1 (12-ounce) milkshake.

Equipment

immersion blender
cocktail shaker
tall milkshake glass, frosted

Ingredients

3 ounces (89 ml) Guinness Stout beer
1 ounce (30 ml) Carolans Irish cream
1 teaspoon chocolate syrup
2 teaspoons malted milk powder
4 scoops chocolate ice cream, slightly softened
7 chocolate covered espresso beans
whipped cream
1/4 teaspoon cocoa powder, sifted

Preparation

In the cocktail shaker, mix the Guinness Stout, Irish cream, chocolate syrup, and malted milk powder with the immersion blender. Add the chocolate ice cream and blend well. Finely chop 6 of the espresso beans and blend them in with the shake. Pour into the chilled glass. Top the shake with whipped cream, a sprinkle of cocoa powder, and a whole espresso bean.

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Sparkling Pomegranate Punch

Andrea — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 05:14:19 +0000

We’ve gotten hooked on pomegranates and eagerly look forward to the autumn pomegranate season. Our love for the fruit led us to plant a pomegranate tree this year, which will hopefully give us a harvest of our own pomegranates in a couple years. And of course we will promptly toss the arils into a bowl of this punch. Now that is a treat worth waiting for.

I can’t help it, I’m a sucker for a good party punch, especially when bubbly wine is involved. This sparkling pomegranate punch looks gorgeous on the table and has the added bonus of wine-soaked fruit to nibble on as you sip. And it’s easy, just prep the fruit and dissolve the sugar in the pomegranate juice ahead of time, then simply pour all the ingredients into a bowl when you are ready to serve.

We would like to thank you for following our food and garden adventures on the blog, and we wish you and your loved ones a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year. Cheers!

(Print this recipe)

SPARKLING POMEGRANATE PUNCH

Adapted from Food and Wine.

Serves 10.

Equipment

small bowl
large punch bowl
stemmed glasses

Ingredients

3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup (240 ml) pomegranate juice
1 cup diced fresh pineapple (1/2 inch)
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
2 oranges, thinly sliced
2 (750-ml) bottles sparkling wine, chilled
3/4 cup (180 ml) Reisling or Moscato wine, chilled
ice cubes, optional

Preparation

1. MAKE AHEAD: In the small bowl, dissolve the sugar in the pomegranate juice. Store with the prepared pineapple, pomegranate seeds, and sliced oranges in the refrigerator for up to one day ahead.

2. SERVE: In the punch bowl, stir the sweetened pomegranate juice together with the sparkling wine and Reisling or Moscato wine. Add the orange slices, diced pineapple and pomegranate seeds. Serve the punch in stemmed glasses, adding ice cubes if desired.

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Hot Mulled Wine

Andrea — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 14:50:59 +0000

Years ago I had my first taste of hot spiced wine at a friend’s apartment in Bogotá, Colombia, which we sipped while listening to Edith Piaf after a glorious dinner of beef tenderloin (lomo). Maria Consuela had spent time in the U.S. and Europe during her college years and liked to share her cultural experiences from all the places she had lived and visited. She befriended the new teachers at the school and introduced us to the beauty of a country that still to this day many people would fear to set foot in. I don’t know what she put in the wine that night, I only remember that it smelled and tasted fantastic. Until then, my wine experience had been limited and included a rather horrible bout with box wine in the Outback that left me with the mother of all migraines and the opinion that perhaps wine was not for me.

So all these years later I must thank my friend and colleague Maria Consuela for introducing me to good hot spiced wine, and for her help in transitioning to life in a new country.

And so this is #3 in our week of New Year’s Eve cocktails, a drink that warms you up inside and makes you feel like snuggling by a fire. We like our hot mulled wine spicy and not too sweet, so feel free to adjust the sugar to your taste. We prefer to use the whole cracked nutmeg because it’s easy to fish out of the wine before serving, but you could substitute ground nutmeg if you prefer, you’ll just have some bits left in the wine.

(Print this recipe)

HOT MULLED WINE

Serves 6.

Equipment

3 to 4-quart pot with heavy bottom
glass mugs

Ingredients

750 ml red wine (zinfandel or merlot)
1 cup (240 ml) water
1/4 cup (28 g) demerara or turbinado sugar
3 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 whole nutmeg, cracked open (or 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg)
1 orange, peeled in wide strips
1 lemon, peeled in wide strips
1 orange, thinly sliced

Preparation

Combine the wine, water, sugar, cloves, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, and lemon and orange strips in the pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for 20 minutes, then serve hot in mugs with slices of orange.

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Pisco Sour Cocktail

Andrea — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 20:00:15 +0000

While on a trip to Chile, Michael got to sample some of the local beverages, including the vaina and the pisco sour, and he came back with plans to make them for us. I’m a tad bit envious that he got to sample these at the source without me, so a home version will have to do until I get to venture off to Chile someday.

Bring up the subject of the pisco sour and you are likely to start a conversation about the origins of the drink, and depending on who is in on the conversation it could become a little heated. Both Peru and Chile lay claim to pisco brandy and the famous drink with laws in place to protect its authenticity. We like the drink no matter where it originally came from, though one could consider this recipe a Chilean version since we used Pisco Capel from Chile. Supposedly pisco from Peru is slightly stronger than the Chilean pisco, so if you are lucky enough to get your hands on both, a little recipe testing would make for a fun evening.

Chilean piscos call for the local Amargo bitters, which are not available in our area. Many U.S. recipes call for Angostura bitters, which are much stronger, and we found the blood orange bitters to be a nice substitute.

Citrus cocktails may seem like summer drinks, but they are also perfect for winter when citrus is in season, and we think the classic pisco sour is a good pick for New Year’s Eve cocktails. The cocktail is made with either lemons or limes and you can adjust the juice and sugar depending on how sour you want it.

WARNING: Since the egg whites are raw, please use the freshest eggs possible and make sure they have been stored properly.

(Print this recipe)

PISCO SOUR COCKTAIL

Makes 1 regular size cocktail or 2 to 3 mini cocktails.

Equipment

blender
old-fashioned glass or mini cocktail glasses

Ingredients

1-1/2 ounces fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice
3 ounces Pisco Capel
1-1/2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar, or to taste
1 egg white, very fresh
1/3 cup crushed ice
blood orange bitters

Preparation

In the blender, mix the lemon juice, pisco, confectioner’s sugar, egg white, and ice until it’s very foamy. Pour into the serving glass and add a few drops of blood orange bitters.

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Vaina Cocktail (Chile)

Andrea — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 04:49:27 +0000

A couple years ago we decided to highlight a few of our favorite cocktails during the last week before New Year’s Eve, and it’s turned into a fun tradition for us. This week we’ll continue the tradition with four or five of our favorite drinks from this year, the cocktails that we think will make any New Year’s Eve party even more festive.

Our first cocktail this week is the Vaina, a Chilean cocktail made with ruby port, cognac or brandy, crème de cacao, egg yolk, and a touch of cinnamon. Sweeten with some confectioners sugar and blend until it’s nice and foamy, then pour into flutes or mini glasses. It’s sweet and chocolaty with a hint of cinnamon, and is one of those drinks that goes down easy but can hit fast, so we think smaller is better.

WARNING: Since the egg yolks are raw, please use the freshest eggs possible and make sure they have been stored properly.

VAINA COCKTAIL (CHILE)

Makes 1 regular size cocktail or 2 to 3 mini cocktails.

Equipment

blender
flute or mini cocktail glasses

Ingredients

1-1/2 ounces (45 ml) ruby red port
1 ounce (30 ml) cognac or brandy
1 ounce (30 ml) dark crème de cacao
3 teaspoons confectioner’s sugar
1 raw egg yolk, very fresh
1/3 cup crushed ice
pinch of cinnamon

Preparation

In the blender, mix the port, cognac, crème de cacao, confectioner’s sugar, and egg yolk with the ice until foamy. Pour into the flute or mini cocktail glasses and garnish with a pinch of cinnamon.

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Good Bite: Easy Holiday Entertaining with Betty Crocker, Hot Cranberry Apple Cider

Andrea — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 19:18:21 +0000

I can’t imagine the holidays without this hot cranberry apple cider. The aroma is wonderful and makes the house smell so festive, and it’s also easy to make and won’t keep you hovering over the pot when you’d rather celebrate time with family and friends.

GoodBite.com and the Betty Crocker Test Kitchen are featuring my hot cranberry apple cider today in another video recipe. I hope you enjoy it and the cider!