Festive Cocktail Recipe - Cranberry Orange Christmas Cocktail

We recently asked people what their favourite Christmas flavours were, and many people said that they actually weren’t super into the classic Christmas spice type flavours, but just love something citrusy.

So, to fuse citrus flavour with the festive theme, we have been trying out lots of orange-based cocktails, and we’ve found a few great ones.

This one, the Cranberry Orange Christmas Cocktail, is a bit of a show stopper to look at, and a seriously easy sipper! If you’re looking for something with a bit of a stronger punch, you might like the Merry Marmalade Martini, but this one is a refreshing, light cocktail, and let’s face it, at some points over Christmas, when the indulgence level is high, its nice to actually have something a little more relaxed.

I use blood orange for this, partly because I think it’s more Christmassy and partly because I just prefer the flavour and think it goes better with the cranberry, but you can use normal, smooth OJ if you prefer.

If you like blood orange juice as much as me, then you’ll also love our third and final orange Christmas cocktail; the Blood Orange Spritz.

Cranberry Orange Christmas Cocktail Recipe

Serves: 1

INGREDIENTS

50ml Cranberry syrup (see below)

50ml blood orange juice

25ml Cointreau

25ml Vodka

SYRUP INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup cranberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

a sprinkle of cinnamon (optional/to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. First, make your cranberry syrup. To do this, put cranberries, sugar and water into a small saucepan, bring to the boil, then simmer over a low heat for around 10 minutes or so. Be sure to stir throughout, and I like to smush the cranberries gently to bring out the flavour. Add a sprinkle of cinnamon (if you like). Leave to cool, and then strain before you use it.

2. Once the syrup is cooled and strained, and 50ml to a cocktail shaker, along with the blood orange juice, Cointreau, vodka and a handful of ice.

3. Shake until the shaker is icy cold (10-15 seconds).

4. Strain into a coupe glass, garnish with orange and serve.