Cocktail Hour – Candy Cane Swirl

Where has all the wine gone?  I better get back on it or I’ll never live up to my pseudonym.  I promise…Uncorked! will return next week.  This week, however, something a little more apropros for the holiday season – a holiday cocktail!

We will be hosting friends for dinner tomorrow night and I want to have a a festive beverage available for them.  I searched the internet for days…well, maybe not DAYS per se, but it was while.  I finally found something that sounded yummy, festive, not too sweet, and didn’t require multiple varieties of alcohol to prepare.  Of course, before I serve it to friends, I have to give it a test run and see if I like it.

It’s called a Candy Cane Swirl.  The Ingredients:

The Equipment:

The recipe didn’t call for it, but I like to put a little ice in the martini shaker to make sure that it’s nice and cold.

Then you add the cranberry juice

Next up – Grenadine

And the kicker…please note the Raspberry Infusion version…not plain.

Then…Shake-shake-shake…Shake-shake-shake…Shake your cocktail, shake your cocktail (if you haven’t guessed by now, that should be sung to the tune of Shake Your Booty).

Now this IS the holiday season.  Every thing is more glitzy and sparkly during the holiday season, and your cocktail glass should be no exception. Before your martini glass can be filled with this red concoction, it must first be festooned… um, rimmed.

I tried to make my own peppermint rimmer by smashing candy canes, but just ended up making a huge mess and never could get the pieces small enough that they would stick to the glass effectively.  If anyone has any tips on DIY candy cane rimmers (or any other variety of rimmer for that matter), I’d love to hear them.  But for now, Crate & Barrel to the rescue!

To get the rimming sugar to stick you must first moisten the edge of the glass.  I use a bowl or large food storage dish, fill it with about 1/8 inch of water and dip the top of the glass in like so.

For me at least, this is the neatest way to get this done and keep the water localized to the edge of the glass.  Then you dip your glass in the rimming sugar and twist it around.

(My martini glasses are too wide to fit inside the rimmer container, so I have to pour it out into a larger dish.)  Look how pretty!

First we festoon…Then we pour

Add a splash of lemon-lime selzter

and the piece de resistance…

Voila!  A Candy Cane Swirl!

Here’s the mix:

 Candy Cane Swirl

Combine cranberry juice, vodka, and Grenadine in a martini shaker and shake.  Pour into rimmed cocktail glass.  Add a splash of lemon-lime seltzer.  Garnish with a small candy cane.

I sipped on mine while I wrapped all of these.

Wrapping is much more fun with a cocktail!  I highly recommend it.

Cheers, yall!