The holiday season brings us all together with food, drinks and the highlight being the turkey. This year as we have smaller gatherings, we have plenty of reasons to drink. What a year it has been but let us at least raise our glasses with this cranberry ginger cocktail.
Cranberries can be very tart in its original state. The cranberry juice and sauce you see at the store usually contains a lot of sugar. For this recipe you might want to go with less sugar added or diet cranberry juice.
For the ginger tea I made my own homemade ginger tea with a kick by adding some peppercorns. You can also opt to purchase some ginger tea bags to speed up the process. To make your own at home, all you need is some ginger root, lemon if you prefer and some peppercorns for some kick.
Set a pot of water to a gentle boil then add the thinly sliced ginger and peppercorns allowing it to boil gently for about 5 minutes. Let it cool for about 2 hours and then strain it into a jar.
Once cool, you are ready to make your cocktail by combining the cranberry juice, ginger tea, squeeze of lime and rum. Shake this up in a shaker and divide between glasses. Since the cranberry juice is sweet enough no need for additional sweeteners but feel free to add a splash of simple syrup.
Cranberry Ginger Cocktail
Cranberry juice mixed with ginger tea, lime and rum
- 1 cup cranberry juice (reduced sugar or diet)
- 3 oz rum (white)
- 1 lime (juice)
- simple syrup (splash)
- 2 dashes angostura bitters (optional)
- ½ cup ginger tea (recipe below)
Ginger Tea (unsweetened)
- 4 oz ginger root
- ¼ lemon
- 3 cups water
- 5 peppercorns (optional)
Ginger Tea
Feel free to make your favorite store bought ginger tea or make yours with the following ingredients. Wash and skin the ginger then cut into thin slices. Add the sliced ginger, peppercorns, lemon and water to a pot and bring to a gentle boil. Once it reaches a gentle boil, remove the lemon and allow to cool for an hour or more.
***TIP*** You can speed up the cooling process by adding an ice cube or two to the amount you need for your cocktail in a separate jar or glass. You should be able to bring down the cooking time significantly to about 10 minutes. Always make sure you use a heat proof jar or borosilicate glass which is usually resistant to thermal shock.
Once the ginger tea is cool, store it in a jar as you will only need a fraction for this recipe.
Cranberry Ginger Cocktail
Add the cranberry juice, ginger tea, rum, lime juice, simple syrup and some ice (optional) to a shaker. Shake thoroughly.
Divide the contents of the shaker between 2 glasses. Add a dash of aromatic bitters and give it a gentle stir. Serve with a lime wedge if desired.
