A quick and easy holiday cocktail that’s ready in five minutes flat. Store-bought spiced apple cider gets dressed up with fresh cranberries, cinnamon sticks and, of course, whiskey!
We’ve almost made it to the first weekend in December! And I’m ready to celebrate. I don’t know about you, but now that Thanksgiving is behind us, I’m ready to jump into Christmas full-force. I’ve already shared one of my favorite winter cocktail recipes with you (see Boilo), but when I had a big jug of spiced apple cider sitting in my refrigerator just begging to be used, I couldn’t help but come up with this toasty, cozy, delicious recipe for 5-Minute Boozy Spiced Hot Apple Cider.
Now, I’m no expert in spiked hot apple cider, but I’m pretty sure whiskey goes amazingly well with both apples and even more so with anything that has the word “spiced” in its name. I’m also pretty sure that once we get into the month of December, we need to make everything as “Christmas-y” as possible (Who’s with me?!) Hence why we couldn’t just stop at adding whiskey and had to throw in some cinnamon sticks and fresh cranberries too.
This cocktail is so easy to throw together, and chances are you already have most of the ingredients in your pantry, on your bar cart, or on hand in the refrigerator because you got way too ambitious and thought you were going to make your own cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving and then ran out of time while you were making everything else and you resorted to the canned stuff. But come to think of it, even if you DID get around to making your own cranberry sauce, why not throw some into this cocktail? I’m all about experimentation, especially when there’s booze involved.
What are everyone’s plans for the coming weekend? Chris and I have a holiday party to go to on Saturday, and then Sunday is one of our favorite days of the year in Santa Barbara because….LIGHTED BOAT PARADE! We are super lucky because one of our friends has a boat in the harbor so we get front row seats every year and it is so much fun! It is also very special to us because (cue the sappy romantic music) it’s where Chris asked me to “officially” be his girlfriend. This will be our third year watching the parade together and our first as an engaged couple! (1…2…3… “Awwww!”)
I’m definitely thinking about bringing a batch of this belly-warming Boozy Spiced Hot Apple Cider along with some bubbles (of course!) to celebrate and to kick off the Christmas season with all of our friends. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend with friends and family. Cozy up with a warm drink (ahem…hot apple cider…ahem), light up a fire in the fireplace, open a book, and take a moment to breathe in the lovely scent of your Christmas tree. After all, we only get to do this once a year. XO
A quick and easy holiday cocktail that's ready in five minutes flat. Store-bought spiced apple cider gets dressed up with fresh cranberries, cinnamon sticks and, of course, whiskey!
- 1 1/2 cups spiced apple cider
- 4 ounces whiskey
- 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
- 2 cinnamon sticks
Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until mixture comes to a heavy simmer and cranberries have split open to release their juices. Turn off heat and serve as soon as mixture is cool enough to drink.
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