During the holidays, a cocktail party is an easy way to welcome friends and family into your home. Guests can serve themselves from a buffet, and you don't have to worry about preparing a complete meal.
Offer a selection of festive drinks, such as cranberry martinis and kir royale, plus an enticing array of hors d'oeuvres. We've chosen recipes that allow you to do much of the work in advance, so you can spend time with your guests instead of in the kitchen.
When planning an hors d'oeuvre menu, strive for a balance of hot and cold dishes as well as different colors, flavors and textures so your guests can sample a variety of foods. Our spiced shrimp cigars are served hot from the oven, while stuffed cremini mushrooms can be eaten warm or at room temperature. For something lighter, try Indian-spiced mixed nuts or classic crudités, which showcase winter's fresh fruits and vegetables. Oysters and caviar are always a luxurious addition to the menu.
Ramos Gin Fizz
This recipe was created by the beverage experts at Bourbon & Branch in San Francisco. To quickly transform tap water into the soda water called for here, use a water carbonator.
Ingredients:
Ice as needed
2 oz. gin
1 oz. heavy cream
3/4 oz. pasteurized egg white
1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
2 oz. soda water
2 dashes of orange flower water
Orange slice for garnish
Directions:
In a cocktail shaker filled halfway with ice, combine the gin, cream, egg white, lemon juice and lime juice and shake until well chilled, 45 to 60 seconds. Strain into an old-fashioned glass filled with fresh ice and top with the soda water and orange flower water. Garnish with an orange slice and serve immediately. Serves 1.
The Apple of My Eye
The beverage experts at Bourbon & Branch, a popular San Francisco bar owned by Future Bars, created this festive cocktail for Williams-Sonoma using the iSi Twist ‘n Sparkle.
Ingredients:
6 oz. bourbon
2 oz. Averna
2 oz. honey syrup
10 oz. apple juice
2 oz. fresh lemon juice
5 dashes angostura bitters
Ice as needed
Apple wedges for garnish
Freshly grated cinnamon for garnish
Directions:
In the Twist ‘n Sparkle bottle, combine the bourbon, Averna, honey syrup, apple juice, lemon juice and angostura bitters. Carbonate according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Pour into ice-filled glasses and garnish each with an apple wedge and freshly grated cinnamon. Serve immediately. Serves 4.
Cherry Nice
Perfect for warm-weather sipping, this refreshing cocktail was created for us by the experts at Cask, whose artisan beverages combine fine spirits, fresh ingredients and time-honored techniques.
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups silver rum
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup agave nectar
Crushed ice as needed
6 maraschino cherries plus juice from jar
Directions:
In a pitcher, whisk together the rum, lemon juice and agave nectar until combined. Refrigerate until cold. Pour the mixture into a Twist ’n Sparkle bottle and carbonate according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Let rest for 1 minute.
Fill 6 double old-fashioned glasses with crushed ice. Pour the cocktail over the ice, float with maraschino cherry juice and garnish each with a maraschino cherry. Serve immediately. Serves 6.
Three-Ingredient Summer Cocktails
The Times asked some of the country’s top bartenders to suggest streamlined coolers built for easy warm-weather drinking. The rules were simple: three ingredients, not counting straightforward garnishes, sugar, seltzer and simple syrup. The goal was loads of refreshment with minimal effort.
Cherry Caipirissima
This seasonal spin on the Brazilian caipirinha demands vigorous shaking to break up the ice cubes and to give the finished drink a breezy, almost effervescent zip.
Ingredients
3/4 ounce simple syrup
3 cherries, pitted and halved
Half a lime, cut into quarters
2 ounces white rum.
Preparation
In a cocktail shaker, press and mix the simple syrup, cherries and lime quarters with a muddler or wooden spoon. Add the rum and 6 ice cubes. Shake hard and pour everything into a rocks glass.
Yield: 1 drink.
Italia Libera
The mixologist Chaim Dauermann wanted to tweak the Cuba Libre, a classic rum-and-Coke highball, without using cola, so he reached instead for a pungent white rum with hints of vanilla and paired it with bittersweet Italian amaro.
Ingredients
1 ounce overproof (150 proof alcohol) white rum
1 ounce amaro
1/4 ounce lemon juice
3/4 ounce simple syrup
Chilled seltzer
1 lime wedge, for garnish.
Spellbinder
This aromatic summer spin on the traditional gin martini takes its vivid hue from Strega, an Italian liqueur infused with saffron. For an added aesthetic boost, try garnishing with a long curl of cucumber cut with a vegetable peeler.
Ingredients
2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce dry vermouth
1/4 ounce Strega
1 lemon peel strip, for garnish
1 cucumber strip (a long ribbon made with a vegetable peeler), for garnish.
Guadalajara Sour
The bartender Michael Bowers has taken to garnishing this cocktail with a twist of grapefruit, which he squeezes away from the drink before dropping it in. “Grapefruit oil can be really overwhelming,” he said, “especially here, where its purpose is to augment the aroma of the rosé, not overtake it.”
Ingredients
1 3/4 ounces blanco tequila
3/4 ounce lemon juice
3/4 ounce simple syrup
3/4 ounce chilled rosé.
Sumo Collins
The name of this supersize, extra-refreshing Tom Collins was inspired by Ken’s House of Pancakes in Hilo, Hawaii, where jumbo orders of saimin and loco moco are announced with a gong crash and the staff yelling “Sumo!” “We don’t yell,” said Fort Defiance owner St. John Frizell. “Yet.”
Ingredients
3 ounces gin
2 1/4 ounces fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 ounces simple syrup
Chilled seltzer
1 orange wheel.
Take 3
“I think I’ve come to the place where less is more,” said Zachary Gelnaw-Rubin, creator of this unlikely combination of artichoke-infused Cynar amaro and elderflower-laced St. Germain liqueur, which he fuses with lemon juice and tops with seltzer. “It’s best to work from three ingredients.”
Ingredients
2 ounces Cynar
3/4 ounce St. Germain liqueur
3/4 ounce lemon juice
Chilled seltzer
1 orange wedge, for garnish.
Preparation
Combine the Cynar, St. Germain and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker, fill with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a highball glass over fresh ice. Top with seltzer and garnish with the orange wedge.
Dama Blanca
lemon juice in a cocktail shaker, fill with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a highball glass over fresh ice.
Ingredients
3/4 ounce Cointreaux liqueur
3/4 ounce lemon juice
3/4 Gin
3/4 Almíbar
Yield: 1 drink.
