My Favourite Christmassy Drink Recipes

(BLOGMAS DAY 4)

I love cups. Well, more specifically, I love drinking things out of different mugs and glasses and jars… ask my mom and she’ll roll her eyes and tell you I ask for a new mug or water bottle or glass just about every time Christmas or my birthday rolls around.

The other thing I love is making fun drinks to go inside my mugs. Coffee, tea, smoothies, juices, flavoured water, I love it!! I tend to drink the same favourite drinks year round but this autumn/winter I have been experimenting with a few new ones, so I thought I’d share my three favourites!

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Cinnamon Maple Cold Brew

The first drink I’ve been loving lately is a cinnamon maple cold brew. This one is so simple to make and so refreshing.

The only ingredients you need are most likely things you’ll already have at home: some cold brew (you can buy it but it’s super easy to make: just add ¼ cup of ground coffee to 2 cups of water and leave it in the fridge for at least 24 hours. Then use a French press to separate and ta-da, you’re done!), maple syrup, milk and cinnamon.

When making it, the first thing I do is combine the cold brew, some ice, about 2 tsp of syrup, 1 tsp of cinnamon, and a pinch of nutmeg if I want it, in a mason jar with a lid and shake for about 30 seconds. Then I let it sit whilst I make the cold foam. For this, I combine about 100ml of milk in my milk frother, with a drop (1tsp) of maple syrup if I want it to be sweet. I froth on the ‘cold foam’ setting so it comes out nice and foamy but still cold. If you don’t have a milk frother you can either add to a jar and shake vigorously for about a minute or just use it as-is and pour it straight over the coffee. I like to add a dusting of cinnamon to the top and then you’re done!!

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup coffee grounds
• 100ml milk
• 3tsp maple syrup
• 1tps cinnamon + extra for dusting
• Pinch nutmeg (optional)

Directions:

• Combine cold brew, ice, maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg in a jar with a lid and shake for about 30 seconds
• Separately, combine milk and syrup in a frother and froth on the cold foam setting
• Pour the cold foam over the coffee and finish with a dusting of cinnamon

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Gingerbread Hot Chocolate

Secondly, a super warming and cosy one: my gingerbread hot chocolate! So Christmassy, utterly delicous and the perfect warming sweet fix.

For this drink you’ll need milk, unsweetened cocoa powder, golden syrup, salt and of course, powdered ginger. It’s just made over the stove so it’s pretty simple… start by heating about 200ml of milk in a saucepan over low heat. After it has begun to warm, you can add all the other ingredients and whisk until everything is thoroughly combined. Then leave it over low heat until it starts to simmer: DO NOT LET IT REACH BOILING. To make this even more delicious, you can add a pinch of cinnamon and top it off with some cheeky marshmallows!

Ingredients:

• 200ml milk
• 1tbsp cocoa powder
• 1tbsp golden syrup
• A pinch of salt
• 1tsp ginger

Directions:

• Heat the milk in a saucepan over low heat
• Add the cocoa powder, syrup, salt and ginger, whisk until combined
• Heat until simmering gently, remove from heat and enjoy!

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Honey Citrus Mint Tea (Starbucks Copy Cat)

And finally: my copycat recipe for the Starbucks Honey Citrus Mint Tea. The Medicine Ball. The Starbucks drink that has taken the internet by storm. Sweet, minty, warming, and so, so good!

This is another one where most of the ingredients are ones you’re likely to have at home. The two tea bags you’ll need are a mint citrus one and a peach flavoured one. Starbucks uses their Teavana™ brand, but since you can’t get that in the UK I’ve just been using whatever I can get my hands on, so long as it matches those flavours. To start with, boil enough water to fill your mug two thirds of the way and then let your teabags soak for about 5 mins, with about 2 tsp of honey. For the ‘citrus’ part of the tea you need still lemonade. This isn’t super common either in the UK so the cheat version is to mix lemon juice and boiling water and you have something of the same idea. Starbucks will steam their lemonade for this drink so if you have a frother you can heat it in that, but otherwise in the microwave or over a low heat on the stove works perfectly fine too. Once your lemonade is heated, remove you tea bags and pour it into your tea and there you go! Honey Citrus Mint tea!!

Ingredients:

• Mint Citrus tea bags
• Peach tea bags
• 1tbsp honey (or alternative, e.g. agave nectar)
• 1/3 cup Still lemonade

Directions:

• Add boiling water to two thirds of your mug, and add one mint citrus tea bag, one peach tea bag and about 2tsp of honey and let soak for 5 minutes
• In a saucepan/ in the microwave/ a frother gently heat your lemonade, enough to fill the remaining third of your mug.
• Remove the tea bags, add the lemonade and stir

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So there you have it, my three favourite winter drinks of late! Tell be below, friend, what are you currently enjoying drinking?