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Hometown Recipes: Festive Cocktails

By Erin Walgamuth:

I am sitting here at my desk writing to you and listening to Christmas music on Pandora Radio. It’s cloudy and cool with rain coming in tomorrow. I love it, it feels like Christmas!

Last Saturday night my husband and I went to a friend’s house for a holiday party. Meri, the hostess and former publisher of 661 Magazine had the 2008 holiday issue from 661 on her kitchen counter and was mixing up my cocktail recipes from the Bar None article. It was a wonderful evening shared with old friends and I realized that you might enjoy my cocktail recipes too.

The cocktail recipes were inspired by a holiday party my husband and I gave many years ago. The guest list went from about 20 to over 50 in a matter of a week, not uncommon for our parties. So, what to do about serving our friends adult beverages without a bartender or mixing drinks all night ourselves? I came up with an idea that we still use to this day. I made recipe cards for three different martinis and laminated the cards (or you won’t be able to read them by the middle of the party). I put a martini shaker, shot glasses, a bucket of crushed ice, all the ingredients for each martini and the glassware behind each card. This enabled our guests to mix their own drinks while we visited with everyone.


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Our friends had a great time chatting and laughing together as they mixed their own cocktails. It turned out to be a wonderful way for people who had never met before to get to know each other.

I have yellow and pink cocktail glass rimming sugars which are delicious and very festive. I have found them on Amazon.com and occasionally at Home Goods. If you would like to use these sugars start by pouring a circle of sugar the same size as the cocktail glass rim onto a small plate. Run a lemon or lime wedge around the martini glass rim, and then place the rim in the sugar. Pour cocktail into the glass and voila – a professional looking martini!

I hope you enjoy these festive cocktails!

 

Pomegranate Passion

1 Serving

2 oz. of your favorite vodka
2 oz. of your favorite orange liqueur
2 oz. of pomegranate juice
Juice from ½ lemon or lime

Fill ½ of the martini shaker with crushed ice; add vodka, orange liqueur, pomegranate juice, and citrus. Shake, pour into glass and serve

 

Dirty Martini

1 serving

2 oz. of your favorite vodka
Two savory olives, such as stuffed blue cheese or garlic skewered onto a toothpick
Olive juice to taste

Fill ½ the martini shaker with crushed ice; add vodka and olive juice, shake, pour into glass, add olives and serve.

Lemon Drop

1 serving

2 oz. favorite of your favorite vodka
2 oz. of your favorite orange liqueur
2 oz. of fresh squeezed lemon juice

I have a Meyer lemon tree in the back yard. These delicious lemons are my all-time favorite. They are thought to be a combination of a common lemon crossed with a mandarin orange. They have a sweeter flavor then the common lemon and a thinner skin. If you can’t find them, then use any lemon you like.

Fill ½ the martini shaker with crushed ice; add vodka, liqueur and lemon juice. Shake, pour into glass and serve.

Merry Christmas!

Erin Walgamuth has been an assistant Food Stylist for television and print for the past 26 years and writes this column using her own recipes. Check out her other creations in our Hometown Recipe section.

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Hometown Recipes: Festive Cocktails

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As Santa Clarita’s only local radio station, KHTS FM 98.1 & AM 1220 mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, along with your favorite adult contemporary hits by artists such as Rob Thomas, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Maroon 5. We are vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community. Our broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. We stream our talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience.