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Raspberry Brown Sugar Bourbon Fizz


I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas yesterday. It's amazing how hard we work for this one day of the year and suddenly it's over. Now, here we are, the day after Christmas and I'm still absorbing it all. There were so many things I loved about Christmas this year including my new Christmas cocktail I wanted share. This drink was a very festive addition to a wonderful Christmas evening. My family came over to our house including Lauren; my sister and her husband; my niece and nephew and their families and we had a holly, jolly time. Put it this way, nobody left hungry.


But we did more than just eat, of course. We played games 


and we opened presents - starting in the morning when Lauren came over and we also had breakfast together before getting ready for the evening. 


When everyone was here, we opened more presents. When my extended family gets together for Christmas, we do a white elephant gift exchange. A white elephant gift exchange is when you wrap something from your house that you already have to give to somebody else. You can steal a gift twice if you want someone's gift. We decided a long time ago to stop all the present buying for everyone because really? Do any of us need anymore stuff? NO! A white elephant gift exchange is a really good way to recycle all your stuff and keep things to a minimum, yet having lots of fun in the process.


It is actually more fun because so many of the gifts are funny, unique and silly things. Every year, I've always gotten something I liked. This year, I got an Edgar Martinez free give-away from the game when the Mariner's retired his jersey. Since Edgar is most likely going into the Hall of Fame this year, I think this will be a collector's item!


 Of course, many things get "stolen" twice, like this polar bear muffler that my niece got that looked super cute on her. 


 But then, what it's really all about is spending quality time together.


For dinner, I served our traditional Mustard Crusted Beef Tenderloin as the main entree that I've served for Christmas several years now. This is a real red-meat-fix.

 

Everyone else brought side dishes to go along with it and we served it buffet-style. 


I also made our traditional Red Raspberry Gelatin Salad that you can see in the foreground (which complimented the drinks😉). Everyone got a treat bag of Bruce's Almond Roca with their name place setting at the table and Lauren once again took Polaroid photos of everyone to add that little touch of the 60's.


For the small children, I made little gingerbread house cookies with their names on them instead of a bag of almond roca.
Here is a close-up.


This is the simplistic way to do a gingerbread house; just do the front in a cookie format. These were fun to make and I think I'll do them again next year so I can get more practice. They just look so festive.


For dessert, I made chocolate mousse which really hit the spot after a big meal without being too filling. Of course, I had to decorate them in the Christmas spirit and everyone loved them - the looks and the taste.


Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out how Christmas came and went so fast. How does that happen? I love looking at the Christmas tree and all the presents under it 


and watching Christmas movies. 


Technically, I guess we have another week until New Year's so I guess I'll continue to enjoy the season a little longer but I just can't believe how fast it all happens. If you are planning a New Year's celebration, I would recommend this cocktail.  The brown sugar bourbon is currently our favorite alcohol right now, made locally here from Heritage Distilling Co. The difficult part of this recipe is knowing how to make the simple syrup because the bourbon is already sweet so I only made the syrup half strength.  You need the syrup for the raspberry flavor but since you top it off with tonic water, it dilutes the sweetness.  It turns out to be the perfect amount of raspberry flavor, sweetness and holiday cheer.  



 Serves 12 drinks

 1 cup sugar
1 bag of frozen raspberries, about 10-12 ounces
2 cups water

 Brown Sugar Bourbon such as from Heritage Distilling Co.
Ice
tonic water
fresh raspberries 
fresh mint

 To Make the Simple Syrup:

1.  In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, raspberries and water over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and smashing the raspberries up against the side of the saucepan to help crush them.

 2.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

 3.  Strain the simple syrup, collecting the liquid into a clean re-useable container

 To Make 1 Drink mix together:

 1 shot (1 ounce) of raspberry syrup
1-1/2 shots of bourbon (1-1/2 ounce or shot glass filled all the way to the top)
2 shots of tonic water or to taste
garnish with fresh raspberries and mint
These will sure to be the hit of your party.










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