My sister visited recently and, in gratitude, I gave in to both the holiday spirit and an Internet trend to create the cocktail below, basically a glorified Moscow Mule, with enough bells and whistles to make it quite a festive cocktail, complete with rosemary Christmas tree, remniscent of a snow globe.
I already owned the ornaments shown below, which come in handy around the holiday season for cold soups or as additions to a cocktail, and the Christmas tree idea is easy enough to recreate -- simply freeze a sprig of rosemary upside down in a little water, which will both anchor the rosemary tree and serve as additional ice in your drink. It is helpful to tether the tip of teh rosemary to a cocktail stick to keep it upright until it freezes.
This makes one drink; multiply as needed.
1/4 cup of your favorite vodka
Juice and zest from 1/2 a lime
1/4 cup cranberry juice
1 sprig rosemary
1 piece of fresh ginger, about an inch long, unpeeled is fine
ginger beer to top up the glass
Place the rosemary and ginger in a shaker and muddle well.
Add ice to the shaker along with the remaining ingredients except for the ginger beer. Shake to chill all of the ingredients.
Strain cocktail into your chilled, rosemary Christmas tree decorated glass.
Top with ginger beer.
Ho ho ho!
