Hot Toddy and Chill (Booze Optional)
Three easy warm drinks to give you a break from all that cooking, shopping, and dish-doing
Instead of my usual blather about ingredients and techniques, this week—the official kickoff of the Holiday party season—I’ll get right to the point. You’re busy, maybe a tad stressed. It’s hard work hosting friends and family in relaxed comfort.
Sometime during the next few weeks, I'm encouraging you to relax with a warm drink. No complicated mixology. Just a simple toddy—with alcohol or not—that smells great, tastes festive, and gives you and your sous chef/bottle washer/helper elf a chance to put your feet up for a minute.
In this spirit, I present three soul-warming seasonal sippers (with parenthetical alcohol-free versions):
Brown-Buttered Bourbon (or Apple Cider)
Winter Margaritas (or Hibiscus-Lime Tea)
Warm-Punched Riesling (or Fancy Grape Juice)
Brown-Buttered Bourbon (or Apple Cider)
Makes: 2 drinks
Time: 10 minutes
When I lived in San Francisco in the early ‘80s and worked in a North Beach "chuckwagon Italian" restaurant, everyone in the joint drank hot brandy after dinner. Some of the old schoolers in the bar would grab me on my way to the kitchen and ask for a pat of butter to float on top—a la hot buttered rum. A foggy and nostalgic night last week inspired this toasty Holiday spin with bourbon. But you can stick with rum or brandy if you like. And the warmed buttered cider is a delicious option for kids, too.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
16 ounces water or apple cider
Bourbon to taste (optional)
Sugar to taste (optional)
Maraschino cherries for garnish
Instructions:
1. Put the butter in a small pot over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it melts, foams, and smells nutty, about 5 minutes. It will suddenly start darkening. When the melted butter turns golden brown, remove the pot from the heat and stop stirring; let the darker solids settle to the bottom.
2. Heat the water or cider on the stove over medium-high heat until it just comes to a boil. (Or use the microwave.)
3. Put as much bourbon as you like (if you’re using it) in the bottom of 2 heatproof glasses or mugs. Sweeten the bubbling water (or cider) with some sugar if you’d like. Pour the hot liquid into the mugs. Add a cherry with some juice from the jar. Top the drink with a couple teaspoons of browned butter. You can stir it in if you’d like or sip the drink through the buttery layer floating on top.
— Recipe developed by Kerri Conan