Merlin’s Christmas Cocktail Recipes

This Christmas Tesco has teamed up with TV Barman Merlin Griffiths to create a range of fab Christmas Cocktail Recipes !

You can watch Merlin making these recipes here…

Gingerbread ‘S’nog Under the Mistletoe

Infused with all sorts of festive spices, this gingerbread latte liqueur version of the classic winter eggnog is warming and familiar, and a perfect alternative to mulled wine.

Serves 4
Takes 10 mins

Ingredients:

160ml semi-skimmed milk
160ml single cream
1⁄8 tsp ground nutmeg, plus extra to
serve
1⁄8 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
50g golden granulated sugar
150ml Tesco Finest gingerbread latte
cream liqueur
50ml Tesco Finest Highland single malt Scotch whisky
Mini gingerbread men, to serve (optional)

Method:

1. Place a small saucepan over a low heat. Add the milk, cream, spices and vanilla
   essence. Heat gently for 2 mins until steaming, not boiling.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar for about 1 min
   until frothy. Add the gingerbread liqueur and the whisky.
3. When the milk is steaming hot, pour it into the egg mix, stirring all the time. Transfer
   back to the warm pan for 1 min, stirring.
4. Divide into 4 latte glasses. Garnish with a dusting of nutmeg and a gingerbread man,
   if you like.

Tips:
Can be served chilled
Get ahead by making the night before and warming gently before
serving
Keeps for a couple of days in the fridge

Festive old fashioned

Elegant and smooth, this whisky-based fireside drink is enhanced by fruity flavours of apple and prunes. Serve in a large glass to let the aromas collect.

Serves 1

Ingredients:

50ml Tesco Finest 12-year-old Speyside single malt Scotch whisky
2 tsp Tesco Finest maple syrup
4 tsp syrup and 1 prune from a 420g tin prunes
2 tbsp apple juice
Dash Angostura Bitters
Ice cubes
300g pack apple slices, to garnish

Method:

1. Add the whisky, maple syrup, prune syrup and prune, apple juice and bitters to a
   stemless wine glass and stir with four ice cubes.
2. Add 2 more cubes, then garnish with the apple slices on a cocktail stick

Tip:
Add more flavour by caramelising the apple slices with a sprinkling of muscovado sugar under the grill.
Use leftover apple and prunes in your morning porridge

Tickled pink gin cocktail

Try this baby pink celebratory drink as an alternative to Bucks Fizz on Christmas morning or to help see in the New Year. Fresh and bright, as well as being one of our favourite Christmas cocktail recipes it’s also a perfect brunch accompaniment.

Serves 1

Ingredients:

Cake Décor gold glitter spray, to garnish
50ml Tesco Finest The Melodist London dry gin
1 pink grapefruit, juiced, plus a strip of pared zest, to garnish
15ml Monin vanilla syrup
4 ice cubes
60ml Tesco Finest Crémant de Limoux rosé 2018

Method:

1. Garnish a Champagne flute by spraying with glitter spray.
2. Use a cocktail shaker to mix the gin, grapefruit juice and vanilla syrup with 4 ice
   cubes. Strain into your glass.
3. Top with the crémant and a long piece of grapefruit zest.

Tip:
Use a peeler to cut a long piece of grapefruit zest. Trim the edges with a knife or pinking
shears to get a jagged edge.
If you want a slightly weaker version, add a glug of grapefruit juice.

Christmas G&Tea for two

Serves 2

Ingredients:

100ml Tesco Finest The Melodist London dry gin
1 lemon & ginger infusion tea bag
approximately 4 easy peeler clementines, 1 to garnish, the rest squeezed to make 100ml
juice
1 lemon
1 lime
ice cubes
30ml Fruiss Creative cane sugar syrup
200ml lemon & lime sparkling spring water

Method:

1. Put the gin in a tea pot with the ginger infusion tea bag and set aside for at least 10
   mins.
2. Slice a clementine, lemon and lime into wheels, enough to garnish 2 glasses. 3.
   Crush 2 glasses’ worth of ice by putting in a bag and bashing with a rolling pin.
3. Add the clementine juice and the syrup to the tea pot with a couple of ice cubes,
   close the lid and swirl together. Top up with the sparkling water. Divide between
   2 highball glasses.
4. Pour in the crushed ice and garnish with the fruit wheels and a paper straw.

Tips:
Use a knife to poke the wheels into place and look pretty.
You can use a clean jam jar or cocktail shaker to mix the drink if you don’t have a teapot.

Quarantini

A lighter martini that still packs a flavoursome punch, using The Melodist gin. One of the more unusual Christmas cocktail recipes.

Serves 1

5 mins to prepare

Ingredients:

40ml Tesco Finest The Melodist London dry gin
75ml pineapple juice
2 tsp golden syrup or syrup from a jar of stem ginger
¼ lime, juiced
small pinch of turmeric
Ice
lime wheel and turmeric powder, to garnish

Method:

1. Put all of the ingredients, except the garnish, in a cocktail shaker and stir well to
   dissolve the syrup.
2. Add ice, then shake vigorously to combine.
3. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with a lime wheel and a sprinkle of turmeric
   powder.