Cold Weather Cocktail Roundup (Slideshow)
This comforting winter weather cocktail tastes like a warm slice of apple pie — that is, if you like your apple pie spiked with mulled wine, dark rum, and Grand Marnier.
The Hot Toddy Cocktail
This hot toddy cocktail is made at the (soon-to-be-opened) FEED Body & Soul restaurant in Venice, Calif.
Mexican Hot Chocolate
This Mexican version is a rich and delicious brew that is reminiscent of the one written about in Like Water for Chocolate. To be completely authentic, the hot chocolate must be mixed with a "molinillo," a primitive-looking wooden stirrer used specifically for this purpose.
Adapted from "A Reader's Cookbook" by Judith Choate.
Nolet's Winter Warmer
Oh the weather outside is still freaking frightful, and we don't have the pleasantries of the holidays anymore to keep us warm. Good thing there's a warming, gin cocktail, to make us forget that it's still winter. Made by John McCarthy, bartender at New York City's Mulberry Project, the Winter Warmer is in fact "red hot," thanks to a honey syrup infused with cinnamon sticks, dried chiles, and dried ginger. McCarthy recommends mixing honey with warm water and the ingredients (dried ingredients, rather than fresh chiles and ginger, will last longer), and infuse it for three days.
The Harvard Warmer
The Harvard Warmer is a classic cocktail that was inspired by the brandy-based Harvard Cocktail. Topping and his team of mixologists took the drink to new heights when they added the vanilla and citrus infused Liquor 43 and balanced it out with honey simple syrup. Honey simple syrup is fascinatingly easy to make by mixing equal parts warm water and honey and shaking!
Irish Hot Chocolate
This recipe comes from Adelaide Mueller, our recipe tester for In the Small Kitchen. It's a "bad boy" hot chocolate, ideal for chocoholics and those who like a little something extra in their hot drink. The chopped white chocolate adds a whole other level of goodness (or badness).
Hot Buttered Rum
While Los Angeles is in its cold spell, the Tasting Kitchen has created its version of the perfect winter cocktail: the hot buttered rum. This wintry cocktail at The Tasting Kitchen is exactly what it sounds like: dark rum, housemade butter batter, apple butter, fresh-pressed ginger, allspice dram, hot water, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and dark brown sugar as a sweetener.