JINGLE JUICE

JINGLE JUICE

5 cups orange juice

1 cup vodka

1/3 cup Cointreau or other orange liqueur

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

½ cup maraschino cherry juice or grenadine

Garnish with fruit-flavored candy canes

(makes 1 ½ quarts)

Christmas rang out strong in my Saturday. I spent it shopping, Christmas tree hunting and going to our good friends’ Christmas party. I brought along a big ol’ pitcher of JINGLE JUICE and it was a hit. It was also easy to make ahead of time, so I could just plop it on the bar for stress-free cocktailing.

To make the JINGLE JUICE, I doubled the recipe above for a three quart pitcher. I started by making frozen orange juice in the pitcher, then adding the other ingredients, and stirring well. By all means use Cointreau,, the best-tasting orange liqueur in existence, if you can. We brought the pitcher of JINGLE JUICE to the party and added ice once we got there. The JINGLE JUICE won’t suffer from a bit of a melt, so don’t worry about it getting too watery. Once at the party, the juice should be poured over ice in a tall glass, then garnished with a candy cane.

I thought the cocktail was a fruity delight, heavy on the orange. It took three large glasses until I’d had enough, and I would highly recommend it for holiday cocktail. It wasn’t too sweet or too pepperminty and is sure to please a crowd. Here’s some of the comments I heard from the fun crowd celebrating Christmas with me with a glass of JINGLE JUICE.

“I would drink this with breakfast.”

“The candy cane is a great touch.”

“I really love watching others suck their candy canes”

“Very orangey, kinda like tang.”

“Fruity”

“Love it. What is this stuff called Cointreau?”

“I could drink this all night!”

“So good!”

“Gives me a jingle and a jangle!”

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie