There’s no better time than right now to start enjoying some “winter warmers” – spirited drinks that warm you up during these cooler months. These are perfect after a day of shopping or zipping down the slopes…or just hanging out with friends and family.

What comes to mind? How about some hot toddies, spiced wines and spiked cocoas? Don’t forget about Irish coffees and hot buttered rums; yes please!

Instead of the traditional eggnog, try my silky oh-so-smooth Hot Buttered Egg Nog with Rum – or maybe even cognac! It combines two great holiday favorites in one drink.

I like to set out a Hot Buttered “DIY Drink Station”—some hot buttered mix, a kettle of water, a selection of rums, whisky and brandies. Stack up some mugs and have some fresh nutmeg for grating over the top. Great for holiday entertaining!

My Winter-Spiced White Wine is another fun drink to make, incorporating seasonal spices and fruits (and will make your home smell lovely!). This steamy white wine infusion is flavored with pears, apples, oranges, cloves, allspice and cinnamon and slightly sweetened with brown sugar.

So now that I’ve given you a few ideas – go on and enjoy the chilly weather and spice things up with some winter warmers. -Kathy

My Hot Buttered Egg Nog with Rum!
For more inspired sipping, check out www.LiquidKitchen.tv

Hot Buttered Egg Nog with Rum
Combining two holiday favorites! Add more or less to taste; rum and Spiced Eggnog Mix.

Makes 1 drink

3 – 4 Tbsp Buttered Eggnog Mix (recipe follows)
1 – 1 1/2 oz Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum
4 – 5 oz boiling water
Garnish: fresh grated nutmeg, long piece of orange or Clementine

Place Eggnog Buttered Brandy Mix and rum in coffee glass or mug. Stir in boiling water until batter is dissolved. Grate fresh nutmeg over the top. Garnish with orange zest.

Buttered Eggnog Mix
Makes about 7 cups (about 30 – 36 servings)

1/2 pound salted butter (2 sticks), softened
1 Tbsp. finely minced orange zest
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 pint very high-quality vanilla ice cream
1 cup high-quality eggnog
1 Tbsp. real vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon rum extract

Be sure butter is softened. With an electric mixer; cream butter, orange zest and sugars together in a mixing bowl until totally smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined. Store refrigerated for up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 1 month.

Recipe by Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen™

Winter Spiced White Wine
This recipe can easily be pre-made and made into large batches before parties. Just make sure to gently keep the mixture warm in a crock pot on low heat or in a deep, pretty chaffing dish. For a kid friendly version, replace the white wine with apple cider and omit the brown sugar and liqueur.

Makes 7 cups, or about 8 servings

2 (750 ml) bottles light, dry white wine, such as chenin blanc
1 pear, cut crosswise in 1/4-inch slices
1 apple, cut crosswise in 1/4-inch slices
1 orange, poked with 12 whole cloves, then cut in 1/4-inch slices
5 allspice berries
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
4 ounces (1/2 cup) Grand Marnier
Orange peel twists for garnish

Place all the ingredients in a stainless steel or flameproof glass pan and stir well to incorporate the brown sugar. Place over low heat and warm. Do not boil! Let the flavors steep for at least 30 minutes before serving.

At this point you can keep warm and serve, or chill it for later. To reheat, warm each portion in a microwave until just hot but not boiling. Garnish each serving with a twist of orange peel.

Recipe from Dishing with Kathy Casey.

Associate Mixologist and Director of Sustainable Programs Dänny Ronen made a d’lish signature cocktail for this year’s TEDx Napa Valley “Speaker Dinner” event in between bar training at the Fairmont Makati. Staying true to the “Connected” theme, he uses Tapatio Tequila, Benedictine, Panutsa Filipino cane sugar and Del Maguey Minero Single Village Mezcal with a dash of orange bitters. Dänny demos how to make this cocktail during a web interview for TEDx Napa Valley (he makes the drink around the 46 minute mark). Looks libatious, Dänny!

Cheers! -Kathy

TEDDYx “Connected” Cocktail
Makes 1 drink

2 oz Tapatio Reposado Tequila
1/4 oz Benedictine
1/4 oz Panutsa Filipino cane syrup
1/4 oz Del Maguey Minero Single Village Mezcal
1 dash Regan’s orange bitters
Garnish: orange peel

Measure ingredients into a mixing glass. Fill the glass with ice until 3/4 full. Stir vigorously until mixture is cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Spritz orange peel over drink then drop into cocktail.

Recipe by Dänny Ronen.

This week on Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen,  I make a Sparkling Pama’rita! This wonderful spin on this ageless classic switches out the orange liqueur/triple sec drink modifier with PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur (still adding the sweet and tart taste as well as a beautiful blush color). This is a great cocktail on it’s own and can easily be pre-batched for some easy holiday entertaining!

Salud! -Kathy

I know that not everyone loves fruitcake. Every holiday season, I hear the fruitcake stories about “re-gifting” it or…. saving it for 10 years and using it as a doorstop. That’s because the fruitcake that became the poster child were covered with florescent cherries, rock hard and had nothing really going for it. Well my fruitcake will certainly change your mind and surely make you a fruit cake lover!

Get ready for my “Over 21” Real Fruit Cake made with Maker’s Mark! This isn’t your paperweight brick fruitcake!

My real fruit cakes are chock full of bourbon-soaked dried fruits (including apricots, cranberries, cherries, and golden raisins to name a few) and loads of nuts like toasted hazelnuts and exotic pistachios! Yum!

My “Over 21” Real Fruit Cake made with Maker’s Mark!

All those fruits and nuts are then folded into a spiced batter then baked off and brushed directly hot-out-the-oven with a bourbon and brown sugar glaze. You’ll never loath fruitcake again!

Every year my team and I bake off a limited amount of these delicious babies! Check out this YouTube video of my team making a fresh batch.

Our 1-pound loaves are priced at $10.95 this season and are available for purchase starting November 26^th until December 14^th or while supplies last. You can purchase them on my website and at my Food Studios (open Monday – Friday, 9:00am – 5:00pm). These cakes fly out the door so make sure to place your order soon!

And if you’re in the baking mood try another of my favorite holiday sweets – Unbelievable Apple Cake with Cider Crème Anglaise and Cranberry Compote. Friend and culinary historian and researcher Judy Amster gave me this recipe awhile back, touting its unique method and “interesting” ingredients—including Worcestershire! Quite simply, this is one of the most d’lish cakes that I have ever made! I hope it will be one of yours too.  Happy holidays! -Kathy

Unbelievable Apple Cake with Cider Crème Anglaise and Cranberry Compote
Makes 1 cake, serving 8 to 10

2 cups (about 10 ounces) unpeeled, diced Granny Smith apples
2 cups (about 10 ounces) unpeeled, diced red-skinned apples, such as Braeburn, Winesap, or Jonathan
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup canola oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon Worcestershire
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dark raisins
Cider Crème Anglaise (recipe follows)
Cranberry Compote (recipe follows)

Preheat an oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or a large Bundt pan and set aside.

Combine the apples and sugar in a large bowl. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Stir in the oil, eggs, and Worcestershire. Add this mixture to the apple mixture all at once and mix well. Fold in the walnuts and raisins.

Scrape the cake batter into the prepared pan. Rap the pan on the counter to release any bubbles.

Bake for about 1 1/4 hours, or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean when poked into cake. Cool the cake in the pan, then turn it out onto a cake plate.

To serve: Slice the cake into desired number of servings. Pool a little Cider Crème Anglaise on individual dessert plates, then place a cake slice on top. Spoon a little Cranberry Compote over each cake slice. Pass additional Crème Anglaise and Cranberry Compote at the table.

Cider Crème Anglaise
Makes 2 cups

4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup half-and-half
3 tablespoons apple juice concentrate, undiluted

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until well combined.

In a double boiler or medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water, heat the half-and-half until hot but not simmering. Whisk half of it into the egg mixture to temper the eggs. Add the tempered egg mixture back into the hot half-and-half, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook slowly until the sauce just begins to thicken and become slightly shiny, about 5 minutes. (Do not overcook or it will turn into scrambled eggs!)

Immediately remove the bowl from over the hot water. Stir in the apple juice concentrate and place the bowl in another bowl of iced water to cool quickly. Stir often during cooling. Refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days.

Cranberry Compote
While cranberries are in season, buy a bag and stick them in the freezer. Then, at any time during the year, you can enjoy the cranberry compote. Try it over vanilla ice cream or plain cheesecake for a scrumptious treat!

Makes 1 heaping cup

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple juice

Place all ingredients in a medium-sized, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium. Cook until the cranberries pop and the mixture has a thick compote consistency, 5 to 6 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days.

Recipe from Dishing with Kathy Casey cookbook.

This week on Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen,  I shake up a Blinker #3! A Golden Age Classic, the traditional Blinker cocktail was made with rye whiskey, grapefruit juice and grenadine (originally made with pomegranate juice, sugar and water). My variation switches out the grenadine with PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur for a more refined, sweet and tart taste – perfect for the holiday season!

Santé -Kathy

This week on Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen,  I shake up a Fair Isle cocktail! Cocchi Barolo Chinato, an Italian digestif, pairs amazingly well with scotch for this cocktail. The addition of fresh grapefruit juice and Bitter Truth Grapefruit Bitters help balance out the flavors!

Enjoy! -Kathy

This week on Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen, I pair my Citrus Scandi cocktail with Citrus Splashed Taylor Shellfish Kumamoto oysters! The cocktail is full of citrus elements with a fresh orange wedge, grapefruit juice and Cointreau orange liqueur all working wonderfully well with the Purity Vodka and aquavit! Continuing the citrus theme, these oysters on the half-shell are topped off with a d’lish citrus splash (a great accompaniment for those new to raw oyster eating)!

Skal! -Kathy

This week on Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen, I make a Maple Bourbon Old Fashioned! Using the basic Old Fashioned cocktail recipe as a template, it’s very fun and easy to play around with new cocktail ideas. My Maple Bourbon Old Fashioned uses REAL maple syrup pairing wonderfully well with a robust bourbon, in addition to the different kinds of bitters used for this cocktail.

Cheers! -Kathy