Nov 13

Nov 13 Recreating Winter Drinks

Hey foodies and bookworms!

I’m back again with @princessreadsalot and @sushirainbow in a blog collaboration for winter drinks and winter reads. You can check out their blog post with winter book recommendations here at Sushi Rainbow’s Blog. Disclaimer: I can’t drink coffee so any drink I’ve made is modified to have no caffeine, but you can always just use coffee instead of milk.

Drink #1 - Cocoa Mock-tini

I think this might be one of my new favourite drinks! Princessreadsalot sent me the recipe and it was super easy to make. Link here. I made a couple minor changes to the recipe to make it more Christmassy as well. The recipe says you run a lemon wedge around the rim of the glass and then dip it into the cocoa powder mixture, but I just dipped the glass in the cocoa syrup instead and then dipped it into the powder mixture. That’s why the mixture on my rim was so runny but it tasted delicious so whatever. I also added pulverized peppermint candy (leftover from the Peppermint Mocha recipe) to the cocoa powder mix for the rim of the glass. I meant to make the rim more red and candy-cane-like by adding the peppermint, but it didn’t work out how I thought it would. Either way this was a super yummy drink and it would be great for your winter meals!

Drink #2 - Snowball Frappuchino

This was a tiny bit of a struggle to make, only because I tried so hard to scoop the ice cream into a perfect ball. I only had enough ice cream for one scoop and it wasn’t forming into a circle so I legit tried to form it into a ball using my hands. So I basically made it like a snowball which works for this drink! The base for this drink was just plain almond milk that I had leftover from the Cocoa Mocktini recipe. Then I just took that ball of ice cream and gently placed it on top, praying that it wouldn’t sink before I could take a picture of the drink 😅 If I had more ice cream I would have blended together some ice cream and milk so I would have a milkshake, and then top it off with more ice cream. If you want dirty snow you could use cookies and cream ice cream or drizzle it with chocolate syrup or sprinkles.

Drink #3 - Duo Cocoa Mocha

This drink was super easy to make. The base was just powdered hot chocolate, hot water, and a splash of chocolate milk, and I topped it off with some whipped cream and 2 types of chocolate toppings (syrup and sprinkles). This drink is so versatile because you can basically make it with any base you want, just always top it off with whipped cream and 2 types of chocolate things. But if you want to be technical then the drink base would be a mocha 😁

Drink #4 - Peppermint Mocha

My version of this was a peppermint hot chocolate. It was an absolute struggle and a half to find candy canes or striped peppermint candy in October. I was literally dreaming about finding candy canes in my grocery store and crying from joy. I ended up going to a candy store in Bragg Creek and stumbling upon peppermint sticks. Happiest day of my life. To make this drink I just made my favourite hot chocolate mix and then topped it off with whipped cream and a peppermint stick. I was going to add some chocolate syrup for the picture but forgot and then the peppermint stick sunk to the bottom of the jar by the time I drizzled it on. But definitely top this off with both cause it’s delicious.

Drink #5 - Toasted Marshmallow Latte

For this drink I decided to toast the marshmallows a different way than my s’mores hot chocolate from the Fall Drink post. I found a recipe for S’mores Dip, scooped the marshmallows off that, and added it to my hot chocolate. I totally messed up the first time because I broiled the marshmallows so they would toast nicely but left them in for too long until they burned. Then I had to scoop off the burned bits and just re-broil the remaining marshmallows. It turned out way nicer when I re-broiled them because they didn’t actually burn. It was a bit tricky to arrange the marshmallows prettily on the latte because they kept sticking everywhere, but everything tasted good which we all know is all that matters 😂

Drinks Made by @princessreadsalot

Drink #1 - Cranberry Apple Cider Punch with Apple Cider Whipped Cream

This sounded like such a fascinating drink, I just had to feature it on this post! For the drink, Princessreadsalot added equal parts of sparkling water, cranberry juice, and apple cider (liquid). For the whipped cream she mixed a dry powder packet of apple cider and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream and whipped it until it turned into whipped cream. This sounds so fruity and delicious and I definitely want to try making that whipped cream!

Drink #2 - Whipped Spicy Mocha

For this drink, Princessreadsalot made her own version of a spicy mocha. If any of you enjoy your drinks with a bit of a kick then definitely try this out! Here is her recipe for one serving 😊

Directions:

Add all of the ingredients, except the milk, to a mixing bowl.
Use a mixer or whisk to beat the mixture until it becomes fluffy or creamy.
Pour milk into a glass.
Top the milk with the whipped mixture.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp hot chocolate
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp cayenne powder
2 tbsp powdered sugar
2 tbsp instant coffee
4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1 cup milk (any kind)

Drink #3 - Blood Orange Italian Soda

My boyfriend is a huge fan of orange juice so I really want to try making this for him. I love Italian soda so this works perfectly! Its super easy to make too, the orange syrup is the most complicated part. I would probably try making it with regular oranges because blood oranges are apparently only in season from winter to early spring. I can’t wait a whole month to start hunting them down at my grocery store! Anyhoo, click the link for the recipe here.

Aaaaand that’s a wrap! I hope you found some great winter drink inspiration from this post. Let me know in the comments which drinks you’d like to try and if you try any of the recipes 😊 Don’t forget to check out the corresponding blog post by @princessreadsalot and @sushirainbow for the book recommendations that go with these yummy drinks! Link here.

Happy sipping!