We love to serve our guests a special cocktail to mark any celebration or gathering. People seem to really enjoy trying a different drink, paired with the menu and in tune with the season.
When I saw a version of this cranberry tequila sour in the current issue of Bon Appetit, I know I wanted to try it out, with the holiday season just around the corner. It sounded delicious and I hoped it would make a colorful cocktail.
Me being me, I played with the recipe, using our Meyer lemons instead of limes. The addition of Chinese five-spice to the sugar-salt coating on the glasses’ rims didn’t appeal to me, so I left it out of my recipe. I took a guess from the BA sketch of a tumbler as to which glasses to use for the cocktail. What are old-fashioned glasses, anyway? I admit to never having sipped an old-fashioned…
I think this cranberry-infused cocktail will be just the thing to serve before our Thanksgiving meal – and all through the December holidays.
TIP: You will need to make the cranberry jam at least 4 hours before assembling the cocktails since the jam needs to be well-chilled.
- Cranberry Jam:
- ¾ cup fresh cranberries
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- Cocktail:
- 1 wedge Meyer lemon
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- cranberry jam (see above)
- ¼ cup Meyer lemon juice
- ½ cup fresh orange juice
- ¾ cup white tequila
- Cranberry Jam:
- Using a small saucepan, bring the cranberries, sugar, orange juice and ¼ cup water to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring, occasionally, until mixture thickens and becomes "jammy". This took only 15 minutes, half the time predicted in the BA version.
- Allow the jam to cool, then cover and chill in fridge.
- Cocktail:
- Rub the edges of the glasses with the lemon wedge.
- Mix the salt and sugar in a small plate. Dip the rim of each glass in the salt-sugar mix and swirl to coat the rim.
- Combine the cranberry jam, lemon juice, orange juice and tequila in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
- Cover, shake for 30 seconds, strain and pour into glasses filled with ice cubes.
Love this! Great fall or holiday cocktail! Happy Friday!
Thanks and Happy Friday to you as well 😉
Wow – what a gorgeous red!
It’s the cranberries – I love the red too.
According to a certain book called “Savory Cocktails” an OLD-FASHIONED GLASS is “short and stocky with a heavy bottom that’s suited to muddling. Its size can vary anywhere from 4 to 12 (or more) ounces. The larger ones are often called Double Old-Fashioned Glasses. You’ll also see this style of glass called a rocks glass, a tumbler, and a whiskey glass.” Your glass appears to be correct here. GREG
Greg, Thank you so much for the explanation! And from an expert/author such as yourself.
Great shot Liz! Oh…this looks so tasty, I was going to say a rock glass but Greg beat me to it. Your choice was perfect. I have about 18 pounds of cranberries on hand this week, very tempted to try this.
Thanks, Wendy. I was alone when I made these – took one sip, pronounced them pretty righteous, then down the sink. Hey, it was just after lunch when the light was good.
Just gorgeous! So sad you had to throw it away! =)
Don’t worry – happy to make for a crowd.
I’m going to make the jam for sure. Your picture is gorgeous .
Just remember that the jam forms pretty quickly – don’t walk away and forget about it, as I did –
What a pretty cocktail, the glass looks lovely too! I Iike the simple ingredients, sometimes there are just too many kinds of alcohol in a cocktail. Gosh I’m sad it was wasted though, if only I could have popped over to share!
I would have loved to share with you, Jayne –
What a perfectly festive cocktail! I always love fun ideas for holiday parties and I think I’ll be using this one. The salt-sugar rim is a nice touch, and I agree that Chinese five-spice doesn’t sound like an appealing addition.
Thank you, Jennie – I know I will make these again during the “holidaze” –
Looks wonderful Liz, a great festive cocktail, I’ll try this on Thanksgiving. I make a ton of cranberry sauce and can’t think of a better way to use some of than this drink. Happy Holiday!
Me too – I eat cranberries all year long and always have a bag stashed in my freezer.
Sadly, tequila and I don’t get along very well. If memory serves it has something to do with a stag party I attended (and enjoyed a bit too much) many years ago. I may give this a go with rum or vodka though, because the balance of the recipe sounds perfect!
I remember a few tequila “slammer” parties myself – try it with citrus-flavored vodka, maybe?
Fantastic. I love the jam. And the tequila, of course.
Thanks, Lynda –
What a pretty cocktail! Red is a favorite color of mine.
Red IS my favorite color…
This is perfect, perfect, perfect for Thanksgiving!!! The color is just beautiful!!
You remind me to make another batch, Susan –
Liz
do you have any extra cranberry jam? I will trade you jam for a Christmas Cactus maybe?
Toni, I don’t have any – this is an older but seasonal post – and it’s a good cocktail.
the directions are confusing. Do we buy the cranberry jam AND make a jam? at the end do we add more more lemon juice and orange juice?
Let me be more specific: once jam is made and its been chilled and its time to add to shaker you state
“Combine the cranberry jam, lemon juice, orange juice and tequila in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.”
The cranberry jam that we made already has orange and lemon juice in it. Do we add more orange and lemon juice?
Or really are you just telling us to add the jam MIXTURE (which included lemon and orange) to the shaker?
OMG i’m an idiot. Please delete my comments. I just saw that you have a section for JAM and a section for COCKTAIL. SORRY!
No problem at all! Happy Thanksgiving!