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4 holiday spices to reuse in cocktails
Learn how to use leftover holiday spices, herbs and other fragrant flavor-enhancers with these tips and recipes for flavorful winter cocktails and infusions.
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- Danielle Grinberg
The guests have gone home, the dishes are clean, and you’re stuck with extra baking spices and fresh herbs. What luck! Instead of storing everything in the pantry for next year, you can use these spices, herbs and other fragrant flavor-enhancers while they’re still sitting out. Check out these tips (paired with suggested recipes) to see how you can reuse some of those leftover ingredients from holiday celebrations in cocktails, taking them to the next level.
Mix in ground spices (nutmeg)
A good bourbon, such as Bulleit, already has notes of baking spices in its flavor profile, so you can’t go wrong with adding it to eggnog. You can use the basic ratio for this recipe to scale up for larger batches. For most cocktails, you’re not going to want to add ground spices directly to the drink (see infusions below for an option), as they risk making the drink taste gritty, but with a thick mixer like eggnog, they blend in beautifully. Consider also ground cinnamon, allspice or pumpkin spices.
Infuse spirits with seasonal herbs (rosemary)
Tequila pairs wonderfully with cool weather fruits, herbs and spices, and infusing your tequila with these seasonal ingredients helps bring out those winter flavor notes even more. Infusing a spirit is easy: stick whole fruit, herbs or spices in a large-mouth jar or bottle, add tequila, seal and store in a cool dark place for a few hours or a couple of days. Strain into a clean bottle and, presto! This old fashioned riff has all the goodness of your favorite tequila and citrus cocktail with the added seasonal flavors of rosemary and pear for a crisp, herbal drink that looks as good as it tastes. To give this recipe a little heat, incorporate a few jalapeño slices.
Make a simple syrup (ginger)
What’s better than an inviting, wintry interpretation of the espresso martini that uses leftover ginger to make a homemade simple syrup? The answer is nothing. Nothing is better. Sure, you can buy simple syrup at the store, but making it and customizing it is fun and easy. So grab your ginger and follow these easy steps to mix up this classic cocktail with just the right amount of spice.
Use herbs or spices to garnish (cinnamon sticks)
Cinnamon is a classic seasonal favorite – from its smell to its taste to even its look. You really can’t go wrong by adding cinnamon to your cocktail. Thanks to its botanical makeup, gin plays well with lots of fresh spices and herbs – including cinnamon! This wintry take on a classic G & T spices things up with seasonal garnishes. The best garnishes engage at least three senses: sight, smell and taste, so try adding sprigs of rosemary, whole cinnamon sticks, orange peels or even leftover holiday candy to create fun, inventive garnishes.