Seeing as the name of this blog was inspired by Sex and the City, it’s only right that the drink I decided to jazz up this Christmas season was the infamous Cosmopolitan. The primary recipe for this was the Duke’s Cosmopolitan which I learned from watching Barefoot Contessa. I tried searching for the exact tutorial I watched on TV on YouTube, but I was unsuccessful, so keep reading to see what is different than the recipe she shared on her website.
The main difference between a traditional Cosmopolitan and a Duke’s Cosmopolitan is that it uses lemons instead of limes. A Cosmo uses triple sec or cointreau, but in her broadcast tutorial, she used orange liqueur which is what I opted to use as well. What you’ll need for this recipe is:
- Vodka (7 oz.)
- Orange liqueur (4 oz.)
- Lemons (4 oz.)
- Cranberry juice cocktail (7 oz.)
- Ice
- Cranberries
- Cocktail shaker or pitcher
This cocktail is as straight-forward as they come. The hardest part is squeezing the lemons and while two lemons are photographed here, you will probably need about four. I only had two lemons to work with which yielded about 2.5 ounces of juice, but it wasn’t this jarring thing where I noticed acidity was missing in the finished product, if that makes sense.
After you have all of your liquids, you can either stir them in a large pitcher or shake them if you have a large cocktail shaker. The cocktail shaker pictured above fit two drinks’ worth of liquid, so half of the recipe. If you are serving for two like I was, you can store the liquids separately in the fridge and test the waters if you want a second serving later which is exactly what I did.
The presentation of the drink is what makes it Santa Claus-y. I forget where I saw this idea, so forgive me for not crediting appropriately. First I prepped a sugar rim–it wasn’t my best, most snowy/fluffy-looking rim, but I was doing this under a time crunch. Then, I took two small sprigs of rosemary and put (washed) cranberries on the stem and rolled the cranberries in sugar as well. Finally, add a few cranberries to the drink and your final product should look something like this:
There you have it-a Clausmopolitan! When I say this is what I would call a beginner cocktail, I’m not exaggerating. It’s as simple as a gin and tonic. Now, you have something that is perfectly Christmas-themed to accompany your Christmas dinner. If you want to watch me make this in a video (as well as a steak dinner), watch the video below:
I know this is different than my usual content, but I figured it’s still on theme and Carrie Bradshaw-approved. With my increasing home content on YouTube, is that something you would like to read on the blog as well? 2021 is looking to start out pretty quiet for me, so I wouldn’t mind trying out new cocktails to share here. Let me know in the comments!
xx, AE
Lex in the City 