Turkey Day Cocktails

Last week I shared with you a couple fun ideas for Thanksgiving tablescapes using the same products on each table. As promised, I am pleased to share some delicious cocktails to make your Thanksgiving more festive! The two recipes I am sharing today are for Apple Cider Margaritas and Lingonberry Royales. Both are drinks I have successfully served at previous Thanksgivings. The Lingonberry Royale has been a recurring Thanksgiving drink whereas the Apple Cider Margarita was inspired by my initial discovery of Pinterest!

Apple Cider Margaritas
This recipe is modified from the recipe on How Sweet it Is. Photo credit also goes to this site as I was too busy drinking margaritas to take a photo! I changed this recipe due to cost of ingredients as well as simplicity in serving for a large crowd. The margaritas in the original recipe would need to be individually made and at an event with over 20 people that was not realistic. The portions below are for one drink so multiple for the quantity of drinks/size of pitcher.

1 ounce Citronge
1 ounce gold tequila
5-6 ounces apple cider (I used both Trader Joe's Spiced Cider and their Pear Cinnamon Cider and thought both were great.)
orange wedges
sugar (coarse preferred)
cinnamon
ice

1. Mix Citronage, tequila and cider together in a pitcher. I recommend having the cider chilled in advance.

2. Mix sugar and cinnamon together and place on a saucer. This will be used to rim the glasses. I did a 50/50 mixture.

3. Take a glass and rub the lip with an orange wedge. Dip the glass lip into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Squeeze the remaining juice from the orange into the glass and toss the wedge into the bottom of the glass.

4. Fill the glass with ice and the tequila mixture. Enjoy!

Lingonberry Royale
This is a take on the classic Kir Royale. If you have never tasted a lingonberry before, I like to say that they taste like a cranberry and a raspberry had a baby but in reality it is probably more like a tiny cranberry. Sounds perfect for Thanksgiving doesn't it!?!? I get the lingonberry concentrate from IKEA however if you don't have an IKEA handy you can order from Amazon. I think an unsweetened cranberry juice (or at least a naturally sweetened - NOT cranberry juice cocktail) could probably work in a pinch as well.

lingonberry drink concentrate
water
sparkling wine

1. Mix 1x lingonberry drink concentrate to 2x water. Keep in mind that you will end up with 3x the amount of lingonberry so choose your proportions carefully. The water is key in order for the concentrate to mix with the sparkling wine. Otherwise it is too heavy and does not mix well.

2. Place lingonberry mixture in a champagne flute (to taste) and top with sparkling wine. Serve!

 

NOTE: Not an actual photo of a Lingonberry Royale however a close approximation.

 

 

What will you be serving with your Thanksgiving dinner? Do you have a favorite seasonal cocktail?