Non alcoholic Christmas drinks

Christmas time is the time to eat, drink and be merry. However not everyone wants, or is able to drink alcohol. There is no need to miss out on festive beverages however, these 3 alcohol free drinks have the flavour and fun of a festive drink without the alcohol!

1) Spiced Apple syrup with clementine and cloves

This is a recipe from BBC Good Food magazine.

Ingredients 

• 200ml apple juice 
• 1 cinnamon stick 
• 1 tsp whole allspice 
• 1 mace blade 
• 2 whole cloves 
• small strip fresh ginger 
• 1 clementine 
• zest finely peeled with a vegetable peeler 
• 100g golden caster sugar

Method

• Heat the apple juice with the whole spices, ginger, zest and sugar. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 mins. 
• Remove from the heat and leave to cool, then strain the syrup into small bottles.

2) Eggnog

Homemade Eggnog from "Mel's Kitchen"

NB this recipe does not include raw eggs and is safe for children. 

It's definitely advisable to grate your own nutmeg, which gives a significantly better flavour!

Ingredients

• 6 large egg yolks 
• 4 oz/115 grams granulated sugar 
• 240 mls double cream 
• 500 mls milk 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg 
• Pinch of salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until light and creamy. 
• In a saucepan, bring the cream, milk, nutmeg and salt to a bare simmer, stirring often. 
• Slowly ladle in half of the hot milk to the egg mixture, whisking vigorously to avoid little bits of cooked egg. 
• Ladle in the rest of the milk, whisking vigorously the entire time. Do this until all the hot milk has been added to the eggs and the mixture is well combined. 
• Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan of milk on the hob, whisking quickly, and cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until it reaches 70 degrees C on a thermometer. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. 
• Pour the eggnog into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. 
• Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Tip:- This recipe is a little more challenging, since you have to avoid the egg cooking in lumps.

3. Non alcoholic mulled wine

This is another BBC Good Food recipe, and very easy.

Photo by Edward Howell on Unsplash

Ingredients

• 500ml pomegranate juice 
• 25g golden caster sugar 
• handful of frozen blackberries 
• 250ml apple juice 
• 1 cinnamon stick 
• 1 star anise 
• 4 cloves 
• 3 black peppercorns 1
•  orange, quartered

Method

• Put the pomegranate juice, sugar, blackberries and apple juice in a saucepan. Add the cinnamon, star anise, cloves, peppercorns and orange. Heat gently until simmering. Taste for sweetness, then strain into heatproof glasses.