PUTTING your hands around a hot drink is a nice reminder that there’s something nice to be had during the cold weather.
We all know the recipe for one of the most popular drinks of all time: the hot toddy. But what about something just as warming but entirely different?
There’s something comforting about a good old-fashioned Hot Buttered Rum – the spices, the rich mouthfeel and a fairly decent rum (try The Kraken Black Spiced Rum, around £25 in supermarkets).
Rum, lemon juice, hot water and a syrup made from apple tea and demerara sugar. But the pièce de résistance? A pat of butter filled with cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, star anise, cardamom, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper and brown sugar, floated so the spices melt into the drink and the flavour develops as you drink it down. You can’t beat real butter!
Try this to warm up nights until the spring arrives.
Hot Buttered Fun Cocktail
2oz Rum
1?2 oz Fresh lemon juice
3?4 oz Spiced apple demerara sugar*
Garnish: Spiced butter pat**
Glass: Irish Coffee mug
Add all the ingredients into an Irish Coffee mug. Top with a pat of spiced butter.
*Spiced apple demerara syrup: Combine brewed spiced apple tea (your choice of tea bag) and demerara sugar in a 1:2 ratio in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer on the stove until sugar dissolves, then remove from heat. Store syrup in fridge for up to two weeks.
**Spiced butter: Mix 1 room-temperature stick of butter with 2 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 teaspoon nutmeg, 2 teaspoon ground cloves, 2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 ground star anise pod, 4 ground cardamom pods, 2 tablespoon brown sugar and 1 heavy pinch each of cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Mix well, then form into a log, wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze until ready to use.
Warm your heart and impress your friends with this one – especially since the trend of putting butter in hot drinks has been doing the rounds for a while.
Wine of the Week
Cepa Lebrel Rioja Joven 2016, Lidl, was £4.49, now £2.24 – today and tomorrow only so you will have to be quick.
It’s the end of January and most people are still recovering from Christmas – so here’s a wine that won’t bust the budget. This sample has an intense blackcurrant and coconut aroma, accompanied by rich black cherry flavours, cloves and a touch of vanilla oak. It’s a decent wine for the price tag.
