The holiday season is the time to experiment with new recipes ranging from cookies to stuffing, green bean casserole to gingerbread, and homemade hot chocolate to winter-inspired sangria. I’ve always enjoyed cooking and baking new recipes during this busy season, but I recently decided to get more creative in the drinks department.
This year I had planned on taking my favorite summer drink and making it more holiday friendly, and I think I found the perfect recipe. Sangria in the summer is my favorite, and I’ve always wanted to try a “winterized” version of the cocktail. After scouring through cocktail books, talking to local bartenders and looking online, I have finally found my new favorite sangria recipe. It has all my favorite holiday ingredients including apples, cranberries and cinnamon and can be served warm or cold.
I grew up on a cranberry bog and love to incorporate fresh cranberries into as many recipes as I can. I found this spiced cranberry sangria recipe and put my own twist on it to make it special. Organic and fresh cranberries are the best for this recipe, and you can find them at Jackson Whole Grocer and Lucky’s Market. The most important trick for delicious sangria is to refrigerate it overnight with all the fruit, juices and alcohol blending together. For the wine I used Jackson Hole Winery Rendezvous Red.
Ingredients
- For the Simple Syrup:
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks
- 8 allspice berries
- 6 cloves
- 3 whole star anise pods
- For the Fruit
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- 2 Granny Smith apples, large dice
- 1 large orange, sliced
- 1/2 cup spiced simple syrup (see recipe intro)
- 3/4 cup Cointreau
- 1/2 cup Rendezvous Red Jackson Hole Winery
- For the sangría:
- 1 (750-milliliter) bottle rosé
- 1/2 cup Rendezvous Red Jackson Hole Winery
- 1/2 cup Cointreau
- 1/2 cup cranberry juice
Instructions
- For the Simple Syrup:
- Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat and let cool until lukewarm. Strain syrup through a fine mesh strainer into a heatproof airtight container and discard spices.
- Cover and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- For the Fruit:
- Combine all the fruit, spiced simple syrup, cointreau, cranberries, and red wine into an air tight jar and refrigerate overnight.
- For the Sangria:
- Add all the ingredients to the fruit mix and combine. Refrigerate and serve chilled.