"christmas drinks" news and stories

There are approximately 76 gazillion recipes for coffee drinks (I just Googled, trust me), and I'm sure all of us (all of us that drink coffee anyway, I like tea) have our favorite concoctions that we make, stuff we add to coffee to give it that added zip.

RecipeZaar has this recipe for Spiced Christmas Coffee, which I thought would be great to make as your family gathers around the holidays to party and wrap presents. It's not alcoholic though! It includes a teaspoon of brandy, but I assume you can leave that out for the kids (the pic is from another RecipeZaar coffee recipe).

I'm not a coffee guy, but I'll try this. Without the whipped cream though. I don't like whipped cream on my coffee and tea drinks.

I can honestly say I've never had hot egg nog. I've had egg nog-flavored hot drinks at places like Borders, and I wonder if this is similar at all (probably not).

This recipe over at FineLiving.com comes from the 70s book The Nashville Cookbook. I've always avoided making my own egg nog because it always seemed too difficult (yes, yes, I like egg nog from the store), but this recipe doesn't seem too hard at all. I see Martha Stewart making her eggnog every year on TV. I wonder if she's ever had this?

Yes, I know, every day this week has had a Happy Hour recipe, but hey, it's Christmas!

This is the Mistletoe and Holly, a cocktail that not only has an appropriate holiday name but also has a great red and white color scheme going on. Sort of looks like Santa's suit. It's from the book Hot Drinks, from Mary Lou and Robert J. Heiss.

Since this month is Cookie A Day month here at Slashfood, and today also happens to be National Cookie Day, I think it's appropriate for today's Happy Hour post to be about a cookie you can have in liquid form.

It's the Christmas Cookie Cocktail, courtesy of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. As you can imagine, it includes chocolate in some form (in this case, chocolate sauce drizzled in the glass), but it also has Peppermint Schnapps, vodka, and Bailey's. This is one cookie that's definitely not for the kids (though maybe they can have the candy cane you're supposed to put in it).

There are many cocktails that can warm you up on a cold winter evening (I know, it's only December 3, but when it's Christmas time and much of the nation has been hit by a snowstorm, it's winter), but there aren't many that can honestly be called "hot." This one can.

It's the Red Hot Santa Tini, and not only do you rim the glass with cayenne pepper (added to cocoa), the main ingredient is chili-pepper infused vodka. And on top of the whipped cream you put a little chili pepper! Full recipe after the jump.