How to Make a Classic Holiday Egg Nog Recipe 

[ad#co-1]

Egg Nog Recipe Ingredients:

4 cups of Milk
2 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
5 Whole Cloves
1 teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon
12 Egg Yolks
1 1/2 cups of Sugar
4 cups of Light Cream
2 1/2 cups of Light Rum
1/2 teaspoon of Ground Nutmeg

Homemade Eggnog Recipe Directions:

1. Heat the milk, cloves and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract in a saucepan over a low heat for approximately 5 minutes. After the time has passed remove the saucepan from the heat.
2. Take a large bowl, and whisk the egg yolks and sugar until the combination becomes fluffy. Then begin to whisk the hot milk mixture slowly with the mixture of fluffy eggs.  After the two mixtures have been combined, pour them into the saucepan. Cook them over a medium heat, being sure to constantly stir it for 3 minutes or until it becomes thick.
3. After mixture has become thick, strain it to pull out all of the cloves.  Then let it cool for about an hour.  Then stir in the rum, cream, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, and nutmeg.
4. Refrigerate the mixture over night before serving and then ENJOY!!!!

Looking for more holiday drinks?

Take a look at our 26 holiday cocktails – perfect from Thanksgiving through New years!

For more delicious drink recipes on Stagetecture, visit our drinks archives.

How to Make a Delicious Berry Red Sangria Recipe

If you prefer, you can easily turn this drink into a mocktail.  Simply swap out the alcohol for ginger ale, flavored seltzer water or fruit juice for a bubbly and family-friendly substitute. We also love this sangria recipe made with watermelon and cucumber!

Don’t be afraid to play with the liquid ratios, this is an easy drink to customize with different amounts or types of alcohol, or even using different fruits completely!  This sangria will be a crowd pleaser that never gets old with all of the possible tweaks.

Berry Red Sangria Recipe

[ad#co-1]

Berry Red Sangria Ingredients:

1 bottle of your favorite dry white wine or red wine

1 cup light rum

1-2 cups real pomegranate or cranberry juice (to taste)

1-2 cups orange juice (to taste)

2 cups ginger ale

1 cup sliced strawberries and/or watermelon

½ cup blueberries

Sangria Directions:

1.  Using an ice cube tray, fill each section halfway with water and add blueberries to each cube.  Place in the freezer until solid.

2. In a large pitcher, combine the white wine, rum, and fruit juices.  Feel free to adjust the ratios to your preference.  Add the sliced fruit and chill the pitcher in the freezer for at least 2 hours so the fruit can infuse the sangria.

3. For serving once the ice cubes are solid and the sangria is chilled, add the ginger ale just before pouring to keep it bubbly.  Then pour the sangria into glasses and add the blueberry ice cubes.  Garnish with a sliced strawberry and sip away!  Refrigerate any leftovers… and enjoy on another occasion.

For more drinks and cocktails for your party, take a look through our archives on Stagetecture.

Recipe Round Up: Our Best Fall Drinks 

[ad#co-3]

1) Pumpkin Spiced Latte

Now we have to begin the list with the ever popular Pumpkin Spiced Latte.  This drink recipe has warmed us up with its warm milk, lively espresso and rich sweet pumpkin taste with cinnamon flavors.  It definitely brings “Autumn in a Cup,” to another level.  The pumpkin spiced latte is great to make but even better to taste.  Take a look here to find out how to make this beautiful drink:  Pumpkin Spiced Latte Recipe.

2) Pumpkin Martini Recipe

How about a Fall cocktail for a twist?  Pumpkin is such a Fall favorite that it is no surprise that one would add it their Fall drinks like their coffee or even some other beverages, like Martinis for instance. Which introduces the Pumpkin Martini recipe.  This drink, with its succulent flavors of spices, will leave your mouth a fulfilling taste and sensation.   Here’s how to create this recipe:  Pumpkin Martini Recipe.

3) Hot Chocolate with Coconut

Have you ever thought about taking a classic and putting a spin on it?  Hot chocolate has always been a favorite for decades.  With the chilly atmosphere having a warm chocolate drink is definitely a great way to spend some of the time of your day.  But don’t just stop there add in a little coconut for a refreshing taste.  This recipe helps o have a soothing and rich taste for everyone to love.  Tips on how to make:  Hot Chocolate with Coconut Recipe.

4) Pumpkin Spiced Punch

Pumpkin is the flavor of the Fall and its been placed in coffee and martinis but what about punch?  The pumpkin spiced punch recipe is great for Halloween parties and just the Fall season in general.  Its fruity flavor and lovable taste will have the kids and adults begging for more.  Take a look at the recipe here:  Pumpkin Spiced Punch.

5) The Classic Apple Punch Recipe

Apple is another flavor that invites the Fall season in.  And the Apple Punch recipe is no different, with the soothing apple and other additional fruity flavors everyone will definitely make this one of the Fall favorites.  Not only would you be able to use this drink for parties but even as an after school treat for the kiddie widdies.  Learn to make this recipe here:  Classic Apple Punch Recipe

The Fall season can be an amazing time of the year.  The colors in nature begin to change, football season is back and its time to get ready for the holidays.  Having recipes really help to cement when certain seasons are in the midst.  Fall drink recipes are quick, simple and enjoyed by all.  So what are you waiting for Stagetecture readers go ahead and make these recipes and do you have any favorite recipes of Fall drinks then let us know.

For more fall drink ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Recipe Round Up: 5 of the Best Summer Drinks

1. Summer Drinks – Pink Cadillac Margaritas

Pink Cadillac Margaritas, finds its place in top 5 because of its great mix of citrus flavors with that of alcohol. Citrus defines summer perfectly and well alcohol brings in a depth to any drink. Enjoy this gorgeous Mexican summer drink with friends and family and make it a part of your beautiful summer evenings!

[ad#co-3]

2. Fruit Drinks – Lime & Sorbet Margarita Cocktails Recipe

Now this one is a perfect party recipe! The ingredients and simple and readily available and the resultant summer cocktail is a refreshing and soothing one. Lime blends terrifically with tequila and believe me you can really impress that someone special with your culinary skills this summer. Just whip up the Lime & Sorbet Margarita! The Food Network has 50 Summer Drink Ideas you have to see.

3. Summer Drinks – Frothy Strawberry Summer Milkshake

This one is for all those kids who cannot yet take a sip into alcohol based recipes. Frothy Strawberry Milkshake, brings the goodness of milk, yumminess of strawberries and the freshness of cold vanilla ice-cream. Dear kids this is the ultimate thirst quencher and energy revitalizer this summer! Our Delicious Drinks Pinterest Board has more great milkshakes, smoothies and cocktail recipes.

4.Blackberry Crush & Watermelon Cocktail

With a great flavor of herbs & fruits and a punch of vodka, the Blackberry Crush & Watermelon Cocktail forms a great summer drink. It is the kinds that you can serve at summer weddings and grander parties. Your guests will be asking you for more so cater for it. Liquor.com has all of the cocktail recipes you could wish for.

5.Refreshing Watermelon Granita

A Watermelon Granita, is a wonderful thing. I say ‘thing’ because it is a dessert as well as a drink! So I don’t know where to really put it! Watermelon combines beautifully with lime, sugar and ice to form a mouthwatering dessert drink that you just have enough of!

This recipe roundup was an interesting thing to do as it made me relive the great recipes here at Stagetecture. The best part about these summer drinks is the fact that the ingredients are the readily available summer fruits and herbs, that add a beautiful seasonal flare to these recipes. So go enjoy these summer drinks and let us know what you thought about this Recipe Roundup post!

Click here for more summer cocktails on Stagetecture!

Fall Drinks: The Classic Apple Punch Recipe

Image Via: Maria Ushakova

[ad#co-3]

Ingredients

1 bottle of chilled apple juice

1 cup orange juice

1 can of cranberry juice concentrate

1 apple

1.5 liters ginger ale

Image Via: The Table Blog

Directions

1. Get a large bowl ready to prepare the punch.
2. In it, combine chilled apple juice, orange juice and the cranberry concentrate.
3. Stir gently so that the liquids nicely fuse into one another.
4. Now slowly pour ginger ale over the fruit juice mix.
5. Mix gently again.
6. Slice the apple in very thin wedges.
7. Drop the apple wedges in the punch bowl and let them float.
8. Your classic fall recipe is ready!

There are so many reasons one would want to celebrate, the coming of fall is no less! Use this classic fall drinks recipe to celebrate your special occasions this fall, like baby showers, bridal showers, house warming parties , etc.. The apple punch recipe allows you to replace ginger ale with a bottle of champagne for that all adult party theme. If you do have spare punch lying after the party, which would be rare case, you can easily transfer the contents in an ice tray and freeze cubes that can be creatively used later. You can even use these frozen ice cubes to cool your apple punch without diluting it! One can also experiment with floating frozen cranberries or oranges instead of apple wedges, if one wishes to! You can even add a little sugar if you have a sweet tooth! Do share your views on this recipe! It would be great to hear from you.

Click here for more Fall Recipes on Stagetecture!

Wedding Reception: Summer Cocktail Ideas

Image Via: Fine Wine Fine Food

[ad#co-3]

Love Blooms

Doesn’t the name stand very familiar to the wedding mood? Made using one part grape syrup, one part rose aperitif and two parts of organic spirit, this beautiful cocktail tastes as good as it looks. Serve this cocktail champagne flute glasses and garnish with pansy flowers. Also do not forget to use lots and lots of ice while preparation so that it is served chilled.

Image Via: Pocketful Of Dreams

Rose Crush

A gorgeous blend of one part orange juice, one part cranberry juice, two parts rose wine and lots of crushed ice this cocktail is a perfect fit for beach themed summer weddings. You can garnish this summer cocktail with fresh mint, cranberries and raspberries. Use martini glasses to serve this lovely wedding drink and get ready for a rocking beach party.

Image Via: Bridal Guide

Summer Passion

Out of the many wedding drinks, this beautiful orange red cocktail is a delight to the eyes. When served fresh and cold, garnished with edible summer flowers this cocktail beautifully complements the summers. Prepared using one part passion fruit juice, one part hazelnut liqueur, a little champagne and grenadine, this cocktail needs to be served with lots and lots of ice. What you will love is the beautiful gradation of orange to pale yellow, that is an absolute treat for the eyes.

Image Via: The Polka Dot Wedding

Blushing Bride

Blushing Bride is a blend of one part grenadine, one part peach schnapps and eight parts sparkling wine. This very flavorsome cocktail is nice sparkling pink in color and very much stands up to the happy and gay mood of your wedding. Best served in champagne glasses, you might not need any extra garnishing as the beautiful color of the cocktail is a highlight by itself.

Image Via: One Wed

Sparkling Romance

A combination of two parts chilled Champagne and one part Rhuby rhubarb liqueur, Sparkling Romance is a great choice for wedding drinks. To add a spurt of color you may choose to garnish it with seasonal fruits like raspberries, strawberries or even edible flowers. Do not forget to line the glass edges with salt for that extra punch of flavors.

Image Via: Wedding Chicks

Summer is a season of fruits, so it is taken for granted that summer wedding drinks are going to be a beautiful combination of fruity and alcohol flavors. After all sweet blanches bitter in a very nice way. Use fresh fruits and edible flowers like pansies for garnish and just wait for compliments to flow in. Also make sure that lots of ice goes into the preparation so that the cocktails are served nice and cold. Do share your views on this post and let us know of your favorite summer wedding drinks.

Click here for more Summer Cocktail Ideas on Stagetecture!

Although messing up a drink recipe doesn’t sound like the best way to make a great tasting cocktail, one Italian drink proves that happy accidents are possible. A Negroni Sbagliato cocktail by Toronto bar D.W. Alexander is the perfect addition to a fun evening. This sparkling punch-like mixture has a nice, palatable taste that goes great at dinner parties. It’s a refreshingly light cocktail with a pleasant red color that can be garnished with an array of fresh fruits to make a beautiful springtime concoction. The recipe is quite simple:

Negroni Sbagliato Cocktail Recipe

[ad#co-3]

Ingredients

1oz Gin
1oz Sweet Vermouth
1oz Cava (or a similarly sweet sparkling white wine)
OPTIONAL: Fresh seasonal fruit (oranges, limes, grapefruits, etc.)
NOTE: To make a larger portion size which can be served to guests, you can add as much of each ingredient as needed, but always keep the portions equal. For example, if you use 5oz of Gin, you must use 5oz of the other two ingredients, etc.

Directions

1. Mix together Gin and Sweet Vermouth into a glass filled with ice. Stir them gently to combine. If you’re making a party size portion, you can use a punch bowl with ice in it.
2. If you plan to use fresh fruit garnishes, slice the fruit into wheels. Put the fruit slice(s) into your drink mixture.
3. Top the mixture with Cava sparkling wine. Stir briefly to combine. Garnish with a leftover fruit wheel of your choice.

Variations

The great thing about this cocktail is that you can easily “mess it up” further to make the flavor or appearance suit any occasion. Here are a few tasty variations to the Negroni Sbagliato cocktail:

1. You can make a lighter cocktail mix by nixing the Gin. Instead, use a light Campari in the equivalent amount. This is a popular substitution, and the red color of Campari adds a pleasing look to your glass.
2. Spice up your garnish by sprinkling fresh ground cinnamon on top of the entire punch bowl mixture. Wait until you have done all of the necessary stirring, so that the cinnamon will simply rest on top and add a touch of spice along with an attractive dusted appearance to the cocktail.
3. Change it up to add a bit of a kick to the recipe. Substitute good vodka for the Gin and you will end up with a Negroski cocktail. This is stronger and has a different flavor, but that might be what you prefer if you’re not a fan of Gin.

What cocktail recipes are you making this weekend?

Spring Cocktail: Cucumber Green Tea Cocktail

Image Via: Minimalist Baker

[ad#co-3]

Ingredients

1/2 cup club soda

4 limes for the recipe + more for garnish

handful mint leaves

1 cup brewed green tea

1 sliced cucumber (+ more for garnish if desired)

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup rum /vodka

Image Via: Lip Gloss And Crayons

Directions

1. In a saucepan, put water, sugar and cucumber slices. Warm over medium to high heat till the sugar dissolves properly. Reduce the mixture to about 1 cup measurement. The consistency should be syrupy. Set aside to cool.
2. Once the cucumber syrup has cooled down, strain out the cucumber slices.
3. Side by side, brew some green tea and set aside to cool. Chill it in the refrigerator before using it in the cocktail.
4. Crush together about half the mint leaves with half a lime using a cocktail mixer or a crusher.
5. In the cocktail mixer add the juice of the remaining lime, 1/3rd cup rum/vodka, 1/4 the cup green tea and 1/4th cup cucumber syrup.
6. Just before serving, mix with ice and add some club soda.
7. For serving you can garnish with lime wedges, cucumber slices dropped in the cocktail or mint leaves.

I personally like to add either mint leaves and lime as a garnish or just cucumber slices. You could go either way. Also feel free to use either rum or vodka, both will give amazing results. Another point to remember is that while crushing mint and lime together do so coarsely, just enough for the mint to leave its oils! Do share your thoughts and ideas about this Spring Cocktail!

Click here for more Cocktail Recipes!

Spring is that refreshing season we look forward to after a rough winter, and a margarita recipe can do just the trick! It is undoubtedly one of the loveliest times of the year. The snow is gone, the sun shines brightly, and the ground comes to life. As you start planning your summer vacations or finish up your spring cleaning, take time to sit outdoors with a refreshing drink. There are many spring drinks that can awaken your taste buds but none does it as well as a Strawberry Basil Margarita. It is refreshing, uplifting, and is the perfect afternoon cocktail after a morning of cleaning. It is easy to make and doesn’t require many ingredients. Here’s how to make that tasty treat.

Refreshing Strawberry Basil Margarita

Image via: Pinterest

[ad#co-3]

Ingredients

12 ounces frozen limeade concentrate

8 basil leaves

10 standard strawberries

2½ cups of water

2 cups of silver or gold tequila

Procedure

Pour the limeade concentrate into a pitcher. Add 2½ cups of water and 2 cups of tequila.

Slice the strawberries lengthwise and pour them into the pitcher. Crumble the basil in your hand and add it to the drink. Crumbling it makes it to release flavor into the drink.

Cover the pitcher and leave it in the fridge overnight or for at least four hours. Your margaritas should have a pale pink color after this period.

Expert Tips

• You can make raspberry basil margaritas by replacing strawberries with raspberries. 

• If you don’t like tequila, substitute it with vodka and make strawberry basil martinis. 

• You can serve your margaritas in salted glasses by rubbing their rims with water then dipping them into kosher salt. Margarita salt also serves the same purpose.

Image via: Knead to Cook

This spring drink with fresh fruits is just what your body needs after a long, hard winter. It is perfect for the many spring occasions and holidays. If you enjoy throwing parties but hate the work, serve strawberry basil margaritas. The cocktail is easy to make and is perfect for special occasions. You can make it the night before and leave it in the fridge to cool. The next day, your visitors can drink to their heart’s content as they shower you with praises.

For more cocktail ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Spring is a great time to get out and enjoy the outdoors. The sun shines brightly and fresh smells fill the air. The season is filled with many holidays and special occasions giving people plenty of reasons to celebrate. Whether you’re celebrating a spring holiday or  you need a drink recipe to make the day extra special. Iced green tea mojito is a spring drink you can make with simple ingredients. If you don’t have the ingredients at home, you can find them in your local market.

Spring Cocktail: Iced Green Tea Mojito

Image via: Neighborfood Blog

[ad#co-3]

Ingredients

4 mint leaves

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon lime juice (fresh)

1 ounce white rum

½ cup brewed green tea (chilled)

6 ice cubes

Procedure

1. Muddle the sugar, mint, and lime juice together in a glass until the mint leaves are slightly bruised. This helps to release the flavors.

2. Add the ice cubes, rum, and green tea and stir thoroughly.

3. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Expert Tips

• To serve the cocktail as a pitcher drink, multiply the ingredients with the number of guests. For a more intimate setting, make the cocktails by the glass.

• If you don’t want to use raw sugar, substitute it with stevia or agave.

• You can replace green tea with any other type of tea. 

• If you can’t get hold of mint leaves, substitute them with shiso leaves (Japanese). 

• If you don’t drink alcohol, leave out the rum and make a lovely mocktail. 

Image via: 247 Recipes

Of all spring drinks, this one stands out. It is a mixture of a mojito and freshly brewed iced tea. The tea blends beautifully with the sugar, rum, herb, and lime juice. The large amount of green tea makes the cocktail light and revitalizing and not too boozy. Iced green tea mojito is icy cool and has the antioxidant properties of rich green tea. It integrates seasonal ingredients and is a great addition to any party. It is perfect for those who love sweet spearmint tea or those who just need a reason to celebrate. Don’t be surprised if you make it your signature drink all spring and summer.

For more drink ideas on Stagetecture, click here.