Cheers to a Spicy New Year! December 31 2015
A bottle of bubbly and New Year’s Eve go hand in hand. This year - try spicing things up. We have some La Flor spice infused Champagne recipes to help you countdown to midnight - cheers to a spicy New Year!
Spiced Citrus Champagne - (serves 12, recipe adopted from The Kitchn)
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup La Flor honey
- Zest of 2 lemons, cut into long strips
- 1 tablespoon La Flor lemon juice
- 4 whole La Flor star anise
- 4 La Flor cinnamon sticks
- 12 La Flor whole cloves
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
- Champagne, or dry sparkling white wine
Bring water, honey, lemon zest and juice, star anise, cinnamon sticks, and cloves to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat to low, and cook for 15 minutes. Cool syrup.
Serve each glass of sparkling wine with 1 tablespoon spiced syrup and a splash of orange juice, to taste. Garnish with a slice of star fruit or a lemon twist.
Spiced Apple Cider Champagne Cocktails - (serves 2, recipe adopted from Dishing Up the Dirt)
- 2 ounces Jack Daniel’s Winter Jack Tennessee Cider (you can sub apple brandy)
- 2 ounce fresh apple cider
- 3-4 ounces chilled champagne
- La Flor cinnamon stick to garnish
A multi layer drink, add the Tennessee Cider to the base of the glass, then champagne, and finish with a splash of fresh apple cider. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
Clove Spiced Champagne - (yields enough syrup for one bottle of champagne or sparking wine, recipe adapted from Gilded Fork)
- 4 cups apple or white grape juice
- 1 teaspoon La Flor whole cloves, crushed
- 1 teaspoon crystallized ginger, chopped
- ½ teaspoon La Flor allspice, crushed
- 2 tablespoons orange zest, pith completely removed
- ¼ of one whole vanilla bean, left intact
- 1 bottle of dry champagne or sparkling wine
- 4×4” square of cheesecloth
- Kitchen twine
Place all spices, zest, and vanilla bean into a sachet made from a double thickness of standard cheesecloth - tie off with kitchen twine.
*If you do not have a cheesecloth/kitchen twine - add all ingredients to the sauce pan with juice as instructed below..
In a small sauce pan, heat your 4 cups of juice over medium heat until it begins to boil. Add sachet to the juice, reduce heat and simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Remove the sachet, and pour syrup through a fine mesh sieve (or coffee filter is no sachet was used) into a glass container. Refrigerate until ready - note the syrup will become thicker as it cools.
To serve, add 1 part spiced syrup to 2 parts champagne or sparkling wine.