As promised, more Christmas cocktails!! I can’t wait for you guys to try this one. It’s easy to batch-make, tastes delicious and is the colour of snow! What could be more festive?! Coconut lends a smooth silkiness to everyone’s favourite margarita, and you can go wild with the garnishes. Red and green are obvious go-to’s, but you could also dress these up with whatever colour scheme you’re going for this year. Deep purple blackberries frosted with a touch of gold leaf perhaps. Rosemary sprigs, candy canes or coloured sugar rims are great options too.

I’ve been thinking a lot this last week or two about the meaning of Christmas and the excess that it entails nowadays. This year, I have decided to take a more charity-focused approach instead, and to do my best to ensure that other less fortunate people around the world can have a brighter future too. So we’ve ditched the usual gift buying for those outside immediate family, instead purchasing a goat for a family in Africa. I used Oxfam to do this, and here you can see the range of different options you can choose from. The friend you are buying for will receive a card in the post with all the details of their donation, and you can add little extras like festive chocolates too!

Combined with this, I’m trying to cut down on the usual expenses and donating the difference to charity. So instead of having a turkey, which would usually cost £60-80, we are going to have a chicken for £10 and donate the £50-70 that we save to charity. The same goes for the Christmas tree. We’re pulling out the artificial tree from storage this year instead of buying a real one, and donating the money we would have spent on that too.

I haven’t yet decided which charity I want to give the money to, and if you have any suggestions please let me know! There are so many fancy things that we usually think we are entitled to because “it’s Christmas”, like expensive champagne or artisan chocolates. We don’t NEED any of these things to have a lovely Christmas celebration, and it seems much more in keeping with the true spirit of Christmas to think of others instead.

After all, Christmas is supposed to be about love and family. So invite everybody over, have a great time, but spare a thought for those less fortunate than you, and if you can, donate to a worthwhile charity. GiveWell is a great resource to help you choose who to donate to so that your money goes the furthest it possibly can. Other ideas are volunteering at your local homeless shelter, donating unwanted items to your local charity shop or spending time at your local old people’s home. I know this post has been much less food focused than usual, but I really feel that this is an important message for us to hold in our hearts at this time of year.

Speaking of family and friends, make sure you make time to see them over the holidays! Make up a big ol’ pitcher of these, set out some nibbles, turn up the Bing Crosby Christmas songs and get the party started!

PS – if you want to make your own sugar syrup, find out how here!

Recipe

• Serves: 1
• Time:
  • Prep: 5 mins
  • Cook: 1 min

    Ingredients

• 1/2 oz sugar syrup
• 1 1/2 oz silver tequila
• 1 1/2 oz coconut milk light works great too!
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 oz triple sec or Cointreau
• 3-5 drops coconut essence optional but highly recommended! Find it in the baking aisle.

Instructions

1. To prepare the glasses, run a lime wedge around the outside of each glass. Pour some sugar/salt into a small flat plate and gently press the glass into the sugar/salt.
2. If making 1-2 cocktails, combine all the ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake hard for about 30 seconds until the outside of the tin is icy cold, and strain over cubed ice into rocks glasses.
3. If batch-making, combine all the ingredients in a large pitcher and stir well with a bar spoon or wooden spoon. If this is your chosen method, ensure that your coconut milk is not separated. You can use either a whisk or an immersion blender to do this. Alternatively, combine the ingredients in a smoothie maker or vitamix, then pour into individual glasses over ice.