Campari Christmas

Let’s Get Blitzen: Cocktail Advent Calendar – Day 11 – allow me to introduce the Campari Christmas. This tipple is all things merry and bright – Campari, vodka, Triple Sec, orange juice and cranberry juice, topped off with Prosecco. It’s as interesting as it is festive and deserves a spotlight at your next holiday cocktail party.

You’ll find it pictured below with one of my many nutcrackers. Honestly, for their enormous popularity at this time of year, I’ve so rarely seen a nutcracker put to use. I’m definitely not doing my part to employ them as a functional Christmas objet.

My parents have given a new nutcracker as a Christmas gift every year since I was a kid. Now that I’m 30, it’s probably pretty easy for you to imagine the size of the army I’ve amassed. I could have defeated Napoleon at Austerlitz with these forces at my behest.

As you get older, your friends inevitably start buying you presents as well. Based on the sheer scope of my collection, my friends naturally fell under the impression that I’m positively obsessed with nutcrackers and would get me more, thinking this would be a surefire Christmas success.

Don’t get me wrong, I DO like nutcrackers but I’m not as coo-coo for cocoa puffs about them as people have been led to believe. Over the years, I’ve lost some of them as their limbs have been amputated in improper storage and I’ve left them for dead, being not much of a hot-glue gun medic. Realistically, my current collection probably numbers in the mid-twenties. That is, of course, assuming that we’re not counting the ones that are tree ornaments, like that pictured above. I think I have about 13 on my tree right now.

I have some very cool ones, that I like to ensure are on display each year. CB2 does a special edition nutcracker each year and I have the version from a couple of years ago that is an astronaut, complete with glass bubble helmet. I have a portly hunter in forest green with a miniature rifle and Daschund – straight from a Christmas market in Berlin.

Two years ago I had them all on display on the bookshelves behind my couch and it struck fear into the hearts of some of my guests – who were convinced that my terracotta army of nutcrackers could spring to life at any moment and dismember them. Now that I’m acclimating to condo living, I’ve been incredibly restrained with my showcase, I only have five freestanding nutcrackers on display. Really reining in the crazy cat lady vibe over here.

I think, at its core, the real problem is that when people come to my place for cocktail parties, they sometimes end up seeing double, so it really just SEEMS like there are too many nutcrackers…

Cin Cin!

Campari Christmas

5 from 3 votes

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Campari Christmas

Prep Time

2 mins

Total Time

2 mins

 

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Campari Christmas

Author: Yvonne Langen

Ingredients

• ½ oz vodka
• ½ oz Campari
• ½ oz Triple Sec
• 1 oz orange juice
• 2 oz cranberry juice
• 3 oz Prosecco
• 3 fresh cranberries, for garnish

Pitcher Cocktail for a Crowd

• ½ cup vodka
• ½ cup Campari
• ½ cup Triple Sec
• 1 cup orange juice
• 2 cups cranberry juice
• 1 bottle Prosecco
• 24 fresh cranberries, for garnish

Instructions

1. To a Highball glass filled with ice, add ½ oz vodka, ½ oz Campari, ½ oz Triple Sec, 1 oz orange juice, 2 oz cranberry juice and 3 oz Prosecco. Stir to mix. Garnish with a cocktail pick with three fresh cranberries.

Pitcher Cocktail for a Crowd

1. To a pitcher or punch bowl, add all ingredients except Prosecco. Stir. Slowly pour in the bottle of Prosecco. Stir again, slowly, to prevent pitcher from bubbling over. Pour into glasses with ice - add three cranberries to each glass.

Recipe Notes

Recipe adapted from: Hunt, Michelle P.E. and Laura Panter. "Lake Como Christmas." Food & Drink. Holiday 2015.