Boozy Milk Punch, and Other Foods in Jars

Friends and readers: hello! On Mondays I’ll recap edible adventures from the weekend. That’s when I have time to while away the hours trying authors’ recipes that have been bouncing around in my head.

To distract myself from packing for Thanksgiving, I dreamed up Christmas food gifts and got to work. First it was chocolate-covered pretzels (for neighbors and dog walkers) rolled in coconut, pulverized gingersnaps, grey sea salt, and or vanilla sugar: a meditative process if there ever were one. I considered what I would wear in our Christmas card pictures. And how will I dress the dog?

Next was a spicy cinnamon-vanilla simple syrup to be canned and gifted—but we’ll come back to this. After the syrup was cranberry ketchup from the Food in Jars cookbook: tart, plummy, and thick, canned into about 5 half-pints. You’ll have to wait for the book for this recipe, but I tweaked it with a little orange juice and an extra cinnamon stick. A fun/macabre aside: the splattery cranberry skins and seeds you’ll scrape into the bin will look like someone bled out in your house. What will the sanitation workers think?

Back to the syrup: I simmered, oh, 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar for every cup of water, and threw in cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods (but briefly—they can overpower), some heavenly vanilla beans, and whole cloves. I did my math wrong and instead of 6 half-pints, I got 7 halvsies and 1 whole pint. No matter! Here is the real reason for this post: a boozy milk punch that will fortify and sustain, no matter where you’re feasting come Thursday.

For a boozy punch base: stir together approximately 4 ounces of a flavored simple syrup (for a moderately sweet drink), 4 ounces brandy, scant 6 ounces bourbon, and 3 splashes of apple schnapps or liqueur. Throw some ice in a glass with 4 ounces of milk and 2 to 4 ounces of the punch. This will practically conjure holiday cheer out of thin air for you and a couple of friends. Refrigerate any leftover boozy punch and drink as needed with milk. (And the cinnamon syrup isn’t just a cocktail supplement: it’s delish in coffee, in sparkling water, on pancakes, or in a mug of tea.)

Safe travels and good food,

Kristen