Food Gift Idea: Holiday Spice Sugar

This week I’m talking about some of my picks for holiday food gifts this year. And much like yesterday’s post about home made peppermint marshmallows, today’s food gift idea is something that can make your holiday cocktail drinking even better. Today’s food gift idea: holiday spice sugar! In case you haven’t noticed, I likes me some cocktails. And hot buttered rum is the perfect drink for cold weather, decorating trees, chestnuts on the proverbial fire…you get the picture. It’s a wonderful, decadent drink that simply screams winter holidays.

Ok, ok, you don’t need to use my holiday spice sugar just to rim the glass for hot buttered rum if you don’t want to. It works great with Irish coffee too! Ha! Fine, here are some non-booze related uses for the spice sugar: it is also lovely sprinkled on toast, delicious on top of your oatmeal, or a spicy alternative to honey when used to sweeten your tea. Or you can use it to rim the glass for your favorite holiday cocktail. Like hot buttered rum. Boom.

Pro-tip #1: if you’re going to rim your glass with sugar or salt of any kind (as you would with margaritas and bloody marys), add the sugar or salt and let it dry before pouring the cocktails. This will make it stick much better. Pro-tip #2: For adding sweet stuff to the rim of your glass, dip the rim in simple syrup instead of water or juice. Works like a charm!

Holiday Spice Sugar Recipe

Ingredients
1 cup coarse sugar (like Sugar in the Raw)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
6 whole cloves
1 small cinnamon stick (optional)

Directions
Mix ingredients, and store in an airtight container for up to six months. Spice flavor will intensify as time passes.

Hot Buttered Rum Recipe

Ingredients
Holiday Spice Sugar
2oz light or spiced rum
1/2 tablespoon melted butter
1 tsp honey (or sugar)
Boiling water

Directions
Moisten the rim of a small mug or cocktail glass with lemon, water, or simple syrup, then dip the rim into holiday spice sugar.
Tip: Rim your mugs with sugar in advance and let them dry before adding the rum. The sugar will stick much better this way. I find simple syrup is perfect for sugared rims.

Add rum, butter, and honey to an emtpy shaker and stir to combine. Pour mixture into the sugar-rimmed mug and top with boiling water. Serve immediately.