Hot Drinks for the Holidays — Part III — Hot Cranberry Vanilla Drink (Vegan)

This Hot Cranberry Vanilla Drink is the last drink in the series “Hot Drinks for the Holidays” — and it’s ultimately the best one! A palatable combination of sweet and tangy, this drink containing sugar-free pure cranberry juice is seasoned with wonderful vanilla and warm-flavored cinnamon. I promise that this drink won’t leave you cold in any sense!

 

This drink is a variation on the recipe I published on my Finnish blog last year. This year I fine-tuned the recipe and converted it to American measures. Personally I really like this tasty but mild drink. It’s perfect for kids too!

You can adjust the sweetness to your liking. Feel free to add some additional seasonings or replace the cinnamon with other spices, like cardamom. A great variation for adults is to add some calvados to the hot drink. That will sure warm you up! Or actually, it’s better to pour the preferred amount of calvados in the empty glasses and then top up with the Hot Cranberry Vanilla Drink. You can experiment with other alcohols as well. I would like to try this drink with different flavored vodkas. I bet vanilla vodka would work perfectly, you can even leave out the vanilla bean. Mandarin vodka might be a great, fruity variation too.

By the way, the cookies in the topmost and the lowermost photos are my Chewy Ginger Cookies, a very popular recipe I posted a couple of years ago. I still make those cookies on a regular basis, I just change the spices according to my preferences and what I or my family happen to fancy at the moment.

 

Hot Cranberry Vanilla Drink (Vegan) 1 organic vanilla bean 2 organic cinnamon sticks 2 cups = 480 ml filtered water OR spring water 1/3 cup = 80 ml pure 100% cranberry juice (beware of the fake 100% juices!) 1/3 cup = 80 ml (or to taste) Confectioner’s Style Swerve OR other sweetener to taste   Directions Slice the vanilla bean lengthwise. Scrape the seeds with a large knife. Place the empty bean and the scraped seeds in a saucepan. Add the remaining ingredients. Heat over medium heat. Mix once in a while. When the mixture is boiling, remove the saucepan from the heat. Remove the empty vanilla bean and the cinnamon sticks. Serve immediately from heatproof glasses or mugs.

 


 

Nutrition information	Protein	Fat	Net carbs	kcal
In total:	trace	0.2 g	6.9 g	29 kcal
Per serving, if 4 servings in total:	trace	trace	1.7 g	7 kcal

 

 

A couple of days ago my Facebook page reached 150,000 likes milestone. I’m so thankful to everybody who has liked the page. I never even thought that was possible! Thank you again, I feel so grateful and blessed! This milestone wouldn’t have been possible without you, my dear readers!

 

Finally, I want to wish everybody The Happiest Ever Holidays!