Laura Rebecca of Laura Rebecca's Kitchen and host of the monthly Retro Recipe Challenge picked the best theme for this hectic and stressful time of the year: A Boozy Holiday.
Actually, there was even a little bit of holiday stress involved with this theme. First, while flipping through all my old cookbooks looking for retro holiday treats to bake, I would also check out the drink section. Interestingly enough, most of the cookbooks I have that were published between 1920 - 1980 had few if any alcoholic drinks! I found some punches and the typical egg nog recipes but since I wasn't in the mood to make a huge bowl of lime jello champagne punch or orange sherbert and whiskey neighbor bowl, most of my recipes were ruled out. I was about to give up and do Mulled Wine when an old, yellowed newspaper clipping poking out from a rarely used cookbook from the late 50's caught my eye. Like the Star of Bethlehem calling me, I had found my boozy drink: The Sleigh Bell
My grandmother clipped any recipe she thought she might use and stashed them away between the pages of her cookbooks and apparently this coffee drink caught her eye sometime in 1958. I'm not sure which newspaper it came from but it was either the Detroit News or the Cadillac News. The little description says "this is the perfect Christmas drink to serve in the kitchen to the wives while the husbands and children bring the tree in from outside". The drink calls for a good amount of an almond or anise flavoured liqueur. Since I had a small bottle of Amaretto left over from a pastry I made few months ago, I went with the good amount of almond flavoured liqueur. I didn't have any half and half to lighten the coffee, so I tossed in some egg nog and sprinkled some coloured sugar on top of the whipped cream. One sip and I know why the recipe had caught her eye, it was sweet and had a nice almond taste. As I munched on a frosted sugar cookie the opening line of the Christmas carol, "Winter Wonderland" ran through my head. "Just hear those sleigh bells..."
The Sleigh Bell
6 oz of fresh brewed coffee
1 shot glass of almond or anise flavoured liqueur
coffee cream and sugar to taste
whip cream to top
Tag: rrc5
