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Christmas Mocktails

Here are some of Springfree’s favourite Mockatil recipes ripe for the upcoming festive season.

Lemon-Strawberry Punch

Ingredients
1 can (6 oz) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 pkg. frozen sliced strawberries
1 can (6 oz.) frozen lemonade concentrate
1 quart carbonated water
1 quart ginger ale
Slice bananas (garnish)
Slice oranges or lemons (Garnish)

Preparation:Combine frozen lemonade, the strawberries half-thawed with juice), and the orange juice. Place in a punchbowl with ice. Just before serving, add carbonated water and ginger ale. Garnish with thin slices or orange or lemon. 20 servings.

Pink Christmas Fruit Punch

Ingredients

2 bottles (about 750ml each) white grape Juice

1.5 L cranberry juice cocktail

2 cans (170ml each) frozen pink lemonade, thawed

750ml bottle of soda water Ice

Preparation:
Combine grape Juice, cranberry juice cocktail and lemonade (not reconstituted). Refrigerate until needed. Put ice in punch bowl at serving time. Add juices and soda water. Ladle into punch cups. Your Christmas fruit punch is ready to serve.

Fruit Tingle

Equal parts of:
Orange juice
Raspberry/Red cordial
Lime/Green cordial
Lemonade
Preparation:

Add crushed ice into the glass before the drink. Get a spoon and hold it in the glass, and pour the different ingredients slowly onto the spoon. This will help you keep the layers separate. Serves 4

Enjoy!

It’s official… Christmas Brain affects thousands all over the world as workers brains go on unofficial holiday (not ours, but we’ll get to that later)!

The Daily Telegraph reports that One in three employees – an estimated nine million people – will ”mentally switch off” for Christmas at 5pm on Friday 18th December and do virtually no work this week.

Instead they will pass the time between nine to five on office gossip, long lunches, shopping trips and looking for holiday destinations for next year.

The article then goes on to say that one in five people will spend up to five hours online researching the ideal city break, in addition to the time spent searching for Christmas gifts. Five hours! What does the boss think your doing!

You will be happy to know that Springfree™ Trampoline never switches off. The phones are a buzzing, we have Christmas carols playing in the background and tis the season to be busy busy busy!

However many companies do start to wind down so do you have a case of the Christmas Brain? Share some of your symptoms with us?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1572534/Millions-to-start-the-Chr...

Soft around the edges. Very Sensible. A true original. Stylish. Strong and silent. Good with Kids. Won’t even push you over the edge. Has a lot ‘net’ worth. Serious about your safety. Never Questions your wisdom. Committed to you. Stays in the backyard. Never Jumps to conclusions. Increases your heart rate. Helps you tone your body. Won’t ever pinch you skin. Never Complains about the weather. Likes your feet. Responsive. High-spirited personality. Comes with a warranty.

Can you think of any other features that Springfree™ Trampoline shares with your ideal man? Your feature may just be included in a limited edition shirt….

With the number of extended family and friends on the gift list outweighing the number of notes in the wallet – my best answer has been making homemade truffles!

I’ve done this for a couple of years and it really does surprise receivers, who end up being amazed by your creativity, and warmed by the fact that you put your own time, energy and effort into their gift.

And best of all, unlike lots of Xmas baking… they don’t take long, and the kids can help!

These ones come from Jo Seager, a legend of a Kiwi cook J

White Chocolate Cointreau Fudge Truffles

Ingredients

• 375 g dark chocolate (1 packet nestle chocolate melts)
• 200 g butter
• 150 g packet mixed peel
• 1/4 cup Cointreau (or other orange liqueur or orange juice)
• grated zest of 1 orange (about 1 teaspoon)
• 3 cups icing sugar
• 750 g white chocolate for dipping (2 packets nestle chocolate melts)

Method

Melt the dark chocolate and butter together in the microwave on medium heat for about 4 minutes stirring a couple of times during cooking. Stir in the mixed peel, Cointreau, orange zest and icing sugar until well combined. Chill in the fridge until firm enough to handle and roll into balls about the size of a walnut.

Place the balls on a foil-lined tray and freeze until really solid about 2 hours. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave on medium power or over a pot of hot water, dip the truffles in the melted chocolate. A chocolate dipping fork which are available at

good cookware shops is invaluable for this job. Allow excess chocolate to drip off and leave to set on a foil-covered tray. DO NOT store in the fridge as the chocolate tends to sweat, but keep them in a cool place. A good idea is to keep a plastic container of un-dipped truffles in the freezer, to be removed and dipped as you need them, for after dinner treats or small gifts. I always cut green and red marachino cherries, and put on top as the white chocolate is setting, to make it look like holly on the top of Xmas puds.

Special Instructions: For cappuccino truffles replace Cointreau with coffee liqueur or essence and delete the mixed peel and grated orange rind. These can be dipped in white or dark chocolate.

For peppermint truffles delete Cointreau and mixed peel and orange rind, for 1-2 teaspoons of peppermint essence.

For toasted coconut and liqueur truffles, replace the Cointreau, mixed peel and orange rind with Irish cream liqueur or bailies etc. and add 1/2 cup toasted coconut