This cozy Cranberry Daiquiri recipe is a delightfully festive rum cranberry cocktail perfect for fall and winter holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve, and all the days in between.
Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is clear.
Add orange zest strips and cinnamon stick and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and add cranberries. Once the first cranberry pops, briefly remove the saucepan from the heat, and remove 18 intact cranberries to a small dish. These poached cranberries will garnish your drinks. Set them aside, and return the saucepan to the heat. Continue to simmer until the remaining cranberries pop.
Remove the cranberry syrup from the heat and let the mixture steep in the saucepan for 30 minutes. Pass the mixture through a strainer, pressing very gently on the solids with back of a spoon. You'll have about 6 to 7 ounces of clear, reddish syrup. Return the poached cranberries to the strained syrup and cool completely before making the daiquiris.
Cranberry Daiquiri:
For each cranberry daiquiri, add the rum, lime juice, and cranberry syrup to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and then strain into a cocktail/martini glass. Garnish with 3 of the poached cranberries. Repeat to make additional cranberry daiquiris.
Notes
Leftover cranberry syrup and poached cranberries will keep for up to 1 month in the refrigerator.
Use a vegetable peeler to remove 2 wide strips of zest from an orange, avoiding the white pith beneath.
Dark rum generally has a bolder flavor whereas light rum is more subtle. You may substitute light rum if that's all you have, but the flavor will be a bit different. You could also try this with spiced rum, which is typically a dark rum with additional warm spices added to flavor it.
Any brand of dark rum will do, but may affect the color of the finished cocktail depending on how dark they are.