Holiday Appetizer Pot-Luck 2016

On Christmas Eve eve, December 23rd, I hosted my annual Holiday Appetizer Pot-Luck party. It’s a great format for a fun stress-free holiday party. To find out exactly how it works, go to This Post from the 2015 party and get all the “How To” details.

In the days to follow, I’ll post the recipe for each. As an added bonus – at the end of today’s post you’ll find my signature cocktail for the evening.

Here is a rundown of the dishes made and brought by the guests … with a few contributed by me.

Antipasto Skewers

Greek Quesadillas

Bacon Wrapped Maple Brussels Sprouts

Smoked Salmon-Cucumber Rounds

Spicy Chicken Cheeseballs

Caesar Dip and Crudités

Bacon Candy

Shrimp Scampi Dip

Holiday Brie en Croute

I’m calling my signature cocktail “winter berry” but in all honesty, these are summer berries. Oh well, summer or winter, it’s a keeper!

Winter Berry-Rosemary Cocktail

• 1 pint fresh raspberries
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• 1 pint fresh blackberries
• 1 cup fresh small rosemary sprigs
• 6 limes, cut into wedges
• 3 cups simple syrup *
• 4 cup vodka
• Juice of 8 more large limes
• Ginger ale, chilled
• Garnish
• 16 small fresh rosemary sprigs
• 8 lime slices, cut in half
• Reserved berries

Pull out 16 raspberries, 16 blueberries and 16 blackberries and set aside for garnish.

Place remaining berries, rosemary sprigs and lime wedges in a large pitcher. Add 1/2 cup of the sugar syrup and 1/2 cup of the vodka and muddle well. Strain resulting liquid into another pitcher.

Return the solids (the berries, rosemary and limes) to the original pitcher and add another 1/2 cup simple syrup and another 1/2 cup vodka and muddle well again. Strain, adding to the first batch of liquid. Repeat this procedure 2 more times, discarding the solids after the final muddling.

Add the lime juice, the remaining 1 cup simple syrup and 2 cups vodka to the pitcher with all the muddled liquid and chill for at least 2 hours.

When ready to serve, fill rocks glasses with ice. Add 1 berry of each variety to the glasses and fill 2/3 full with the vodka-berry mixture. Top with ginger ale and garnish each glass with a rosemary sprig and a lime slice.

Serves 16

*Simple Syrup: Mix equal parts sugar and water in a saucepan, gently heat while stirring to dissolve the sugar, promptly remove from the heat once the sugar is dissolved. Do not let the syrup boil, as this will evaporate the water and change the ratio of water to sugar.

Simple syrup may be kept in a sterilized jar for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

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