[2] Ocean Spray Cran-Cherry is also available in a diet version (both photos courtesy Ocean Spray).

For non-alcoholic drinking during the holiday season, offer something more exciting than club soda or cider. Cranberry mocktails are especially popular during the holiday season, their bright red color often accented with a green sprig of rosemary or at least, a wedge of lime.

There are many cranberry mocktail recipes out there for your perusal. This spicy mocktail recipe, sent to us from Ocean Spray, was the first place winner in a contest a few years ago.

The recipe was created by Sharee Hunt, a chef and mixologist.

You can make a pitcher in advance, and turn it into a cocktail for those who request it, by adding vodka or tequila.

Both the juice and the ginger ale/ginger beer are available in diet versions, for a low-calorie drink. (Our favorite diet ginger beer is Gosling’s).
 
 
RECIPE: SPICY GINGER CRANBERRY CHERRY MOCKTAIL

Ingredients For 2 Drinks

 
Preparation

1. CUT the lime in half, and slice a wheel for garnish. Squeeze the juice from the other half into a cocktail shaker.

2. MUDDLE the jalapeño slices and rind from the squeezed lime half in the shaker.

3. ADD the vodka, cranberry juice and ginger ale/ginger beer. Shake, strain and serve over ice. Garnish with a lime wheel.

Italy’s most famous Italian liqueur, Disaronno, has launched this year’s limited-edition “Disaronno Wears…” bottle.

This year, Disaronno wears Trussardi.

For the past several years, Italy’s most famous liqueur has partnered with a top Italian fashion house to create a limited-edition bottle. This year, the bottle is “dressed” in a Trussardi pattern; the chartreuse figure at the top right of the bottle is an interpretation of Trussardi’s greyhound logo.

Past designers have included Etro, Missoni, Moschino, Roberto Cavalli and Versace.

These bottles become collectors’ items, so grab them for amaretto-loving friends.

The limited-edition collaboration also includes a set of six mini-bottles, which you can apportion as stocking stuffers.
 
 
MORE ABOUT DISARONNO

From the time it was first imported into the U.S, in the 1960s, Disaronno, an amaretto liqueur, quickly became a hit in cocktails and food preparation. Americans loved the marzipan flavor.

Other brands of amaretto are available in the U.S., but Disaronno is the premium brand in the category.

By the 1980s, it was second in sales only to Kahlùa. (Today, the top liqueurs are Baileys Irish Cream and Malibu Caribbean Rum, but Disaronno remains in the Top 10.)
 
How To Enjoy Disaronno

Our two most frequent uses of amaretto are with after-dinner coffee, and as a flavoring in cakes, mousse and ice cream. Amaretto ice cream is a blast, alone or with a slice of amaretto-infused pound cake (need we mention amaretto ice cream on a brownie with fudge sauce?).

Here’s our list of almost 40 ways to use amaretto, both sweet and savory.

[2] Three of the six miniatures.

Here’s the history of Disaronno.

Here’s the difference between a cordial, an eau de vie, a liqueur and schnapps.

Trivia: No almonds are used to make Disaronno. Rather, the marzipan-like flavor is achieved through apricot kernel oil, burnt sugar and a variety of spices.

[2] Finally, the greenest person can use K-cups (photo courtesy Tayst Coffee).

Committed environmentalists and those who try to live green are in a quandary: They may want the ease of single-serving K-cups, but can’t abide the plastic and foil sent to the landfill.

Tayst Coffee, which has an office coffee program for businesses that use hundreds of K-cups a month, developed an alternative: biodegradable/compostable K-cups for both Keurig and Nespresso machines.

Individuals can buy them too, via a monthly delivery “club.” You can buy 30, 40, or 60 pods a month, starting at $22.00.

You can try it yourself, with a free trial shipment that leads into the club.

Coffee options include

 
You can try a sampler before making a decision. You can change your selection or cancel at any time.

You can send a one-time gift, or a 3- or 6-month club.

Head to Tayst.com for your sample box or to send a gift.
 
 
BEYOND BIODEGRADABLE

Tayst Coffee produces its products following the guidelines of:

 
It’s coffee you can feel good about drinking, and gifting.