Mix, shake and stir these festive cocktails full of holiday spirit

By Kelly McCarthy

Grab a cup to have a holiday cheer with a delicious, festive and spirit-filled cocktail.

Whether looking for something fruity and seasonal like a fig Negroni or a dark rum and warm spice-infused sweetened condensed milk concoction, these drink recipes are sure to fill your cup with a taste of the holidays.

Gingerbread Bellini

HALL Arts Hotel Dallas, Curio Collection by Hilton

This gingerbread bellini adds a sweet and spicy note to a classic cocktail.

This muddled ginger and vodka drink is shaken, not stirred. It's like James Bond's martini meets a gingerbread cookie! The team behind the cocktail program at HALL Arts Hotel Dallas shared the seasonal recipe below.

Ingredients
Fresh ginger
1 oz lemon juice
2 oz vodka of your choice

Preparation
Muddle fresh ginger in shaker tin.
Add 1 oz lemon juice, 2 oz vodka of your choice and hard shake over ice.
Strain over fresh ice in a Collins glass, and garnish with fresh sliced ginger.

Milk for Santa

Ingredients
14 oz Santa Teresa 1796 or dark rum
1 can evaporated milk
1 can condensed milk
1 can Coco Lopez
Cinnamon, star anise, cloves

Method
Infuse the rum with the spices then mix with the rest of ingredients. Store cold.

Deck the Halls

Courtesy of Dewar’s

A Deck the Halls adds a bright, festive scotch cocktail to the holiday menu.

Ingredients
1.5 oz Dewar's12 scotch
1 oz Martini & Rossi Fiero vermouth
1 oz red wine*

Method
Add all ingredients to a mixing tin over ice, shake and strain.
Pour into a highball or wine glass of crushed ice and garnish with fruit and herbs of your choice.
*Note: Use any red wine you have on hand; this is a great way to finish a bottle from the night before.

Fig Negroni

Martini & Rossi

Two festive holiday fig negronis.

Ingredients
12 ml Martini & Rossi Bitter Liqueur
30 ml Martini & Rossi Riserva Speciale Ambrato (Fig-Infused)
Oxley gin
Fresh fig

Method
Infuse Martini & Rossi Riserva Ambrato with dried figs until the preferred taste is achieved.
Add all ingredients to a glass full of ice, mix well by stirring gently, and garnish with a halved fresh fig.

Caffé Noilly

Courtesy of Noilly Prat

A Caffe Noilly cocktail for the holidays.

Ingredients
1 1/2 oz Noilly Prat Rouge
1 oz (Angel’s Envy Bourbon) -- dark rum or bourbon
0.5 oz coffee liqueur
0.5 oz amaro (I used Amaro di Angostura)
6 drops saline

Method
Stir, and strain into a rocks glass with ice.
Garnish with an orange expression.

Apple Nutmeg

1 1/2 oz Bombay Sapphire gin
3 oz Fever Tree Indian tonic
2 oz apple juice (unfiltered)

Method
Build in a balloon glass and garnish with a few thinly sliced discs of apple and a dusting of nutmeg.