These Cranberry Sauce Moscow Mules are a smart way to put those Thanksgiving leftovers to work. This cocktail is perfection in a mule mug. I used the sauce to create a tart and tasty cranberry ginger simple syrup that serves as the base for these Cranberry Sauce Moscow Mules.
Most people toss out the cranberry sauce after Thanksgiving, but making Cranberry Sauce Moscow Mules might just be the best use for the leftover sauce!
The holidays are really the only time that I make Cranberry Sauce. Gasp?! It’s true though. I make it at Thanksgiving and then enjoy it for a week or so after on toast, on turkey sandwiches and things like that. After I enjoy it a couple of times, I either let it sit in my fridge until it becomes an amorphous mass of nasty goop (true story!) or if I am being really organized, I throw it out.
But, not this year. I found a marvelous way to use up that leftover cranberry sauce. Let’s put it in a cocktail!
Cranberry sauce cocktails? Yes, please!
My friends from Moscow Muled sent me a couple of their beautiful, handmade moscow mule mugs and as I was thinking up recipe ideas, the cranberry sauce in the fridge was saying, “Pick me! Pick me!” I couldn’t think of a better cocktail to serve up in these gorgeous mugs. You could a lot of other fun drinks in these mugs, too. Eggnog, Hot Cocoa and even coffee. And so much more! On their site, they even suggest using them as planters for succulents. Squad goals for sure!
Back to the recipe at hand. It’s much like a traditional Moscow Mule recipe, but I made a Cranberry Ginger simple syrup to add into the lime, vodka and Ginger Beer. I also upped the eye appeal by topping the mules with a dollop of homemade cranberry sauce. Don’t worry, if you don’t have homemade, the kind you can purchase will work, too. Next year, try making your own, though. It’s quick to make and so tasty!
So, get in there and pull out that leftover sauce, get creative, and whip up some Cranberry sauce cocktails. What other kinds of yummy treats can you dream up?
This post is in partnership with Moscow Muled, Handcrafted Copper Mugs, but opinions are 100% my own.
Cranberry Sauce Moscow Mules
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 4 " piece of fresh ginger
- 1/2 cup cranberry sauce
- 4 oz vodka I love Tito's
- 1 oz fresh lime juice
- 1.5 oz cranberry ginger simple syrup
- 8 oz alcoholic ginger beer
- lime slices
- fresh ginger slices
- cranberry sauce
Instructions
To make cranberry ginger syrup
- In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sliced fresh ginger (about a 4" piece that has been peeled and sliced).
- Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer until all the sugar is dissolved.
- Add 1/2 cup of cranberry sauce. Simmer for 20 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Let it steep for about 15 minutes. The longer it steeps the stronger the ginger flavor.
- Cool completely and store in the fridge.
To make one Mule
- Fill a shaker with ice, 2 ounces of vodka, 1 ounce of lime juice and 1.5 ounces of cranberry ginger simple syrup.
- Give it shake and pour it into a copper Mule mug or a Collins glass. Add more ice, if necessary.
- Top with 3-4 ounces of Ginger Beer.
- Garnish with a slice of lime, a thin slice of fresh ginger and a spoon of cranberry sauce.
