Christmas is traditionally a time for swilling around the mulled wine and whiskey, and while I hope everyone is enjoying that, personally I'm not much of a drinker. (I get hungover easily, have a tendency to go straight from relaxedly tipsy to confusedly tired with no happy drunk part in between, and fret about damaging my writing by pickling brain cells.) However, it's nice to have a good drink that won't leave you feeling the worse for drinking it, so here's a recipe I've adapted from somewhere else: a ginger mocktail. I don't know what the etiquette is about renaming cocktails you've adapted, but for some reason I feel like calling it a Ginger Nib.

Ingredients to serve one a fairly generous measure:

200 ml clear apple juice
1 medium-sized pear
1 generous teaspoon ginger jam
A splash of ginger beer, something fairly spicy for preference (I used Old Jamaica; you may want to add a bigger quantity if you're using something mild).

Peel and quarter the pear, and remove the core, then chop into bits small enough to fit into a jug. Pour the apple juice into said jug, add the pear pieces and ginger jam, and whizz with a hand-held blender. (A jug blender would do instead.) Add the ginger beer; probably you'll want to add more if your local shop failed to furnish ginger jam.

Serve in tall, narrow glasses, which can be garnished with an apple slice. The pear oxidises quickly, so drink immediately.


An advantage this mocktail has, especially if you use a strong ginger beer, is that has a nice kick that tastes as if it might be alcoholic (though without that raw burn that alcohol sissies like me tend not to like), so it's nicely festive.

Anyone else got any festive mocktails?