Cocktail Hour: The Curious Russian

I’m not ashamed to admit a deep-seated love for fancy fruity cocktails, involving copious amounts of exotic ingredients like cherry liqueur, strawberry puree and juicy chunks of fruit. But as the weather starts to get wintery and dismal, I find myself erring away from the fruitier end of the cocktail spectrum. At this time of year there’s something very comforting and indulgent about delicious cocktails with lashings of chocolate, milk or cream. And since we loved the coffee cocktails Starbucks kindly supplied to us last week so much, we’ve since decided that cocktails based on coffee liqueurs are the way forward while it’s cold and grotty outside.

Our favourite is Kahlua, because it combines the tastes of rum, vanilla, caramel and coffee and we love its delicious sticky, syrupy texture. So we were drooling in anticipation when we heard that they’ve just brought out a new coffee cream in time for the festive season. Apparently it’s perfect in coffee or on its own with ice, but most of all we're smitten with having it in this sophisticated, boozier twist on the classic White Russian cocktail:

All you need is:

• 1 shot Kahlua
• 1 shot Kahlua Coffee Cream
• 1 shot vanilla vodka (we like the one by Absolut)

And all you need to do is:

Combine all your ingredients in a cocktail shaker, shake and then strain over ice.

Settle in somewhere cosy with a pal or two, blankets and board games. Drink with a plate of mince pies within easy reach, and try not to squabble over the Monopoly scores once you’re too tipsy for property-tycoon masterminding.