"i'll have a booze, booze christmas."

my family has been known to enjoy our booze from time to time. there have been entire vermont family reunions that are lost to my memory all because of my aunt's vodka slush. it starts with a large plastic bucket (because we like to keep it classy) into which you toss some frozen lemonade, some coco lopez, some pineapple juice, and then as much vodka as you can fit into the container. plop this into your freezer and once it's frozen and slushy, scoop some into a glass and top it off with sprite or 7up… you know, to "cut the sweetness". nothing is better on a hot summer day than burying your face in frosty glass of vodka slush.

but come winter, most people’s palates adapt to accommodate mugs of warmed wassail, hot toddy’s, and anything with brandy. other than santa claus, i don’t know anything that screams ‘yeah kids, it's christmas again. and mommy's drunk...’ like brandy. it warms you up on a cold night and goes fabulous with everything. eggnog, sweetened milk with nutmeg, coca cola, warmed cider… and, you better believe it, slush!

that’s right. slush. brandy slush. in the dead of winter. oh my!

i have a friend who blogs over at midwest apron. we live in different zip codes, but i have a feeling that if we ever live within a reasonable driving distance of each other, we will find our faces in vats of brandy slush way too often, as we commiserate over motherhood and marrying wisconsin boys. i noticed her recipe for brandy slush sometime last winter and thought that i would make it sometime, but i didn’t have half of the ingredients on hand. so i opted to make myself yet another side car and try to get her brandy slush recipe out of my head.

well, last week as i was in the midst of my CBMA crisis, i thought back to her boozy brandy slush recipe and thought that maybe it would help. oh lordy, did it ever. below is my adaptation of her fabulous recipe. we ran out of slush in four days, so this recipe can (and should) be doubled. and akin to the words of one of my good friends over a bowl of saint cecilia’s punch, “the booze? yeah. it’s working.”

recipe: boozy christmas slush
(or ‘ho ho ho, have another!’; or more aptly ‘yeah kids. it’s christmas again. and mommy’s drunk…”)
based on and inspired by midwest apron’s brandy slush

4 1/2 cups boiling water
4 tea bags of your choosing that are more orangey-spicy-herbal than peppermint-y. i used 2 constant comment and 2 green ginger.
1 cup sugar
1/2 a 12oz can frozen orange juice
1/2 a 12oz can frozen lemonade
2 C brandy
juice from two limes

in a large saucepan, pour the boiling water over the tea bags and let steep for about 5 minutes. squeeze out the tea bags and discard. add the sugar to the hot tea. stir to dissolve the sugar.  add the frozen juices, brandy and lime juice. place into a large freezable container with a tight fitting lid, toss into the freezer and wait for it to get nice and slushy. this took me approximately 4 hours (too long… so i had a side car while i waited).

once frozen, scoop into a glass and top off with seltzer. if you want it a little sweeter, you can top it off with sprite or 7up.

and trust me. this works.