Holiday Cranberry Martini

I’d like to pretend I can handle this martini, but honestly Dollinks, it’s so delicious and packs such a wallop that I was wobbly after starting my second. So that’s the bad news. Or the good news, depending on your perspective.

Hi! I’m Nicole Parton, and you haven’t seen much of me for quite awhile (over the past couple of years, actually) because I’ve been closeted away writing a novel, but (run-on sentence to follow) I hope you will when I’m rich and famous and on tour in the hamlet where you live! 

There’s nothing like a little over-confidence to make a woman delusional, but I’ve written 10 non-fiction books and this foray into fiction has been exciting and fulfilling! 

So here’s a recipe for the best Holiday Cranberry Martini I’ve ever encountered - EV-AH! - with a very Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Holiday Cranberry Martini:

1-1/2 oz. (42 g) vodka
1/2 oz. (14 g) Triple Sec
1/2 oz. (14 g) dry vermouth
3 oz. (84 g) cranberry cocktail (see Note)
Fresh or frozen cranberries, as garnish 

Place all ingredients except cranberries into chilled martini shaker with ice cubes. Shake-shake-shake like a professional bartender and pour into martini glass. Toss in three fresh cranberries and you’ll be away to the races!

Note: Be sure to use the watered-down and sweetened cranberry cocktail. Cranberry juice is far too tart.

- With gracious thanks to my pals Bob and Sandy Trafananko