warmed and spiced apple and mango juice mocktail

… i’m chuffed to christmas bits to have been asked by the good people at Innocent to be part of their festive Innocent 12 Days of Christmas Mocktail Challenge where, as the name suggests, they’ve challenged 12 bloggers to create non-alcoholic cocktails based on the classic 12 Days of Christmas song using their delicious fruit juices… all we had to do was come up with the recipe and they’d do the rest, including photographing the drinks and creating a special 12 Days of Christmas recipe card that will shortly go on-line for all to see…

… I truly believed I lucked-out here as I got what must be everyone’s favourite part of the song… to be shouted at the very top of your mulled-wine stoked voice… FIVE… GO-HOLD….RINGS… I think it’s also the last of the 12 days that most people actually remember… I know that once I get to day six i’m never sure if it should be lords-a-leaping or geese-a-swaddling… or whatever it’s supposed to be…

… anyhoo, I then had to think of a way to turn five gold rings into a yummy drink and the first thing that came to my mind was Five Gold Things, which I then walked around for the rest of the week humming under my breath… five gold things… five gold things… what are they… what can they be… how am I going to make this work…

five gold rings mocktail
not sure why I worried really… it all came together quite naturally when I was inspired by the wonderful innocent apple and mango juice… I remembered how well apple and honey work together, so I had 2 of my 5 (honey and mango) and the rest just rolled into place… my 3rd was cinnamon, who’s rich woody tones would compliment the sweetness of the mango and add a dash of christmas cheer too… my 4th was orange… and my 5th… well it’s golden syrup of course… the guys from innocent aren’t mad about adding sugar to stuff, which is understandable, so their beautiful picture doesn’t show the sugar ring around the rim of the glass, so i’ve included a picture of my own to show just how pretty it can look and adds another gold ring to the recipe just to finish it all off…

for the mocktail (serves 2)
1 orange – cut into thin slices
a drizzle of golden syrup
2 teaspoons of British runny honey
2 cups of innocent apple and mango juice
a couple of cinnamon sticks

to serve
a little innocent orange juice (with bits or smooth)
a spoonful of golden caster sugar
edible golden glitter
powdered cinnamon

– lay the slices of orange onto a baking sheet and drizzle with the golden syrup and bake for 40 mins on 100C or until golden.  Turn the oven off and let the oranges cool in the oven.

– place the apple and mango juice in a pan with the honey and a dash of cinnamon and gently warm it through allowing the spice to permeate the juice

– take your glass, dip the rim into the innocent orange juice, then into a bowl of sugar mixed with golden edible glitter

– pour a little honey in the bottom of the glass and then pour the warm juice over it.  Slice a dried orange slice into the centre, add it to the rim of the glass, throw in a cinnamon stick and a dash more cinnamon and serve…

… the guys at Innocent are going to put all 12 Days up on-line soon so you can download all the recipe cards but until then, here’s the days that have already been…

1st Day is Karen from Lavender and Lovage
2nd Day is Marie from The English Kitchen
3rd Day is Nanya from Simply Sensational Food
4th Day is Helen from Fuss Free Flavours
5th Day is Dom from Belleau Kitchen

I will continue to add the days here as they progress…

drink and of course enjoy!