Santa's Helper

Forget Eggnog! Santa needs his coffee. This is a free-form cocktail I went with when trying to make a richly spiced and creamy coffee drink for the holidays.

It's not everyday you can get a hot cocktail with both cinnamon and coffee flavors to play well together. MurLarkey Distillery's flavored whiskeys are not sugared down or made with artificial flavors. There's just coffee and cinnamon soaking in whiskey. The flavor is intense, so you have to add sugar to taste and measure carefully, because a little goes a long way.

But that's a good thing when it comes to home bartending. I love it when a dash does as much work as an ounce. That's the case with Santa's Helper. The small amount of cinnamon whiskey is plenty to give your coffee spice. And when you are adding whiskey to coffee, you might as well use coffee whiskey with real, intense cold brew coffee. It blends so well together, you'll feel like you had it made by a barista at a fancy coffee shop.

• 1 1/2 oz. MurLarkey coffee whiskey
• 1/2 oz. cinnamon whiskey
• 2 tsp. sugar syrup
• 4 oz. hot black coffee
• whipped cream
• ground cinnamon

Combine coffee and cinnamon whiskey and sugar syrup in a small sauce pan and warm on low heat. Add it to a warmed coffee mug and top with hot coffee. Top with whipped cream and dust with ground cinnamon.