The perfect holiday cocktail is easy to assemble in crowd-pleasing quantities, attractive and goes down smooth. This Poinsettia cocktail from Valerie Peterson’s entertainingly irreverent “Peterson’s Holiday Helper” is the perfect fit.

Poinsettia cocktail

To make simple syrup, simmer 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1 cup of water until the sugar is dissolved, then cool.

3/4 cup cranberry juice
3 ounces simple syrup
6 ounces orange liqueur, such as Cointreau
750-milliliter bottle Champagne, chilled
18 fresh cranberries

In a cocktail shaker with ice, combine the cranberry juice, simple syrup and orange liqueur. Shake well (until the shaker is covered with condensation). Strain the mixture, dividing it between 6 Champagne flutes.

Add the Champagne, dividing it between the glasses. Garnish each drink with 3 cranberries skewered on a cocktail pick. Serves 6.

– Recipe from Valerie Peterson’s “Peterson’s Holiday Helper,” Clarkson Potter, 2008.