Warm Up With Giada De Laurentiis' Italian Spin On A Hot Toddy

Nothing is better than a cold rainy night, wrapped up in a blanket with a good book and perfectly homemade hot toddy to keep you warm. The original idea for the drink, also sometimes called a hot whiskey, was believed to be invented in the 18th century in Scotland as a Christmas cocktail to celebrate the holiday (via MasterClass). A classic hot toddy recipe perfect for cold weather is usually made with hot tea, whiskey, lemon, and honey though there are other variations. As long as the idea is the same, a type of hot tea with a spirit and a sweetener as well as a few spices and you have yourself a hot drink (via Liquor.com).

Giada De Laurentiis' Italian spin on a hot toddy just may be the perfect variation recipe you're looking for to switch things up from the classics. With cold nights gearing up and margaritas and piña coladas going out of season, it's time to have a new winter cocktail in the books, and this just may be it.

Giada De Laurentiis' blog Giadzy posted her Italian hot toddy on Instagram, showcasing the different ingredients she used to make the hot cocktail. Using the traditional bourbon, she also added an ounce of limoncello to give it that lemony taste, as well as some freshly squeezed lemon juice. As the sweetener instead of honey, she adds ginger syrup from Fabbri, which has little pieces of ginger in it, keeping the ginger flavor fresh. In the post she wrote, "Candied ginger and ginger syrup from Fabri add a sweet punchy flavor that gets balanced by the limoncello, bourbon & fresh lemon."

She finally adds some candied ginger to take it the extra spicy and sweet mile and then the cocktail is finished off with hot water instead of traditional tea, leaving the flavors to come out in the ginger and limoncello. The recipe is on De Laurentiis' Giadzy, with a little blurb saying, "Be sure to enjoy all of the chopped ginger at the bottom that has been playing with the bourbon and lemon. It's simply delightful." And enjoy we will. Who doesn't love a little twist on a classic. And if a hot toddy doesn't warm you up, here are some of the best bourbon cocktails to enjoy this winter.