Jam Cocktails

The wait is over. The first Advent Calendar is available at long last!

Christmas seems to come earlier every year. This year it has come in August. Nothing gives you that Christmassy feeling than a heatwave and Bonne Maman’s 2025 Advent Calendar going on sale thanks to Andros, whose brands include Bon Maman.

Based in a former lollipop factory in Biars-sur-Cère in the Lot department in southwestern France, near the Dordogne, Andros has factories worldwide, including one in Virginia. Jean Gervoson started his jam business in 1971. Andros bought the factory in 1976, making jam, marmalade, compotes, desserts, cakes and biscuits.

But jam and preserves are not just for spreading on toast, waffles, brioches and pancakes and dolloping on scones or using to make mousses, bread (tried peanut chocolate banana bread?), lemon curd shortcake biscuits, bacon, brie and fig sandwiches, ricotta beignets, tarts, buns, pavlovas, stuffing (try Bonne Maman apricot jam) and glazing your Christmas or Thanksgiving turkey (try grape concord).

Jams also make great cocktail ingredients using seasonal ingredients all year round.

The 23 x 30g jars which comprise the calendar should give you a few ideas. Salivate at the thought of what you could do with Apple with caramel and cinnamon, Pineapple with rum and vanilla, Apricot with orange blossom, White nectarine with peach and lemon verbena, Raspberry with lychee Yuzu, orange and grapefruit, Rhubarb and strawberry, Madagascar vanilla caramel, Cherry with violet leaf, Mango and ginger, Fig and cardamom, Damson plum, pear and star anise.

Not just in a Mason Jar Fizz with Prosecco but how about making yourself a Hazelnut Royale? All you need is an egg white, edible gold glitter, 75ml freshly brewed espresso coffee, 75ml vodka, 30ml Drambuie, 75g Bonne Maman Hazelnut Chocolate Spread and 60ml of double cream.

Simply dip a Martini glass rim in the egg white and sprinkle with glitter. Put in the fridge or freezer for 20 minutes before adding the ingredients (with the exception of the cream) into a jug and whisk until smooth. Alternatively, you can blitz it in a blender. Then pour the contents into the chilled glass and swirl cream on top and finally garnish with a flake.

All you really need to make a jam cocktail is your favourite spirit, be it vodka, tequila, rum, bourbon or gin, some fresh lemon juice, ice and a shaker and of course a cupboard full of Bonne Maman conserves and preserves. Here are a few ideas.

Try your hand at making a Jamtini Cocktail. You will need 2 tablespoons of Bonne Maman Strawberry Jam (its best-seller here in the UK), some diced strawberries, 10 large mint leaves, some ice cubes, 50ml grenadine, 200ml vodka and 500ml of lemonade. Then mix, shake, stir, pour and garnish. Nothing could be easier, simpler or more refreshing!

To create a Marmalade and Gin Cocktail you will need 2oz gin, 1 half oz of freshly squeezed lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of Bonne Maman Orange Marmalade. Fill a Martini shaker half full of ice and shale well. Then add the ice cubes to an 8oz glass. Combine all the ingredients and shake before straining the contents into the glass. And voila!

Next is the Mango Peach Splash which requires an almost empty jar of Bonne Maman Mango-Peach Preserves, 1.5oz orange juice, 1.5 white rum, the juice of half a lime, sparkling water, some ice and fruit slices for a garnish. Then mix the contents in the jar, close lid and shake vigorously, open the lid and top up with some sparkling water and garnish to taste.

To make a Spicy Guavarita you will need 1 tablespoon of Bonne Maman Guava Jam, 1oz vodka, 1oz Triple Sec, 1oz lime juice, 2-3 ice cubes, 1 jalapeno slice, a lime wheel, some tajine spices and sparkling water. Next, rub the rim of the glass with a lime slice and then dip it into some tajine. Crush jalapeno at the bottom of your shaker with a muddler or back of a spoon before adding the rest of the contents along with some ice cubes. Close the shaker and shake until well-chilled and the jam has dissolved. Next, strain the contents of the shaker into the prepared glass and add some soda and garnish accordingly.

For a festive Figgy Bourbon you will require 2oz Bourbon, 1 tablespoon of fig jam, I dried fig, vanilla bean paste to taste and muddle and pour over some ice.

A Raspberry and Rum Cocktail is prepared with 1 tablespoon of Bonne Maman Confiture Raspberry, 2oz of dark rum, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Strain into a chilled tulip glass and garnish with a fresh raspberry.

A seasonal Cherry Negroni is made with 1oz Dry Gin, 1oz Campari, 1 tablespoon of Bonne Maman Cherry Conserve, some demerara sugar and a fresh cherry as a garnish. Fill a rock glass with ice and add the gin and Campari and stir in some jam. Finally, sprinkle the cherry with a little sugar and garnish.

Lastly, for those of you looking for something without any alcohol, then how about a Blueberry Jam Basil Fizz Mocktail for which you will need 2 tablespoons of Bonne Maman Wild Blueberry Preserve, 1 can of lime sparkling water, 1 Thai Basil sprig and two leaves, 1 lime (one half juiced and other half for garnish). Then add into a shaker and crush with a muddler. Fill it with ice and a generous splash of sparkling water before shaking and pouring the contents into highball glass and top up to your liking before garnishing it with something suitably festive! And swoon.

Author Bio:

Kevin Pilley is a former professional cricketer and chief staff writer of PUNCH magazine. His humour, travel, food and drink work appear worldwide, and he has been published in over 800 titles.

Photographs courtesy of Bonne Maman