Highland Spring has teamed up with cook and food writer, Rosie Birkett, to help you, your family and friends escape to a sparkling moment this festive season. Try these great-tasting, all natural, festive cocktails and mocktails – made with Highland Spring Sparkling water – and perfectly paired with a selection of everyday yet show-stopping canapés to help make the most of any occasion.

This fantastically festive drinks menu comes complete with a selection of mouth-watering canapé ideas.

Rosie Birkett’s Highland Highball: The ultimate festive cocktail, smoky peaty whisky with ice, rosemary syrup and Highland Spring Sparkling water.

Glass: Collins

Ingredients:

1 shot of peaty whisky (such as Islay Malts like Laphroaig or Bowmore)

50ml rosemary syrup

Highland Spring Sparkling water

Garnish: rosemary sprig orange wheel

Method:

Fill a Collins glass with ice and a wheel of orange. Pour over 50ml peated whisky such as Islay Malts and 50ml rosemary syrup and top up with Highland Spring Sparkling water. Garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary and orange wheel. For the orange wheels, finely slice your orange and place flat in the oven on baking paper at 70 degrees for 3hrs, turning halfway through.

Perfectly served with…

Grilled Langoustines: with seaweed butter

Ingredients:

8 langoustines, split (or frozen king prawns)

150g unsalted butter

handful of hazelnuts

1 garlic clove

1 shallot

dried seaweed such as dulse (or other seaweed, found in Waitrose or Ocado)

juice of 1/2 a lemon

Method:

Split the langoustines or prawns down the middle and take out the digestive tract. To make the seaweed butter, blitz the shallot, garlic and hazelnuts in a food processor with a tablespoon of the chopped seaweed. Then add 150g of butter, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice and blitz again. Refrigerate until needed. When you’re ready to cook the langoustines, put them cut side up on a roasting tray and dot with the butter. Grill 3-5minutes until the butter has melted and flesh is cooked.

Rosie Birkett’s Charred Mandarin Ginger Spritz: A refreshingly fruity winter mocktail with a kick.

Glass: Old fashioned/rocks

Ingredients:

2 mandarins, peeled, pith removed and segmented

2 tsp lavender honey (found in most delis or Ocado)

thumb of ginger, roughly chopped

tbsp pomegranate seeds

Highland Spring Sparkling water

To garnish:

charred mandarin segments

mandarin zest, curled

flowering thyme

Method:

Heat a non-stick pan over a high heat. Add the mandarin and char the pieces until part-blackened and about to burst. Put the ginger into a blender with 2 tbsp water and blitz. Strain and reserve the ginger juice. Setting aside a couple of the charred segments for garnish, muddle the rest of the segments and strain the juice over ice into an old-fashioned glass. Drizzle in the honey and add a shot of the ginger juice and the pomegranate seeds. Stir, top up with Highland Spring Sparkling water and garnish with the flowering thyme.

Perfectly served with…

Rosie’s Roasted figs: with blue cheese, hazelnuts, honey and thyme

Ingredients:

8 beautiful fresh figs?

200g blue cheese such as gorgonzola

100g blanched, skinned hazelnuts

bunch of fresh thyme

Good quality runny honey

Extra Virgin Olive oil

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C. Score the figs in a cross that’s not too deep but large enough to make an opening for the cheese. Cut the cheese into squares and stuff inside the figs. Place on an oiled roasting tray and season with sea salt and black pepper. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil. Roast for approximately seven minutes. After seven minutes take the figs out sprinkle with the hazelnuts and thyme and drizzle with honey. Cook for two more minutes. Serve warm.

Rosie Birkett’s five top tips on how to create festive sparkle at your table this season

1 Light candles.

There’s just nothing like the flicker of a naked flame to create a cosy winter feeling, and if, like me, you don’t have an open fire at home, using candles is the next best thing. I like to use candles of all different shapes, sizes and heights to create a sparkly, intimate ambience and a feeling of warmth. I always have jars that I’ve recycled so they get tea lights placed inside and work as perfect decorations for the table.

2 Give a chic twinkle with white fairy lights.

Coloured Christmas lights are forbidden on my watch! Strings of white fairy lights pinned to the wall behind the dining table always adds a special, stylish festive vibe, and I also love strings of festoon lights outside for a wintery welcome.

3 Use linen to create a soft, rustic feel.

I love visiting my local haberdashery and buying rolls of discounted linen or natural fabric that I then tear up for makeshift napkins. There’s something indulgent about having fabric napkins, but by tearing them you get a rough edge which keeps things informal and fun, and shows off the natural texture of the fabric.

4 Forage some table decorations.

At this time of year, I hit the local park, hedgerow and basically any communal green space to gather greenery or foliage that I use to dress the table. I love collecting and drying rosehips, autumn leaves and stems of ivy.

5 Handmade ceramics.

These bring something really special to the dining table, thanks to the fact they are handmade and more organic in their shape and texture. I really feel like food looks more beautiful served on these unique artistic creations rather than on uniform white dining plates.