For A Stunning Cocktail Garnish, Get Creative With Fruit Fans

If torching cinnamon sticks to garnish your cocktails isn't appealing, you have plenty of other options when it comes to dressing up your drinks. Slice fruit instead, and arrange the cut pieces into an open fan shape to impress your guests at the next happy hour you're hosting at home.

To make an attractive and impressive-looking drink garnish, choose fruit that is sturdy enough to slice thinly and make vertical cuts along the fruit to create pieces in similar shapes. If necessary, you'll want to core or remove the pit of the fruits you've selected to adorn your glasses. 

One of the best parts of creating miniature fans out of fruit is that a good portion of the prep work can be completed before your guests arrive. Prepare fruit slices in advance by squeezing lemon juice over the top so they retain their vibrant color long after the last party arrives. Then, you can decide to assemble the fans and have them ready to decorate drinks or let guests put together their own garnishes with fruits of their own choosing.

After you've sliced the fruit for your drink garnishes, the only work you have left is to assemble the fans and start handing out cocktails. Toothpicks or cocktail picks are your greatest assets when you're putting together these fruit fans. Line up the slices of your pears and peaches then pierce the slices with a single toothpick or cocktail spear. Carefully fan the fruit pieces out evenly, separating each piece to reveal the other slices of fruit on the stick.

Depending on the drink recipes you're serving, apples and plums can add a festive flair to the rim of your cocktail glasses, or experiment with alternating slices of these fruits with blueberries or cocktail cherries. By piercing fruit and arranging the pieces in an attractive way, you can easily elevate basic drink presentations from an average appearance to something closer to what a professional bartender might make.