Holiday Cocktail: Festive Champagne Punch
Elevate your end-of-the-year soirée with this crowd-pleasing and picture-perfect sparkler.
By:
Lauren Oster
Break out the bubbly and spare yourself an evening of cranking out craft cocktails one at a time by taking a page from Kimberly Schlegel Whitman's Parties Around a Punch Bowl.
Courtesy of Gibbs Smith Publisher
Ingredients:
Yield: Serves around 16
- 1-1/2 cups pomegranate arils or fresh cranberries, or 10 ounces frozen cranberries
- 2/3 cup orange juice
- 3 cups water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 24 ounces ginger ale
- 1 (750 ml) bottle Champagne
- Ice ring
- rosemary (optional, for garnish)
Instructions:
- Freeze an ice ring (see below) of pomegranate arils or cranberries.
- Combine the orange juice, water, lemon juice, ginger ale and Champagne in a punch bowl. (If you would like it a little stronger, add a second bottle of Champagne.)
- Garnish the bowl or cups with pomegranate arils, cranberries, rosemary, seasonal fruit or citrus slices.
To make an ice ring:
To keep your punch cold longer, use a large Bundt pan to make an ice ring. Add pomegranate arils, cranberries, sliced citrus or other garnishes to suit your recipe; then add water and freeze. To get the ice ring out of the Bundt pan, dip the pan for a moment in hot water or run the pan under the hot water tap for a few seconds. The ice ring will easily come out.
Courtesy of Gibbs Smith Publisher
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