Holiday Cocktail: Festive Champagne Punch

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.

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:

1. Freeze an ice ring (see below) of pomegranate arils or cranberries.
2. 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.)
3. 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.