Mocktail and Cocktail Punch for the New Year Holiday!

I have to say I am always more ambitious than my time actually allows, but I must admit I was not expecting to be as busy as I have been this fall.  I should have had a clue when when people where Christmas shopping from in in July.

I have been teaching online and that takes more preparation and concentration that one might realize exhausting my ability to write a post.  I have never been one to pre-program most of my posts so those that are pre-programed were kinda the only ones that happened recently.

As a result the recipe theme ended in October.  Since November and December were not my most creative theme ideas anyway, I just dropped them from the schedule and will start a new set of recipe ideas come January for 2021.

Instead I thought I would share a few punch recipes with you.  If you are entertaining during the holidays, these are a fun way to share flavors.  If not, making a punch and keeping in the refrigerator is a great way to extend the holiday fun when, like us, the number celebrating is rather small.  You can also share these recipes with family and all share the same beverage while Facetiming or Zooming.

Merry Mocktail

4 cups cranberry juice

1 bottle sparkling apple cider

1 liter ginger ale

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

Orange slices studded with cloves

Put some ice in a punch bowl or pitcher. Combine all the liquid ingredients together and give them a stir. Float a few orange slices in the punch and add a few fresh cranberries. Or stud the orange slices with cloves and keep on the side to use as garnish for people to add to their glasses. Add 12 ounces of vodka to the recipe for a cocktail.

Mocking Fall Apple Punch

4 parts Sparkling Apple Cider

1 part Mulled White Grape Juice

½ part Lime Juice

Apple slices studded with cloves and kept in lemon juice until used as a garnish and apple mint sprigs.

Put some ice in a punch bowl or pitcher. Put all the liquid ingredients together, and give them a stir. Float a few apple slices in the punch and add a few sprigs of apple mint. Or stud the apple slices and place in lemon juice on the side as garnish for people to add to their glasses. Substitute hard cider  and/or mulled white wine for a cocktail.

This Bourbon Punch is a variation on the HARRY ELLIS COMMEMORATIVE Knockout PUNCH, but I was never able to definitively determine which Harry Ellis the drink was designed to commemorate, so if you have details, please share.

Sneaky Bourbon Punch

Bourbon is a smooth alcohol, and anything made with it can sneak up on you, so enjoy this punch when you know you will not be driving.

• 8 cinnamon sticks
• 1 750ml bottle of bourbon
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 oz. ginger beer
• 4 oz. lemon juice
• 4 oz. unsweetened cranberry juice
• 6 oz. Madeira Wine
• 24 oz. sparkling or soda water
• Fresh nutmeg

GARNISHES

• Mint leaves
• fresh cranberries

PREPARATION

Let cinnamon sticks sit overnight in bourbon. Strain. Stir sugar into the juices and ginger beer until completely dissolved. Pour juice/sugar blend, Madeira, and cinnamon-infused bourbon into a punch bowl and stir. Top with sparkling water and stir again. Grate a healthy amount of nutmeg—about a quarter of the whole—on top.

To serve, pour a 3 oz. ladleful over ice in a punch cup. Garnish with a cranberry and a mint leaf. Don’t dilute the punch with ice, always have the ice in the glass!

 

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  

To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018, or Recipe2019 

You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD in the () to search for each  month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2020 so you can find them all.

The themes are:

Feb 2020 - Footbal Tailgate Favorites (AppFeb)

March 2020 - Kabobs (KabobMar)

April 2020 - Brunch (BrunchApr) more in 2021 also

May 2020 - Non-Traditional Pizza (PizzaMay)

June 2020 - Stir Fry Dishes (StirJun)

July 2020 - Salads with no lettuce (SaladJul)

August 2020 - Pickled things (PickleAug)

September 2020 - Quiche (QuicheSep)

October 2020 - Squash Soups (SquashOct)