With the holidays fast approaching, do you know what you’re going to serve your guests to drink? Make this 5 ingredient holiday punch recipe which has beautiful sugared cranberries as a garnish.

At holiday dinners, parties and get together drinks sometimes take the back seat. You see a couple bottles of mixers and some alcohol bottles, but when was the last time you saw a punch bowl?

I was thinking about this very thing, how I love when there’s something to drink that everyone can enjoy. It just makes the event more festive and special, don’t you think? And a punch bowl? A punch bowl is just festive!

Surprisingly, no one I talked to had a punch bowl (do you have one?) but everyone said how much they loved punch at parties. Definitely adding this punch bowl to my Christmas wishlist! And to be honest, I don’t know why I’m surprised by how popular punch is, because this fresh fruit punch recipe I posted was one of my most popular recipes last year!

I also love a good garnish for drinks, and since my visit to a cranberry bog I had some fresh cranberries begging to be used. I remember seeing sugared cranberries last year, and thought they were so pretty! So I googled, and was surprised to find how easy they are to make. They take some drying time in between steps, but hands on time is like 10 minutes. All you do is make a simple syrup (sugar and water) and then coat the cranberries, then you let them dry a little bit, then you coat them with sugar and let them dry again, and voila – beautiful sugared cranberries.

Do you live in the Milwaukee area? I’m going to be teaching a part of Gather: A Holiday Workshop which is such a cool workshop taking place December 4th where you will learn how to throw one amazing holiday get together. There will be mini workshops teaching cocktails + apps (taught by yours truly) where you’ll learn to mix up pretty cocktails and garnishes and learn how to make a delicious dip (from my cookbook) and an antipasto platter. You will also learn how to make beautiful deckled edge menus and placecards with Mint & Lovely, how to make watercolor lettering and how to make a holiday floral arrangement.  I cannot wait, and I hope you’ll join me if you’re in the area!

This holiday punch recipe is great for a drink everyone can enjoy. I made it with no alcohol in it, but of course you could add some vodka or champagne to it (adding champagne will make it like a mimosa!) Do you ever make festive holiday drink recipes?

Yield: 20

5 Ingredient Holiday Punch Recipe

Print

Prep Time 2 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Inactive Time 3 hours 18 minutes

Total Time 3 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

• For the sugared cranberries:
• 2 cups of sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup water
• 8-12 ounces (2-3 cups) fresh cranberries
• For the punch:
• Ice cubes
• 2 cups peach-mango juice
• 1 liter 7UP
• Tendrils from 1 pomegranate

Instructions

To make the sugared cranberries:

Line a baking sheet with wax paper and set a wire rack on top of it, set it aside.

Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water in a deep edged pan, cook over medium-heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved (about 2-3 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in cranberries. Let them sit for 2 minutes, then using a slotted spoon, transfer them to the prepared wire rack. Let cool for 1 hour.

In a shallow dish, pour remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar. in small batches, spoon the cranberries from the wire rack into the sugar dish and cover the cranberries with sugar and then transfer them to a plate or shallow dish. Allow the sugar to set for half an hour-to an hour.

Store them in at room temperature.

To make cocktail garnishes put 3-4 sugared cranberries on cocktail skewers.

To make the fruit punch:

Put ice cubes into a punch bowl (I used about 4 cups ice cubes).

Pour peach mango juice in, and pour 7UP soda in and stir to combine. Put pomegranate tendrils and 1 cup of sugared cranberries in the punch - they will float at the top.