Festive Cranberry Holiday Punch

This Festive Cranberry Holiday Punch is a fabulous mocktail made with a fresh cranberry and mint decorative ice ring. It’s a fun drink recipe that everyone at your holiday party can enjoy

I have fond memories of this punch being made by my mother during the holiday season. I would sit fascinated as I watched her fill individual ice trays up with berries and mint and carefully fill each one with the juice mixture.

Having a glass of this “fancy” drink with the berries and mint floating in it made Christmas feel so special and festive. Now that I am on the other side of life with little ones of my own I want them to feel that same magic during the holidays.

This punch is really so easy to put together and although the ice ring adds a lot of pizzazz to the punch, it’s really quite simple to make.

Ingredients

• Fresh cranberries
• Fresh mint
• Sprite® Cranberry 2L
• DASANI® Sparkling Lime 8pk 12oz
• Simply® Cranberry Cocktail 52oz

Substitutions

You can substitute plain Sprite for the cranberry version and use a plain sparkling water instead of the lime.

Dried mint and dried cranberries will not work for the decorative ice ring.

Tools needed

• 2 Pitchers
• 1 punch bowl
• 1 decorative ring mold smaller than your punch bowl

Other drink recipes you might like

• Agua de Jamaica (Hibiscus tea)
• Sangria Mocktail
• Slow Cooker Wassail
• Slow Cooker Mulled Berry Orange Juice

Directions

• Chill the drinks (if possible) for at least 24 hours.
• When ready to serve, combine the drinks together in several pitchers or a large punch bowl if you have it.
• Unmold the decorative ice ring and add to the punch.
• Enjoy!

How to make the decorative ice ring

1. Place fresh cranberries on the bottom of the mold
2. Add a layer of mint leaves
3. Add another layer of cranberries followed by another layer of mint leaves
4. Fill with just enough of the mocktail mixture to barely cover the cranberries and mint.
5. Freeze until firm before filling the mold with additional drink mix. Freeze until completely solid, ideally overnight.
6. Remove the mold from the freezer and place in a pan of warm water for about 60 seconds or as long as is needed for the ice to come loose. Be careful not to let it sit for too long because otherwise the ice ring will begin to melt.

Tip: If you use a silicone ring mold this process might be a bit simpler and you can possibly skip the warm water bath.

Top Tips

• Since two of the drinks have carbonation, you do not want to make this too far ahead otherwise the drink will go flat. Chill the bottles individually and make the drink up as you need it.
• You want the punch to be served chilled. Use two pitchers and divide the different drinks between the two pitchers. There’s not usually space in the fridge during the holidays for a big punch bowl but you are much more likely to have space for the pitchers.
• Use decorative ice cubes instead or in addition to the decorative ice ring, so that your punch won’t be watered down by regular ice. Buy extra of the drink ingredients if you have a large group, or you can use just the Simply® Cranberry cocktail to fill the mold.

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Recipe