New Year's Eve Champagne Punch, Delicious and Easy to Make

While we continue enjoying all the beautiful tablescapes linked for this week's Tablescape Thursday, I thought I'd share a wonderful recipe for a Champagne Punch I make every Christmas and New Year's.  It's easy to make and always a big hit.  (If you don't care for champagne, substitute chilled club soda, instead.)

If you are making this for a small gathering of 2-4 people, one batch will do. If you're having a larger gathering, you'll want to make several batches because it's always a big hit and goes quickly. I went through 4 batches (with none left over) when I had a party with 25 in attendance. (So, that works out to be around 1 batch for every 6 folks in attendance.)


Champagne Holiday Punch

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
3 cinnamon sticks
4 whole cloves
2 cups cranberry juice
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 bottle champagne (Korbel Brut works great)
Small amount of Grand Marnier (or any orange liqueur you prefer)
Red sugar
Green sugar

In a saucepan, bring water, sugar, cinnamon sticks and cloves to boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Discard cinnamon and cloves.
Cool to room temperature and pour into a large pitcher.
Add cranberry juice and pineapple juice.
Chill in fridge until ready to serve.
At serving time, add 1 bottle of chilled champagne.

Right click on pic below to save it to your computer, then just print it off...much easier than having to write it all out.

Dip the Rims in Nonpariels for a Festive Occasion:

For a New Year's Eve party or a birthday party, I like to dip the rims of the glasses in nonpareils, instead of the the colored sugars I use at Christmastime, seen HERE.




When you are ready to serve this punch, just pour a little Grand Marnier or any orange liqueur into a shallow dish. Pour some nonpareils into a bowl.




Dip the rim of the champagne glass into the Grand Marnier, then into the bowl of nonpareils. Then pour the punch into the glass.

You can serve the punch from a punch bowl and ladle it into the glass, but since the opening of a champagne glass is so small, it can be pretty messy with the punch ending up running down the sides of the glass. I found it much easier to just pour it from a pitcher.




Or, if you have a beverage server similar to the one below, that will work well, too.




You may wish to print off some copies of this recipe because your guests are going to be asking for it.  Or, just tell them it's an old family recipe and you've been sworn to secrecy. ;)

To see the Christmas version with sugared rims, click HERE.  It's really pretty with green and red sugared rims for Christmas.