When I think of holiday parties I have two thoughts that pop into my head. One is more of the corporate Christmas party. Co-workers awkwardly spending their weekend together, secretly wishing they were home in their pajamas. Bosses heavily sipping on spiked eggnog, then later in the evening sing horrible karaoke renditions of their favorite songs. Basically it sounds like an all over awkward and uncomfortable time.
The second image I have is one of my past. The one where my parents would throw an epic holiday party and invite all of our family and friends. Women would dress up and men would show up cigars and bottles of booze.
My parents would laugh, eat and drink. I would eventually be sent upstairs to bed, but little did my parents know I never went to sleep. I had a heating register in my bedroom that looked down into the living room.
I would lay my head on the register and listen to my parents having fun, singing, talking and playing cards. The smell of cigar smoke would waft into my bedroom and I would fall asleep to the distant sound of Christmas music and laughter. It's my Christmas memory that will never be lost.
Now that I live in New York I'm far away form my family and friends during the holidays. There are no more large Christmas parties full of cigars and homemade booze. Occasionally I will have guests over, and while I'm a big fan of making different custom cocktails, I still find it fun to rely on an old favorite – holiday punch.
I'm not talking about the weird punch that involves rings of frozen fruit juice or rainbow sherbet. I'm talking about an adult version of holiday punch that is sure to put the holiday spirit in anyone partaking in a few sips.
This cranberry orange holiday punch combines a warm mix of wintery citrus fruit, tart Christmas cranberries, rum, red wine and fresh brewed tea. It's best served warm, but still perfectly sip-able at room temperature.
Plus, I feel like the old fashioned punch is a nice nod to the past. While I'm all for a fancy cocktail, why not make things easier on yourself for the holidays? Who wants to man a bar when you can throw it together in a bowl and have your guests serve themselves?
Made with Dreamfarm's coolest tools, Teafu and Supoon, this super fun punch comes with a super fun Dreamfarm Gift Pack giveaway too. Ready to enter?
Win Holiday Goodies from Dreamfarm!
Holiday Punch Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 750 ml bottle dark rum
- 1 750 ml bottle dry red wine
- 3 cups brewed black tea
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup fresh cranberry juice
- 5 cinnamon sticks
- 2 oranges, sliced
- 2 lemons, sliced
- 1 1/2 cups cranberries, fresh
Directions
- In a large pot add all rum, wine, tea, brown sugar, orange juice, lemon juice, cranberry juice and cinnamon sticks.
- Simmer over low heat (do not boil) until the sugar is dissolved. Remove cinnamon sticks.
- Add warmed mixture to a large punch bowl and fill with sliced oranges, lemons and fresh cranberries.
Notes
To make this non-alcoholic replace the rum and red wine with cranberry juice cocktail.
Planning your holiday party? Serve Jamie's Eggnog Cookies recipe and Rachel's Gingersnap Cookie Dough Dip recipe along side this gorgeous punch!
Disclaimer: This giveaway is provided to you by Dreamfarm. The views and opinions expressed by contributors on Food Fanatic are based entirely upon the contributor's experiences with Dreamfarm products. Neither the contributor nor Food Fanatic was compensated monetarily for this post, but the contributor did receive the items listed for review
via Food Fanatic http://www.foodfanatic.com/2013/12/holiday-punch-and-dreamfarm-giveaway/
Put the internet to work for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment