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Thanksgiving Punch

Thanksgiving punch with chilled cranberry juice cocktail, apple cider, orange juice, and fresh lime for a ruby-red, lightly tangy drink. It’s finished with ginger ale and floating citrus, cranberries, and rosemary for a festive sparkle.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
chilling 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
Course: Drink
Cuisine: American
Calories: 160
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

cranberry juice cocktail
  • 4 cup cranberry juice cocktail chilled
apple cider
  • 2 cup apple cider chilled
orange juice
  • 1 cup orange juice
fresh lime juice
  • 0.25 cup fresh lime juice
ginger ale or sparkling water
  • 1 L ginger ale or sparkling water chilled
orange
  • 1 orange thinly sliced
fresh cranberries
  • 1 cup fresh cranberries
fresh rosemary
  • 4 sprig fresh rosemary
ice
  • 1 ice

Method
 

Mix the base
  1. Add the chilled cranberry juice cocktail, chilled apple cider, orange juice, and fresh lime juice to a punch bowl and stir gently until combined. Visual cue: the liquid should look uniformly deep ruby with no streaks.
  2. Cover and chill the punch until ready to serve, about 60 minutes. Visual cue: the surface looks cooler and more opaque, and the bowl feels cold to the touch.
Add floating garnish
  1. Add the thinly sliced orange, fresh cranberries, and rosemary sprigs to the chilled punch bowl. Visual cue: the top layer should show bright orange slices and red cranberries with rosemary green needles.
  2. Just before serving, pour in the chilled ginger ale or sparkling water. Visual cue: you’ll see immediate fizz and rising bubbles throughout the punch.
Serve
  1. Add ice to the punch bowl and ladle into glasses. Visual cue: the glasses fill with sparkling punch and floating garnish.

Notes

Pro tip: keep the ginger ale/sparkling water chilled and add it right before serving so the bubbles stay lively. Refrigerate the base (without adding the ginger ale) for up to 24 hours, then add ginger ale fresh. For a non-alcoholic holiday option, this recipe already is alcohol-free; to make it lower sugar, choose an unsweetened cranberry juice or use sparkling water in place of part of the cocktail.