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Thanksgiving Punch

Thanksgiving punch made with cranberry juice cocktail, apple cider, orange juice, and fresh lime for a bright, ruby-tinted drink. Chill ahead and finish with chilled ginger ale and ice so it stays sparkling with floating orange slices, cranberries, and rosemary.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
chilling 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
Course: Drink
Cuisine: American
Calories: 140
Ingredients Equipment 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
lime juice
  • 0.25 cup fresh lime juice
ginger ale
  • 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

Equipment

  • 1 punch bowl

Method
 

Mix the base
  1. Add cranberry juice cocktail, apple cider, orange juice, and fresh lime juice to a punch bowl and stir to combine. Keep the mixture chilled so the flavors stay crisp and clean.
Chill
  1. Cover and chill until ready to serve for 30 minutes. The punch base should look deeply ruby and slightly opaque at the surface.
Add garnishes
  1. Stir in thinly sliced orange, fresh cranberries, and fresh rosemary sprigs right after chilling. Let them float so they create a festive layer in the bowl.
Serve sparkling
  1. Pour in chilled ginger ale or sparkling water just before serving and gently stir once to distribute the bubbles. The surface should look fizzy immediately.
  2. Add ice to the bowl and ladle the punch into glasses. Serve right away so each glass stays cold and sparkling.

Notes

Pro tip: Chill the ginger ale (or sparkling water) and add it at the very end so the drink stays lively. Store the cranberry-apple cider base (without ginger ale) covered in the refrigerator up to 2 days, then add ginger ale and ice when serving. Freezing isn’t recommended because carbonation will be lost. For a lighter option, use diet cranberry juice cocktail and swap to sparkling water instead of ginger ale.