Please make the children's table festive!
I watched a little munchkin's face fall last holiday when
she she realized she was relegated to the "children's
table."
I make it the focal point of my own decorating, and
invite you to consider the same. Here are some festive
drink recipes for the little elves in your life. Choose
festive ware and garnish. Any drink with whipped cream
you can put sprinkles atop, candied fruit, cinnamon
candies, Christmas "picks," drizzle with (non-alcoholic)
crème de menthe for color, shaved colored chocolate, a
Candy kiss.
Tie a red bow with an evergreen sprig on the punch ladle;
surround the base with greens and sugared cranberries or
toy ornaments.
If it's hot, stick in a cinnamon stick or candy cane;
dollop with whipped cream and garnish with sprinkles,
cinnamon candies, confectioner's sugar; add a holiday
"pick"; stick a sparkler in each mug and light at
presentation time
If it's cold, use decorated ice cubes - freeze cranberries,
tiny ornaments, mint leaves, anything festive and
NON-POISONOUS into the cubes and add at presentation
time. (Remember that holly berries and all parts of the
mistletoe are poisonous); or freeze the same things in an
ice mold.
You can have great fun with floating ice rings for punch
for the kids - put in ornaments, cherries, greenery,
anything you can make hygienic-enough and that isn't
poisonous!
Whatever you serve, serve it with festive flare, and
give it a holiday name!
I'll start you off with my own concoction.
Nana's Nog
aka Mom's or Mimi's Milk Punch, Granny
or Grandma's Gift Punch, Papaw's Punch ...
3 cups milk
1 cup half 'n' half
3 T. sugar
Put in blender with ice and frappe. Consider food
coloring and candy sprinkles. Serves 4.
Christmas Mint Punch
1 1/2 c water
10 oz mint jelly
3 c pineapple juice, chilled
1/2 c lemon juice
64 oz Sprite
1 qt lime sherbet
In small saucepan, combine water and mint jelly; cook
and stir until jelly melts. Cool. In large punch bowl,
combine jelly mix and juices. Just before serving, add
Sprite and lime sherbet.
Trim-the-Tree Cider Punch
1 gallon apple cider
12 whole cloves
2 large apples (Granny Smith, Rome Beauty), peeled,
left whole
2 cinnamon sticks
Ground nutmeg
Pour apple cider into large pot. Insert 6 cloves into
each apple. Add apples and cinnamon sticks to pot.
Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and barely simmer
over very low heat 1 hour to allow flavors to blend.
(Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
Rewarm over low heat before continuing.) Ladle hot
cider punch into mugs. Sprinkle with nutmeg and
serve. [Source, Bon Appétit, December 1995]
Snow Man Punch
Stir up a pint of ice cream - vanilla, peppermint, mint,
adding a little milk to thin it. Scoop it into snowcone
cups or other festive ware. Disposable plastic
Christmas ware is great for Santa's little helpers!
Variation: Add green creme de menthe flavoring,
non-alcoholic.
Spicy Cranberry Punch
1/2 cup red cinnamon candies
4 C. water
8 C. cranberry juice cocktail, chilled
6 oz. can frozen limeade concentrate
6 oz. can frozen orange juice concentrate
In small pan, melt candies in water; chill. At serving
time, combine candy liquid and fruit juices in punch
bowl. Stir to dissolve. Makes 18, 5-oz. cups.
Wassail Bowl
Whole cloves
1 large orange
2 qts. apple juice or cider
3 T. lemon juice
4 cinnamon sticks
Heat oven to 350. Insert cloves into orange. Place in
shallow baking pan and bake at 350 for 30 mins. Pierce
orange in several places with tines for a fork.
In large saucepan, combine apple and lemon juice,
cinnamon sticks and baked orange. Cover; simmer over
low heat 30 mins. Remove sticks and orange. Pour into
heatproof punch bowl. If desired, float the orange in the
bowl. Serve [safely] hot. Makes 16, 4 oz. servings.
Children's Cranberry "Champagne"
Combine 2 well-chilled 750-ml. bottles non-alcoholic
sparkling cider with 1 cup cranberry juice cocktail or
to taste.
Elf Warmer
1 qt. vanilla ice cream
3 sticks margarine
1 box brown sugar
nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice
Combine and keep in freezer. At serving time, put 1
heaping T. scoop into a mug, add hot water (to taste)
and heat.
Santa Red Punch
4 cups water
3 cups sugar
2 small packages of red Jello
l large can pineapple juice
1 bottle of almond extract
Serves 25-30.
Evergreen Punch
2 pkgs. unsweetened lemon-lime Koolaid
2 cups sugar
2 qts. water
1, 46-oz. can pineapple juice
1 quart gingerale
Dissolve sugar and koolaid. Add pineapple juice and
chill. Add gingerale at serving time. Good too if you
freeze it for a while until it's slushy. Then call it Santa
Slush. Serves 36.
About the author
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