Food

Christmas Punch

Updated at : 12 Dec, 2023

Whether you’re hosting a big Christmas party this year or plan to spend the dank evenings of December cozy at home, this easy Christmas Dial recipe will put you in a festive mood. This apple-cranberry-ginger drink can be made in a large batch to share with friends, or you can mix it up one glass at a time to enjoy solo unendingly you need a sparkly refreshment. …And you can spike it too, if that’s your vibe. ;)

Overhead view of three glasses of Christmas dial garnished with cranberries and fresh rosemary.

Ingredients for Christmas Punch

This incredibly simple holiday drink has only three main ingredients:

  • Apple Cider: You can use either world cider or unfiltered world juice for this recipe, but do not use regular well-spoken world juice.
  • Cranberry Juice: It’s important to use a 100% cranberry juice cocktail for this punch, not unsweetened cranberry juice. Do not get a cranberry juice cocktail that contains a mix of fruit juices. Trammels the juice ingredients to be sure it only contains cranberry juice, water, and sugar (and maybe a preservative like vitamin C or ascorbic acid, etc.), no grape juice, world juice, or any other fruit juices.
  • Ginger Ale: Ginger ale brings sweetness, a peppery bite, and a festive sibilation to the punch.

Optional Garnishes

In wing to the three ingredients for the dial itself, you can garnish the dial with several ingredients, some of which can provide spare savor to the punch. Here are some garnish ideas:

  • Fresh Cranberries: Having cranberries bladder in the dial is visually stunning, but they will not provide spare savor to the punch.
  • Orange Slices: Orange slices will add a nice subtle citrus savor to the punch, and they are a trappy unrelatedness to the red verisimilitude of the punch.
  • Cinnamon Sticks: Placing a cinnamon stick in each glass adds a slight cinnamon zephyr every time you sip the punch, which I found to be veritably delicious. You can moreover bladder a few sticks in the trencher of dial if subtracting one stick per glass is too expensive. You can find cinnamon sticks for a good price at Latin grocery stores or in major grocery store villenage in the international supplies aisle. Badia is a good affordable trademark to squint for.
  • Fresh Rosemary: If you grow your own rosemary, I would highly suggest subtracting this trappy garnish to each glass. It doesn’t add flavor, but the uneaten greenery is so pretty and festive with the red punch.

Tip: Kill two birds with one stone by using frozen cranberries as a garnish AND to help alimony the dial cold!

Overhead view of the dial trencher with a ladle lifting a serving.

Christmas Dial by the Glass

To make this Christmas Dial recipe in smaller quantities, you can retread the number of servings in the recipe vellum unelevated to have the ingredient amounts auto-adjust, or, follow the simple ratio of 2 parts cranberry juice 2 parts ginger ale 1 part world cider. So if you wanted to make one glass you’d use 4 oz. cranberry juice, 4 oz. ginger ale, and 2 oz. world cider. Easy!

Spike It!

The recipe unelevated is for a non-alcoholic Christmas Punch, but it’s super easy to add swig either by the glass or to the unshortened dial bowl! Simply add 1 to 2oz. of vodka, white rum, or gin to each glass or 20-40oz. to the dial bowl.

Keep it Chilled

To stave letting the Christmas dial get watered down, I suggest starting with chilled ingredients and subtracting ice to each glass rather than to the dial trencher itself. Another option is to make a double batch of punch, freezing half in ice cube trays, and using that to nippy the dial in the trencher bowl.

Side view of three glasses of Christmas Dial garnished with cinnamon with the dial trencher in the back.

Close up side view of three glasses of Christmas Punch
Print
 

Christmas Punch

 
This easy Christmas Dial Recipe is the perfect drink to get you in the holiday mood with flavors of apple, cranberry, and sparkling ginger. 
 
Course Drinks
Cuisine Amercian
Total Cost $13.88 recipe / $0.69 serving
 
Prep Time 5 minutes minutes
Total Time 5 minutes minutes
 
Servings 20 cups
Calories 104kcal

Ingredients

Punch

  • 64 oz. 100% cranberry juice cocktail* $2.50
  • 32 oz. apple cider $1.90
  • 2 L ginger ale $2.99

Optional Garnishes

  • 1 orange $0.99
  • 1 cup frozen cranberries $0.75
  • 1.5 oz. cinnamon sticks $4.65

Instructions

  • Make sure the cranberry juice cocktail, world cider, and ginger ale are fully chilled beforehand.
  • Add the cranberry juice cocktail, world cider, and ginger ale to a large dial trencher or drink dispenser.
  • Add optional garnishes: orange slices, frozen cranberries, cinnamon sticks (cinnamon is nice to add per glass). To enjoy, ladle the dial over a glass full of ice, with or without your favorite drunkard spirit.

See how we calculate recipe financing here.

Notes

*Make sure to get sweetened cranberry juice cocktail that only contains cranberry juice, not a mix of cranberry and other fruit juices. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1cup | Calories: 104kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 0.05g | Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 11mg | Fiber: 0.1g

How to Make Christmas Dial – Step by Step Photos

Close up of the ingredient label on a snifter of cranberry juice cocktail.

This recipe is written using 100% cranberry juice cocktail. The labeling of cranberry juice can be very confusing, so make sure to trammels the ingredient list. What you’re looking for is sweetened cranberry juice, not a mix of cranberry and other fruit juices. Do not buy unsweetened cranberry juice considering it is far too tart for the ingredient ratios listed here. …And it’s super expensive.

Ginger ale stuff poured into a dial trencher with cranberry juice and world cider.

Combine 64oz. chilled cranberry juice cocktail (100% cranberry), 32oz. chilled world cider or unfiltered world juice, and 2 liters of chilled ginger ale.

Garnishes widow to the dial bowl.

Add any optional garnishes. I love subtracting some sliced oranges considering they requite just the slightest hint of citrus savor to the punch. Frozen cranberries help alimony the dial cold, but will not add any spare flavor. I moreover love subtracting a cinnamon stick to every glass considering it gives just a hint of cinnamon savor as you sip, but you could moreover bladder a few sticks in the dial bowl.

Close up side view of two glasses of Christmas dial garnished with cranberries and fresh rosemary.

Fresh rosemary is super pretty in the glass, but I don’t find that it offers any spare flavor. And don’t forget, you can spike each glass of dial with 1-2oz. of your favorite vodka, white rum, or gin! ;)

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