Can I mix the whole christmas punch, ginger ale included, in the morning?

You can, but the bubbles will be mostly gone by the evening. Mix the juices and syrup in the morning and chill them, then pour the ginger ale in two stages at the table, 2 1/2 cups at serving and 1 1/2 cups about an hour later. The base waits happily; the fizz should not have to.

My cranberry cubes melted and the punch still turned watery. What went wrong?

Cubes frozen from sweetened cranberry cocktail melt faster and taste thinner than cubes frozen from 100 percent cranberry juice. Freeze them a full 8 hours, use at least 12 cubes for a full bowl, and sit the bowl itself on a tray of ice so plain ice never goes into the punch.

How do I transport this punch to a party at someone else's house?

Carry the chilled base in a sealed pitcher, the ginger ale unopened, and the frozen cubes in a small cooler bag. Assemble in their bowl in five minutes: base, cubes, first pour, garnish. Everything travels cold and nothing travels sparkling, which is exactly the order the recipe wants.

Can I make the rosemary syrup without refined sugar?

Yes. Simmer the cranberry juice with 1/3 cup of honey instead of the sugar and keep the same steeping time. The syrup will be a little softer and more floral. Do not use a granulated sugar substitute in the syrup pot; most turn bitter when they simmer.

The rosemary flavor is too strong in my syrup. Can I fix the batch?

Dilute it. Stir the strong syrup into an extra cup of plain cranberry juice and use the mixture as your base sweetener, tasting as you go. Next time, steep the sprigs for 10 minutes instead of 20; rosemary gives up its flavor fast in hot liquid.

Christmas Punch: Sparkling Cranberry, Orange And Rosemary

Ingredients

Scale

1 cup cranberry juice, for the syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 fresh rosemary sprigs, plus more for garnish
1 wide strip of orange peel, for the syrup
4 cups cranberry juice, well chilled
2 cups orange juice, freshly squeezed if possible, well chilled
1/4 cup lime juice, freshly squeezed
4 cups ginger ale, well chilled, divided
1 cup fresh cranberries, for the frozen cubes and garnish
1 orange, thinly sliced into wheels, for garnish
Ice, for the tray under the bowl

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Instructions

Make the syrup: combine the 1 cup of cranberry juice, the sugar, the rosemary sprigs and the orange peel in a small saucepan. Simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then take off the heat.
Steep the rosemary in the hot syrup for 20 minutes, strain into a jar and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
Freeze the cranberry cubes: drop 4 or 5 fresh cranberries into each cup of a muffin tin, cover with cranberry juice and freeze until solid, at least 8 hours.
Build the base: in the punch bowl, stir together the 4 cups of chilled cranberry juice, the orange juice, the lime juice and all of the cold syrup. The base should taste a touch too tart; the ginger ale will soften it.
Chill the base, covered, for at least 2 hours.
At the table, set the bowl on a tray of ice, add the frozen cranberry cubes and pour in 2 1/2 cups of the ginger ale slowly, down the side of the bowl.
Float the orange wheels, a handful of fresh cranberries and two rosemary sprigs on top. Set out short skewers for the berries.
About an hour into the party, pour in the remaining 1 1/2 cups of cold ginger ale, again down the side, to bring back the sparkle.

Author: Chef Rita
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes