Spiced Holiday Punch for Everyone
Published Nov. 30, 2023
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus overnight resting
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 45 minutes, plus overnight resting
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:About 10 (5-ounce) nonalcoholic or spirited drinks
- 6 to 8lemons
- ½cup brown sugar
- 1teaspoon flaky sea salt
- 4whole cloves
- 4whole allspice berries
- 2whole star anise
- 2whole cinnamon sticks
- 1teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 2teaspoons loose-leaf oolong, black or green tea leaves
- ¼cup fresh orange juice
- Ice
- 1ounce Spiced Holiday Punch Base
- 1ounce spirit, such as bourbon, rye, Cognac or gin
- 3 to 4dashes Angostura bitters
- 1ounce club soda, chilled
- 2ounces dry sparkling wine, chilled
- Lemon or orange wheels or a cinnamon stick, or both, for garnish
- Ice
- 1ounce Spiced Holiday Punch Base
- 3 to 4dashes Angostura bitters (optional; see Tip)
- 2ounces soda water, chilled
- 2ounces dry tonic water, chilled
- Lemon or orange wheels or a cinnamon stick, or both, for garnish
For the Spiced Holiday Punch Base
For the Spirited Spiced Holiday Punch
For Nonalcoholic Spiced Holiday Punch
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the punch base: Using a peeler, peel 4 of the lemons and place the peels in a medium bowl. Reserve the peeled lemons. Add the sugar and salt to the peels and use a muddler or the end of a rolling pin to work them into the peels until the peels start to turn slightly translucent, about 2 minutes.
- Step 2
Heat a medium skillet over medium-high. When the pan is hot, add the cloves, allspice berries, star anise, cinnamon sticks and peppercorns. Heat, shaking the pan often, until the spices are fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Watch carefully so the spices do not burn. Add the spices directly to the lemon peel mixture, along with the tea leaves, and muddle for another minute, crushing the spices and tea leaves into the peel mixture, then set aside at room temperature for 8 hours and up to 24.
- Step 3
The next day, add ¼ cup hot water to the citrus mixture, stir gently to dissolve the sugar and set aside to steep for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, juice the reserved lemons. (You should have about ¾ cup lemon juice; you may need to juice 1 or 2 of the remaining lemons.) Add the fresh lemon and orange juices to the spice-sugar mixture, then strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing on the solids. (You should have a scant 1¼ cups.) Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you’re ready to make your drinks. (The base can be stored, in the refrigerator, for up to 1 month.)
- Step 4
For a Spirited Spiced Holiday Punch, fill a lowball glass with ice, and add 1 ounce Spiced Holiday Punch Base, 1 ounce spirit and 3 to 4 dashes Angostura bitters. Stir gently to combine. Top with 1 ounce soda water and 2 ounces sparkling wine. Finish with a citrus wheel or cinnamon stick, or both.
- Step 5
For a Nonalcoholic Spiced Holiday Punch, fill a lowball glass with ice, and 1 ounce Spiced Holiday Punch Base and, if using, 3 to 4 dashes Angostura bitters. Top with 2 ounces soda water and 2 ounces tonic water. Stir gently to combine and finish with a citrus wheel or cinnamon stick, or both.
Tip
- Most bitters have a small amount of alcohol and, while very diluted, make sure whomever you’re making a drink for is OK with this addition, or skip entirely.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Su
I adore this idea. I'll also be making it with no-caffeine rooibos tea to be sure that the results are evening-appropriate! Thanks for the inspiration!
Annie
And for a lazier version, use your kitchen aide mixer (a tip I saw on another NYT recipe) to do your citrus peel, spice, and sugar muddling.
Madysen
An absolute crowd pleaser at my Hanukkah party— great with cachaça and becherovka as well! I wrote the recipe out on a card and let guests make their own, and folks had a blast mixing their own cocktails and playing around with the measurements. A great conversation starter and SO delicious!
Julie
In the directions it references 3/4 c lemon juice - it took 5 lemons for me to get there
Nicole B
Delicious! It's reminiscent of a spiked lemon iced tea, so what's not to like? It was a hit!
G
This was delicious— we all drank it with bourbon, and it was terrific. Very easy to make, and enjoyed by all!
Andrea G.
This was delicious. I love the process---muddling the peels with the sugar and aromatics was a delight for the senses. I would stir it every few hours or so, after muddling to help mix flavors. It was great for both drinkers and abstainers alike, especially for those with strong preferences (e.g., bourbon vs gin). We topped with sparkly juice from France (pear/apple or raspberry/apple) so I think you don't need to be too fussy about what carbonation you add. My one suggestion: Double it!
Lisa
Made this drink for our Christmas dinner and loved it! Great aromatics! We streamlined the drinks a bit by adding half club soda, half tonic water for both variations and some vodka for the alcoholic ones. Worked out great! I also added more hot water, citrus juices and sugar to the muddled aromatics to make more base and let it all sit for a few hours before straining, which was good because when you go through so many steps you might aswell make enough base to last for a while.
karima
Added a bit of ginger ale, highly recommend
Joe
Made as directed and the color ended up a muddy amber rather than the translucent golden color of the photo - but not a problem for our holiday gathering; everyone absolutely loved it!
Brittany
I used fine sea salt instead of flaky and it tasted like Gatorade, woops :(
Julie
Using the amount of brown sugar packed seems like too much. I reserved some “lemon” brown sugar for other uses. I mixed the half the punch base in a punch bowl with sparkling cider, ginger beer and club soda using the 2-1 ratio for the non-alcoholic version. I ended up needing more mixer of all three but I was able to add tablespoons of the base until I hit the correct ratio. I rimmed the cocktail glasses with citrus sugar and it was ahhhhhhhmazing! I will make this again.
a perfecr cocktail!
Excellent level of sweetness. Doesn’t leave you with a sugary craving feeling. Flavorful and warm, yet also light and refreshing. Worth the effort!
Caroline
Adds impressive depth of flavor to drinks. My non-alcoholic version with soda and OJ—all I had on hand—was simple and very tasty. I can imagine all sorts of uses for this!
Mike M
Asked my sister to make this and it is delightful with gin.
Hillary
Made as written and it was a hit across all partakers. I had a variety of mixing options including pear and cranberry juice and also pathfinder for some of my non drinking guests. I did end up doubling the recipe for my 11 guests (3 kids under 10) and was glad I did as everyone made additional drinks with it!
Seth
Made this tonight for Christmas Eve dinner with my family. I had Jack Daniels and Hendrick’s gin on hand so folks could have their choice, and used a low-priced California sparkling wine. The whiskey version was slightly more cocktail/boozy, while the gin version seemed a little more punch-y. Both were great … highly recommend!
Christina
I'm making this cocktail tonight with Catoctin Creek's Hot Honey Rye, glass rim dipped in home-made satsuma marmalade and sugar, with dehydrated lemon wheel garnish.
Jaime
It’s a little confusing how much lemon/orange juice you need. The notes say to juice the peeled lemons, but you might need more of them. The ingredients list says 1/4 c Orange juice. How much juice of lemons do you need?
Julie
In the directions it references 3/4 c lemon juice - it took 5 lemons for me to get there
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