1cup100% cranberry juicenot cranberry juice cocktail
1 750-mlbottle dry sparkling wineI used Prosecco
1pounddry ice
Additional pomegranate or cranberry juice for the optional ice ring.
Instructions
Punch
Store all punch ingredients except the sugar in the refrigerator until you are ready to make the punch.
Make a simple syrup by placing the sugar and one cup of water in a small saucepan over high heat. Stir constantly and boil for about five minutes or until the sugar dissolves and the mixture clears. Let the syrup cool.
Stir the pomegranate juice, tequila, lemon juice, and cranberry juice in a large gallon-sized container and add the cooled simple syrup. Chill for at least four hours.
If making the optional ice ring, fill an ice mold with cranberry juice or pomegranate juice and freeze until firm. It should take about four hours. If you don't have an ice mold, you can fill muffin tin cups, paper cups, or even a plastic storage bowl to make a block of fruit ice to keep your punch cold.
Right before you serve the punch, add the sparkling wine and ice ring.
Dry Ice
To create smoke, you will need two bowls of different sizes which are about the same height when they are nested together. One is to hold the punch, and one is to set the punch bowl in. When the punch bowl is placed inside the larger bowl, ideally, there should be around an inch of space between the two bowls. You could also use a plastic Halloween cauldron to use as the larger bowl.
Right before you are ready to serve the witches' brew, place the smaller bowl inside the larger bowl. Then, use tongs to transfer small chunks of dry ice into the area between the larger and smaller bowl. (Make sure no dry ice gets in the bowl, which will hold the punch.) Fill the smaller bowl with the punch and pour warm water on the dry ice.
When the dry ice comes in contact with the warm water, it will start smoking. Depending on the size of the chunks of dry ice, the smoke will last between 10-30 minutes. If you still have dry ice left, you can add additional warm water, and it will start to smoke again.
Notes
To make my punch look extra spooky, I purchased eyeballs and a witch's hand from Hobby Lobby and then added the eyeballs to the punch and rested the witch's hand on the bowl.In addition, I placed my punch bowl on a piece of black gauzy fabric with a few spiders scattered around next to a candelabra with orange candles to provide even more drama.To make a non-alcoholic Halloween punch, you can leave out the tequila and sparkling wine and add the same amounts of club soda.If you use water to make your ice ring, when it melts, it will dilute your punch. For that reason, for this recipe, I like to use either cranberry or pomegranate to make the optional ice ring.