1990s Recipes + Menus
Witches’ Brew
October 1995
For spice syrup:
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 5 whole cloves
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup sugar
- A chilled 25.4-ounce bottle sparkling cider (about 3 1/4 cups)
- A chilled 1-quart bottle cranberry juice cocktail
- A chilled 1-liter bottle club soda or seltzer water
- 1 cup dark rum if desired
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For serving:
ice blocks in any shape (see cooks' note)
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In a small saucepan bring syrup ingredients to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved, and simmer, covered, 5 minutes. Cool syrup. Syrup may be made 1 week ahead and chilled, covered.
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In a punch bowl combine remaining ingredients and strain syrup through a fine sieve into punch. Stir punch and add ice blocks. Makes about 13 cups.
Cooks’ note: Ice blocks for punch can take any form you wish. We rinsed out surgical gloves and filled them with water, tying them closed. After freezing the “water balloons” on a baking sheet, the gloves peeled off easily and we were left with icy hands to chill our witches’ brew.
- Keywords
- gourmet entertains,
- halloween,
- fall,
- beverage,
- spirits