Hot Punch Recipe: Ponche Navideño

Recipe: Connor O’Brien , Rumba , Seattle

Photo: Lara Ferroni

November 14, 2019

Fruit and spice never tasted quite so nice.

Fruit and spice never tasted quite so nice as in this simple but flavorful hot punch recipe. This recipe makes a party-size batch with around 30 4-oz. servings, but it’s a snap to scale up or down depending on the size of your crowd.

Ingredients

10 cups boiling water
1 pineapple, peeled, cored and diced
½ cup dried apricots, diced
½ cup raisins
½ cup prunes, diced
½ cup dried apples, diced
4 cinnamon sticks, lightly crushed
1 rounded tsp. allspice berries, lightly crushed
1 rounded tsp. whole cloves, lightly crushed
12 oz. demerara sugar
2 oranges
2 large or 4 medium lemons
2 750 ml. bottles aged, full-bodied rum

Tools:vegetable peeler or paring knife, large pot or electric crockpot
Glass:punch cup

Preparation

Use a vegetable peeler to remove the zest from the oranges and lemons, avoiding the white pith; save the oranges for another use. Juice the lemons and add the lemon juice to a crockpot or stovetop pot along with the citrus zests and all remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer over low heat until the mixture is hot and aromatic (the fruits and spices will become more pronounced over time). Adjust to taste with additional sugar or lemon juice; serve by ladling into punch cups, including pieces of fruit as garnish.