Pomegranate-Champagne Cocktails

Yesterday I showed you some yummy Glazed Champagne & White Chocolate Cookies. And, I promised I would come back and tell you what I did with all that leftover champagne. If you read yesterday, you know I poured my remaining champagne into two ice cube trays and stuck those in the freezer.

Now, let me go ahead and tell you a few things:

1) Champagne doesn't really freeze solid, so you'll end up with slushy cubes. That's totally okay for this recipe.

2) I'm no professional mixologist nor am I an expert in wine. I'm sure freezing champagne breaks some sort of wine rule by changing the properties, reducing the bubbly quality, etc. But, I know what tastes good and this cocktail turned out yummy! If you're a wine expert and wouldn't possibly consider freezing champagne, don't. I won't get my feelings hurt. You could just add chilled champagne instead and we can still be friends!

3) Please don't freeze your champagne in the bottle. That could get messy.

If you're still reading and aren't afraid of a little champagne slushy, let's get to it!

Pomegranate-Champagne Cocktails
(12 servings)
24 ounces Ginger Ale, chilled
24 ounces Pomegranate Juice (I used Pom), chilled
24 Champagne Ice Cubes
Pink Sugar** (optional)

**To make pink sugar for sugared rim, mix 1-2 drops of red food coloring into 1 cup of sugar.

Leave your champagne cubes in the freezer until very last. They melt fast! First, take each glass and dip the rim into a bowl of water and then into the bowl of pink sugar. Add 2 ounces of ginger-ale to each glass, followed by 2 ounces of pomegranate juice. After all glasses are sugar-rimmed and filled, add 2 cubes of champagne to each one.

I realize this cocktail isn't very heavy on the alcohol. If you'd rather call it punch than a cocktail, go for it. And, if you'd rather use more champagne and splashes of juice/ale, go for that too.

The beauty of the frozen champagne is that you can assemble your drinks and place them on a pretty tray before your party guests arrive. The champagne will begin to melt, but keep the drinks nice and cold. How lovely would it be to hand your party guests one of these pretty cocktails when they walk in your door?!

Don't be afraid to turn this into a mocktail! Instead of freezing champagne, freeze club soda or sparkling white grape juice. You'll still get the wow-presentation and it will still be yummy! Win-win. Don't you love options??

To make the festive wine tags, I simply cut scalloped circles (with my 1-inch circle cutter, of course) out of white contact paper, dusted that with glittered glue and then added a glittered monogram sticker to each round. The contact paper sticks well to glass but also comes off easily, leaving no residue. An easy solution to keeping your guests' glasses in order!

Enjoy these fun and simple cocktails at your New Year's Eve celebration! Or, tuck this idea away for later. The juice can be swapped for whatever the occasion. Peach? Pineapple? Orange? Yum, yum and yum!