Cranberry and Grand Marnier Champagne Cocktail
Make your champagne toast even more special over the holidays with a Cranberry and Grand Marnier Champagne Cocktail which includes cranberry juice, orange liqueur and your favorite bubbly!
Wasn’t it just Christmas, like yesterday? Just when we need to take a breath from all of the hustle and bustle of the Christmas holiday, New Year’s is fast upon us. Me especially…I’m still delivering plates of Christmas goodies to neighbors!
That being said; it’s why I like simple cocktails for my New Year celebration; nothing too elaborate that requires a lot of planning or shopping, that’s for sure. This Cranberry and Grand Marnier Champagne Cocktail fits that bill perfectly.
This one is simple, beautiful and tasty. Cranberry juice and Grand Marnier are combined with a sparkling wine (or even sparkling cider for those passing on alcohol) for a beautiful fizzy libation.
Easy. Gorgeous. Good. You might notice some pomegranate arils? Well, I had pomegranate cranberry juice that I used in lieu of the cranberry juice specified in the recipe as well as some pom arils on hand, so this happened. I love those little things but for this cocktail they really are optional!
The recipe also calls for garnishing the rims with cake decorating sugar as I had done for the cocktail when I first made it. They are beautiful but OMG I was out! They really do add a festive, sparkly look but clearly this cocktail can also survive without them so I’ve called them optional.
If you’re not familiar with them, they truly are a favorite of mine to use for rimming and a good garnish to have on hand.
If you’ve happened on this page from a pin on Pinterest and wonder if you’re in the right place…why yes you are. I’m lucky an old photo has been pinned so many times.
I’m unlucky that somehow someone blew it up before pinning it and I grimace each time I see it. Not a particularly great photo in the first place (I can tell you now that if they’re 4-5 years old…they are on the ‘redo’ list!) but when you can almost see the individual pixels it’s even worse.
Just a great reminder that it needed a trip to the spa; such a great cocktail should not look so shabby!
When I first published this cocktail, I included a wish that I would be in my new home by New Year’s Day. Only by the skin of my teeth; moving in on New Year’s Eve day in 2013.
How could that have been 4 years ago? Now I’m firmly ensconced and in keeping with a tradition I started, my neighbors and I will be celebrating NYE at 4pm in Colorado; that’s midnight in France!
Parents, kids…all are welcome so let me know if you’re coming too and I’ll make one for you!
Wishing everyone a safe and wonderful holiday season!
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PIN IT! ‘Cranberry and Grand Marnier Champagne Cocktail’
Cranberry Champagne Cocktail
Ingredients
- 1 well-chilled 750ML bottles champagne prosecco or sparkling cider
- 1 cup well-chilled cranberry juice or to taste
- 3 Tbsp Grand Marnier
To Garnish:
- Orange twists
- Cake Decorating Sugar for rimming Optional
- Pomegranate Arils Optional
Instructions
- If garnishing with cake decorating sugar, dip the edge of each glass into cranberry juice and then dip the glass into sugar. I like to use larger cake decorating crystals when doing something for the holidays...it's so sparkly and pretty.
- In a large pitcher, combine all ingredients and pour into champagne flutes.
- Garnish each glass with an orange twist.
wonderful cocktail inspiration, thank you! Love the cranberry juice for a nice December flair!
This is the perfect cocktail to ring in the New Year with (for me at least). I love that it is made with cranberry juice and that it is the juice that gives it the wonderful colour.
I hope that you are busy moving into your new home today Barb. Will be thinking of you as you ring in the New Year and wishing I could help you get settled. I love unpacking and organizing a home:)
Sincere best wishes for a fabulous 2014.
I’m IN!! I just got cable and Internet service today though. The break was sort of nice but boy was it quiet at night. I don’t mind some quiet but nothing to listen to or watch for a couple of nights in a row and I’m a much happier camper right now. 🙂
I wish you could help too…I can’t believe how much stuff I got rid of and am sort of amazed at how much I still have. Will be doing some more downsizing as soon as the dust settles a bit; I want this operation to be lean! Thanks Paula and Happy New Year to you too…XOXO.
I love cranberry juice AND Grand Marnier. Please see my post using Grand Marnier in our Christmas dessert. This looks sooo refreshing that I will certainly give it a try!! Happy New Year! 🙂
This is the cocktail for me! Cranberry juice and sparkling wine??? Yes please! And the leftover gets made into granità! Stupendous and so festive! Beautiful, Barb! And I do hope you are in your new home for New Year’s Eve! I wish you the happiest and healthiest of 2014!
Love this! It looks so festive and refreshing. I bet every sip feels celebratory!
I’d like to lift a glass of this cocktail to celebrate your new home and new beginning for 2014. May it be the best year of your life.
Cheers to your new home in 2014 Barbara
My wife has to be to work at 6am on New Year’s Day so we won’t be celerating, but with sparkling cider, this would be a fun drink for any occasion.
Very true; I have friends and family that can’t or won’t imbibe for different reasons; this is really a great Mocktail for them!
What a stunning looking drink!. I am making a list of Drinks we have to have when you move in to what we are now going to call the “Girl weekend bar and breakfast” aka your new home on the rest of the days of the week 😀
What a gorgeous cocktail! I actually own these components, too! Which helps when you don’t plan ahead! Let’s make a toast to your closing date and that it happens the way you’ve been told! Cheers, Barb! and all the best in 2014!
Really hope you get in your new home soon! This must be really hanging out for you. Anyway, lovely cocktail – I wish I lived closer so I could come over and have one or two (in between hanging pictures, of course!). Thanks.
Oh my goodness, this looks amazing! Just stocked up on prosecco and have cranberry juice in the fridge itching to be consumed. Thanks for the gorgeous recipe!
In my bartending days we called these drinks poinsettias. I love them! Something so festive about this combination. Not only are they beautiful, but refreshing and delicious as well.
What an absolutely gorgeous cocktail. I would totally come help unpack, enjoy a couple of those lovely drinks… I really suck at hanging pictures! Wishing you a happy and successful move!! Happy New Year 🙂