Silent Night Punch

Serves approximately 40

Ingredients

  • 2 bags green tea
  • peels of 8 lemons + 12 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
  • 1¾ cups superfine sugar
  • 750 ml (1 bottle) cognac
  • 375 ml (1 bottle) dark rum
  • 6 oz Green Chartreuse
  • 6 oz Benedictine
  • 2 cups water
  • freshly grated nutmeg for garnish

Special Equipment

  • punch bowl & glasses
  • muddler
  • citrus squeezer
  • nutmeg grater

How-to

  1. Two days before the party, fill a metal bowl (sized to scale with the punch bowl) with water and stash it in the freezer
  2. A few hours prior to serving (or the night before the party), steep 2 green tea bags in 2 cups water for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool
  3. Peel 8 lemons. In a large bowl, muddle peels in sugar until the oils are absorbed
  4. Add tea, cognac, dark rum, Green Chartreuse and Benedictine. Stir until sugar is dissolved and refrigerate mixture
  5. Within a few hours of serving, add 12 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice and 2 cups of cold water to the liquor-sugar-tea mixture
  6. Add a block of ice to the punch bowl and serve in punch glasses with a little fresh nutmeg grated over the top