Cranberry Ice Fizzy Drinks

Dress up your holiday gatherings by creating these refreshing and family tradition inspired cranberry ice fizzy drinks.  Combining a family favorite recipe into a delicious drink has our guests asking for more.

Holidays are full of traditions.  For us, the traditions include the events and gatherings we go to every year but most importantly the food we bring to those events and gatherings.  Over the years Jeremy and I have brought our family traditions to each other’s family events and created one delicious spread of food. One of Jeremy’s family’s traditions is always having Cranberry Ice on the table for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Honestly, it just isn’t Thanksgiving or Christmas without that delicious treat on the table.

The History of Cranberry Ice

So, you are probably wondering what Cranberry Ice is and why it is the perfect side dish to any holiday meal.  The Cranberry Ice recipe came from Jeremy’s grandmother and it is a side dish that he has had his entire life. The first Thanksgiving I spent with him and his family I was so confused when I saw a frozen dish on the table but now that I have been enjoying this dish for over 15 years, I cannot imagine those meals without it.  YUMMY!

When you sit down for a holiday meal, usually all of the foods surrounding you are warm and savory dishes.  You do usually enjoy something sweet after dinner like Pecan Pie or Pumpkin Pie, but why not enjoy something sweet and cold during dinner to offset all of those amazingly heavy and savory indulgences?  That is why we make Cranberry Ice!

Making Cranberry Ice This Holiday Season

For a full size recipe you will be able to serve a very large group of people and probably end up with leftovers, which is perfect.  Leftovers are a must for every holiday meal and Cranberry Ice is delicious left over too!

Ingredients:

1 pound of Cranberries
2 cups of Sugar
2 cups of Sprite
1 TBSP Lemon Juice
1/2 cup of water

Directions:

1.  In a saucepan heat the cranberries and water over medium heat until the cranberries “POP” open.  (see photo above for example of popped cranberries).
2.  Once the cranberries have popped, use a strainer to squish the berries into a bowl making sure to remove the skins.  You do not want the skins in your dish.

3.  Mix the mashed cranberries puree, sugar, Sprite and lemon juice together in a large bowl.
4.  Pour the mixture into a 9×13 pan.
5.  Freeze the mixture overnight.
6.  When ready to enjoy, cut into squares to serve. Make sure your Cranberry Ice stays frozen until ready to enjoy!

Cranberry Ice Fizzy Drinks

While Cranberry Ice is super easy to make for the holidays, I did decide to get a little creative with the traditional recipe by making some refreshing Cranberry Ice Fizzy Drinks using cranberry ice.  Earlier I shared how to make your own DrinCup Bar for some easy holiday entertaining using the Club Pickup option at Sam’s Club and some great Coca-Cola® products available at Sam’s Club including Coca-Cola®, Sprite®, Gold Peak® Sweet Tea, Dasani®, and Diet Coke®!

So with that, I am adding a special drink recipe to our next DrinCup Bar.  These Cranberry Ice Fizzy Drinks can be made using leftover Cranberry Ice OR you can make some smaller batches of the Cranberry Ice for a special event.

These Cranberry Ice Fizzy Drinks are so easy to make.  Simply make your cranberry ice and cube the cranberry ice in ice cube sizes making sure to keep them frozen until ready to use on your DrinCup Bar.  Chill some Sprite and pour the chilled Sprite into a cup. Keeping the Sprite cold is important because if you do not use cold Sprite you will end up melting the Cranberry Ice super fast!

Place 3-4 Cranberry Ice cubes into each cup of Sprite.  Add a fun festive straw and get sipping! As the Cranberry Ice starts to melt you will start tasting some delicious cranberry flavors in your drink.  I don’t know about you but cranberry recipes are the perfect holiday goodness! YUMMY!!

My family always jokes that Cranberry Ice would be perfect in a cocktail, I have never tried that, YET but now that I have used the cranberry ice recipe in a fizzy drink recipe you know what will be next!  HA!! Just like I talked about in my Holiday Entertaining Made Easy post a simple but festive holiday drink recipe like this allows you to create an amazing holiday recipe without the stress.

Add these refreshing beverages to your shopping list this holiday season.  Heading to Sam’s Club will make your holiday season stress free, delicious and refreshing.

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