Champagne Recipes

Here are a few champagne recipes I thought you all might like.  They are a wonderful way to have some Champagne if you don't like to drink champagne alone (I don't care for the bubbly myself).

Cranberries and Champagne

Prep: 5 min.

Yield: Makes 1 serving

Ingredients

• 6  dried cranberries
• 3/4  cup  Champagne or sparkling wine, chilled

Preparation

Place cranberries in Champagne flute. Pour Champagne over berries. Serve immediately.

Champagne Sangria

1 bottle Prosecco or French Champagne, chilled

Mint Simple Syrup

½ cup orange juice

2 cups sugar

2 cups Mint Simple Syrup (recipe follows)

2 cups water

1 cup packed fresh mint leaves

1 lemon, zested and thinly sliced

1 lime, zested and thinly sliced

½ cup sliced strawberries

5 fresh mint sprigs

Crushed ice

Preparation: In a large pitcher, combine the Prosecco, orange juice, mint simply syrup, lemon zest and lime zest.  Add the sliced strawberries, lemon slices and mint sprigs.  Fill glasses with crushed ice and pour the sangria over the top.   Serve immediately.

Fill glasses with crushed ice and pour the sangria over the top. Serve immediately.

Mint Simple Syrup

Ingredients

1 ½ c packed fresh mint leaves

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Preparation

Chop mint. In a saucepan bring sugar, water and mint to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Simmer syrup, undisturbed, 2 minutes. Pour syrup through a fine sieve, pressing hard on solids, and cool. Syrup keeps, covered and chilled, 2 weeks

Raspberries in Pink Champagne Gelée

2 tbsp unflavored powdered gelatin

1 ½ cups sugar

Canola oil, for greasing

40 fresh raspberries (about 8 oz)

2 small bananas, cut into coins

Pour ½ cup champagne into a bowl; sprinkle in gelatin; let sit 5 minutes.  Heat remaining champagne and sugar in a 1 quart saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat; stir in gelatin mixture.  Let cool for 10 minutes.

Grease eight 4 ounce ramekins. Pour 1 ½ tbsp champagne mixture into each mold; chill 30 minutes.  Put 5 raspberries into each mold; add enough champagne mixture to half-cover the berries.  Chill until set, about 30 minutes.  Arrange 4 banana slices, overlapping them slightly, in each mold.  Add remaining champagne mixture; chill until completely set, at least 4 hours.

To sever, slide a knife along edge of each mold; set molds in a bowl of hot water for 5 seconds.  Invert molds onto plates.

Champagne Punch

Peel, core, and slice 3 small ripe pineapples. Put the slices in a bowl, sprinkle them with 1 pound very fine sugar, and cover the fruit. Let it stand for at least 1 hour. Add 1 pint Cognac, 1 cup lemon juice, 3/4 cup eau de vie de framboise, 1/2 cup peach brandy, and 1/4 cup maraschino liqueur. Blend the mixture gently, cover it, and allow it to ripen overnight. At serving time, pour the mixture over a large block of ice in a punch bowl and slowly add 5 bottles chilled Champagne. Garnish the bowl with raspberries, sprigs of mint, lemons and oranges, thinly sliced, and any other fruits desired. Add a little fruit to each punch cup. Makes approximately 8 1/2 quarts.

Pomegranate-Champagne Punch

Serves 12

Recipe from Bon Appetit

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

2 750-ml bottles chilled brut Champagne

1-1/2 cups white rum

1-1/4 cups pomegranate juice

1 large lemon, thinly sliced

Pomegranate seeds

Fresh mint leaves

1 ice block

Directions:

Bring 1/2 cup water and sugar to boil in small saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Simmer 5 minutes.  Cool completely.

Combine Champagne, rum, and pomegranate juice in punch bowl.  Add enough syrup to sweeten to taste.  Mix in lemon slices, pomegranate seeds, and mint leaves.  Add ice block to bowl.