Champagne Fruit Bowl Punch

By shirleyp123

The marinated fruit is very tasty, but if you eat the fruit you should not drive home for several hours. ;-)

Source: Menus for Entertaining page 10
Serving size: 1/2 cup

Ingredients

• Iced Fruits for Punch (below)
• 2 lemons
• 2 oranges
• 1 bunch of grapes
• 1 container frozen pineapple
• 1 jar maraschino cherries
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup apple brandy
• 1/2 cup triple sec
• 1/4 cup peach brandy
• 4 cups fresh strawberries
• 6 bottles dry California champagne, chilled

Details

Servings 60
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 20mins
Adapted from keyingredient.com

Preparation

Step 1

At least 24 hours before serving:
Slice lemons and oranges very thinly with rinds still attached. Wash grapes and remove from vine.

Combine sugar, brandies and triple sec and stir to dissolve the sugar, then add lemon, orange, grapes, pineapple, and cherries including juice. Cover and marinate overnight.

Make the ICED FRUITS FOR PUNCH see below recipe.

At Least 2 Hours Before Serving:
In a bowl, sprinkle strawberries with sugar. Add to marinated fruit; refrigerate to blend the flavors together. Chill champagne.

At Serving Time:
Arrange Iced Fruits in punch bowl, "trapping" small fruits beneath one or two large bunches of grapes. Pour in marinated mixture; slowly add champagne.


ICED FRUITS FOR PUNCH: Freeze washed bunches of grapes, whole fresh pears, kumquats, lemons, tangarines and strawberries on cookie sheets overnight. Use the frozen fruits as ice cubes in the punch; they do not dilute the punch and can be eaten later!

For smaller punch bowls, divide the marinade into 3 equal parts and mix with only 2 bottles of champagne at a time...