Cranberry apple sangria is a fruity, festive cocktail for your fall festivities

Festive drinks abound at this time of year, from midday mimosas to afternoon egg nog. They’re all fun, but sometimes it’s nice to mix things up a little — like with this cheerful cranberry apple sangria from Damn Delicious.

Perhaps best of all, the cocktail has an alcohol-free option so everyone can enjoy!

Damn Delicious blogger Chungah Rhee suggests making the cocktail mixture in advance, then adding your preferred wine or other mixer when you’re ready to party. Meanwhile, we suggest hitting up your local spice store for the freshest, most flavorful ingredients to make this drink a holiday hit nobody will forget.

Since this is a sangria recipe, there’s plenty of fruit in it. Get out the cutting board and start chopping cranberries, apples and oranges.

Ingredients:

3 cups cranberry apple juice cocktail, divided
1/4 cup sugar
2 oranges, thinly sliced
1/2 cup halved fresh cranberries
2 5-inch sprigs fresh rosemary
2 3-inch cinnamon sticks
3 star anise pods
8 whole cloves
2 cups sliced small apples
1 750-mml bottle pinot grigio, chilled

Instructions:

1. Combine 2 cups cranberry apple juice and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Stir in oranges, cranberries, rosemary, cinnamon sticks, star anise and cloves. Let stand 30 minutes; remove and discard rosemary and cloves.
3. In a large pitcher, whisk together orange mixture, apples and remaining 1 cup cranberry apple juice.
4. Let chill in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
5. Serve over ice with pinot grigio. Or, if you’re going alcohol-free, Rhee offers a lemon-lime soda, like 7-Up, as an alternative. (We could also see plain club soda or seltzer working well!)

Isn’t she lovely?