[1] Make pomegranate sangria for your guests (photo © Pom Wonderful).

[2] Make pomegranate sangria for your guests (photo © Pom Wonderful).

There’s nothing more festive than a holiday punch bowl.

Historically, Christmas meant gathering around the wassail bowl for good cheer. “Wassail” is Middle English contraction of the toast, wæs hæil, “be healthy.”

Medieval wassail was a mulled beer or mead, heated and topped with slices of toast (a.k.a. sops)—a piece of bread provided for nourishment (think of it as a precursor of crackers and cheese). Today, mulled cider is made with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg.

You can fill your punch bowl with mulled cider, or go more modern with this pomegranate sangria recipe. You don’t need a punch bowl. A pitcher is fine.

If you want a mulled cider recipe, we’ve got some nifty choices (and history) for you as well.

P.S. December 20th is National Sangria Day. National Mulled Wine Day is March 3rd.

Sangria is a type of punch. While “punch” evokes the image of a large bowl of drink, the word actually refers to the five ingredients in the original recipe.

While Americans often serve sangria from a pitcher, the Spanish way, feel free to fill up a punch bowl.

Ingredients

 
For The Garnish

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the ice block in advance. A large block melts much more slowly than cubes, keeps the punch colder for longer and reduces the dilution. Make it by filling a cake pan with water and freeze the night before. You can also fill a balloon with water; tie off the balloon and place it in a bowl in the freezer the night before.

2. MAKE the sangria. Remove the arils from the pomegranate (some stores sell arils already removed). Place all ingredients into a sangria pitcher. Refrigerate and let stand 2 hours before serving.

2. PLACE in a punch bowl; or for individual servings, pour sangria over a glass with ice cubes and top with a fruit garnish. Finish each serving with a splash of Cava Spanish sparkling brut.

Not only has she invented, to our knowledge, the concept of the “mug cookie”—a cookie baked with a slot that hooks onto a mug of hot chocolate, tea or coffee—but she has done it in the most charming way. Get the recipe and download the pattern.

Cookies are only one of Martha’s impressive talents. We can’t wait for an occasion to make her bacon cups and fill them with scrambled eggs or a spinach salad.

For those of into Jell-o shooters, here is an impressive Jell-O shooters recipe or (if you leave out the vodka) a way to amuse kids with Jell-O.
Martha Reardon, we don’t know you, but we love you!

It’s cookie magic: a wee gingerbread
house that perches on the rim of a mug.
Photo by Martha Reardon | NotMartha.org.

With the face of Santa, poinsettias and
stars, these earn the name, “art candy.”
Photo courtesy Hammond’s Candies.

In honor of National Hard Candy Day, today, find candies in shapes and colors that add interest to your decor, or that celebrate the season at hand.

For Christmas, old-fashioned “cut rock” hard candies—the ones with pictures in the center, known as art candy—are still made by Hammond’s Candies.

Like the ship in the bottle, people marvel at how the designs—for example, tiny Santas, Christmas trees, gold stars and poinsettias—get into the small pieces of candy. Each hand-made piece is a little work of edible art.

• See more of our favorite candies in our Gourmet Candy section.

Hershey’s Bliss white chocolate squares with a “creamy meltaway center” hit the spot. Not sugary-sweet like some white chocolate, they’re portion-controlled so you can enjoy just a bite or two.

You can also use the little square of Bliss to crown other desserts, or serve a piece along with cups of coffee.

Or, use them in our Cupcake Surprise recipe.

• Check out our favorite chocolates—and everything you’ve always wanted to know about chocolate—in the Gourmet Chocolate Section of THE NIBBLE.

Bliss for a white Christmas. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

Spread joy with Paumanok Preserves’
savory chutney, conserve, jelly and jam.
Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

The best gourmet peanut butters, jams, chocolate bars, maple syrups, teas or mustards, for example, are treats that recipients can appreciate every day of the year—and they’ll think of you with every delicious bite or sip.

Put together a selection of the finest in a gift box. In addition to the food themselves, your gift will be the joy of discovery.

• Check out Paumanok Preserves (at left), a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.
• Visit the main index of NIBBLE food reviews to find great products in every category.