Chef notes
Get into the spirit of the season with festive, ice-covered alcohol bottles. The icy coating keeps the liquor cold and the whole bottle adds to the beauty of your holiday décor.
Technique tip: Customize these with your favorite holiday decorations like red flowers, sliced citrus fruits, cranberries, leaves, little branches, herbs and more.
Ingredients
- 3 empty half-gallon cardboard milk or juice cartons, rinsed
- Three 750-milliliter bottles vodka, gin or tequilabottles vodka, gin or tequila
- Holly leaves
- Sprigs of fresh herbs
- Fresh cranberries
- Sliced lemons, limes and small grapefruit
Preparation
1.Open the tops of the half-gallon cartons so the mouth becomes a large square.
2.Place the liquor bottles into the cardboard boxes and make sure they're centered.
3.Add some leaves, herbs, cranberries and sliced citrus around the bottle so it fills about half way up the cartons. The décor should be packed tightly.
4.Add enough water into the containers so it just covers the fruit and leaf arrangement.
5.Place the containers upright in the freezer and chill for at least 3 hours.
6.When the bottoms are frozen, add more of the leaves, herbs, cranberries and sliced citrus around the bottles and then add more cold water to cover up to the base of the bottles' necks. For a looser arrangement, add fewer items.
7.Chill the bottles again, until the water is totally frozen solid around the bottle. If you shake it gently and see small bottles, your decoration probably needs more time to chill.
8.Right before the party, remove the cartons from the freezer and use a sharp utility knife to cut away the cardboard.
9.To serve, wrap dishtowels around the icy bottles and pour.
