Coffee Punch

Ok, first of all I have to say, I am not a coffee drinker. I actually cannot stand the taste of coffee. So normally I do not look up recipes for coffee and I don't know what to look for in coffee or what all needs to go with it. But I was hosting a bridal shower for my sister and after tossing around several ideas we landed on a coffeeshop theme. So once I had that theme I ran with it. I researched every combination of coffee shop and bridal shower that you could think of and found lots of great ideas. One of my favorite finds was the recipe for Coffee Punch. We were serving coffee but since it is June and really hot out I thought it might be nice to have a cold coffee drink (we also had several other cold drink options, but it in nice to have a cold and hot coffee option). Also I had never heard of this idea before and had never seen it at any shower or party I had been to, so I knew it was something that the guests would not have had all the time (It's always fun to have something new :) When I first told my mom about this idea she said I shouldn't serve it at the party without trying it first so I was going to make a sample for her to try (since I would not be a good guinea pig for a coffee recipe) but when I described the ingredients to her we decided that there was pretty much no way that we could go wrong with this. And we were right, it was a huge hit! Anyways, here is the recipe.

Coffee Punch
I found the recipe here. I only adapted it slightly.
This recipe is doubled because we were expecting 30 people. If you are having a smaller party you can cut it down . The original recipe has a convenient calculator that you put in the # of people you are making for and it calculates how much of each ingredient you need.

Ingredients:
2 quart cold coffee (should be stronger rather than weaker)
1/2 gallon Vitamin D milk
1 quart half and half
1 24 ounce container of chocolate syrup
1 1/2 quart heavy whipping cream (whip, but does not have to be completely solid)
Optional: Kahlua, Vanilla Ice Cream, Ice

Directions:
In a large punch bowl mix together the ice cream, coffee, milk, half and half, and chocolate syrup (save a little bit of chocolate syrup to decorate the top). Pour the whipped cream on top. Decorate the top with the last of the chocolate syrup. The original recipe says you can also add Kahlua but we are not alcohol drinkers in general so we did not do that. The original recipe also calls for 1 gallon of vanilla ice cream, which I actually bought, but I totally forgot to take it to the shower so it didn't get put in the punch. It is still sitting in my freezer (I didn't even notice I forgot it until I saw it in my freezer). The punch is great without it, but if you can remember to take it, it would probably be a good addition. I think my aunts were serving this over ice (they were helping me serve), probably because I forgot the ice cream, and it looked like a good idea.

The cream can be whipped ahead of time (I whipped it the day before and it was perfectly fine) which means that all you have to do the day of is mix the ingredients together. I whipped the cream in a stand mixer (unfortunately not kitchenaid, just an off brand type that the bowl moves, but it works :) and just let it whip while I was working on other stuff for the shower.

Verdict:
Sorry I don't have more pictures, I was slightly busy hosting the shower :) One of my sister's friends was photographing the shower so if there are any other good photos I will put them on here. This turned out amazing! I got so many complements on it! We made a huge bowl of it and it was almost completely gone by the end of the shower (I'm a little surprised that people weren't more hyper (Oh shoot, I just realized I forgot to offer a decaf option for coffee)) Anyways this was a well loved item. One of my cousins asked for the recipe for her graduation party, so I think this recipe may become a staple at future family events. Here you go Random Cousin!

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