These ice cubes not only enhance the visual appeal of your drinks but can, if you choose, infuse them with delicious flavors. By freezing seasonal fruits like cranberries, orange slices, or pomegranate seeds along with sprigs of rosemary, cinnamon sticks, or star anise, you can add a unique twist to your favorite cocktail or mocktail recipes. For an extra touch of sweetness, consider adding a splash of simple syrup to the ice cube like we have in the second ice recipe below, then allowing it to melt into your drink, adding flavor and color as it does. Whether you're crafting a signature holiday cocktail or a refreshing mocktail, these festive ice cubes take your beverages to another level- a real MarthamIna power move.

I love this easy recipe formula to make my holiday party drinks feel very fancy with a pretty minimal effort involved for me. Since you make them ahead of time and plop them into any drink, you can host with an extra festive touch while having more time left to watch your holiday Hallmark movies.

This recipe uses square cocktail ice molds that are 2 inch by 2 inch.

Can you use other sizes of ice cube trays at home to make fancy cocktail ice?

Sure you can! Just adjust the amount of stuff you add into the smaller molds as garnishes so they look festive, not chaotic.

Makes 8 x 2 inch square ice cubes

Ingredients:

•  Ice cube tray with large square ice cube molds (mine makes 8 cubes)
•  Distilled water (see note below) or tap water
• Garnishes for the ice such as:
  • 4-8 cinnamond sticks
  • 1 orange, thinly sliced into 8 round slices
  • 4-8 sprigs of rosemary, cut to 1.5 inches in length
  • half of a small red apple, core removed and sliced thinly
  • 16 cranberries

Apple Cinnamon Ice:

First arrange the fruit in the ice molds

Layer 1: Arrange cinnamon sticks at an angle in the molds, letting the stick sit jauntily out of the square on one side.

Layer 2: Add apple slices, sticking out of the ice vertically, opposite side of the cinnamon stick

Cranberry Rosemary Ice:

First arrange the fruit in the ice molds

Layer 1: Place orange slices in each mold, curling the edges in to fit.

Layer 2: Place the rosemary sprig into each mold, so it sticks out vertically

Layer 3: drop cranberries on either side of the rosemary sprig.

Next, fill the ice cube tray half full of water. For clear ice, use bottled, distilled water only. (Alternatively, you can boil water to remove cloudiness. If you use tap or filtered water your ice will freeze cloudy, but as the ice melts, you will still see all the color and beauty of your decorations. )

Carefully transfer to the freezer and freeze until mostly solid. This will hold in your decorations and prevent them from floating. (If you skip this step and do a single freeze, that’s fine- your decorations will just end up in the drink more quickly if they’re not frozen into the middle layer of ice.)

Now fill the ice cube tray cells all the way to the top with more distilled water. Freeze again. Keep frozen until ready to use. To make multiple batches, unmold the cubes into a freezer safe ziploc bag or tuperware, then use the mold to make another batch. Orange slices, pomegranate arils, star anise, cloves, and berries also look great! Don't be afraid to mix up the fruit, herbs, and spices used. Serve fancy ice in drinks.

Makes 8 x 2 inch square ice cubes

Ingredients:

•  Ice cube tray with large square ice cube molds (mine makes 8 cubes)
•  Distilled water (see note below) or tap water
• 1.5 ounces of Simple Goodness syrup, in flavors such as Apple Pie, Orange Vanilla, Cranberry Rosemary, Nordic Coffee, etc
• Garnishes for the ice:
  • 4-8 cinnamond sticks
  • 1 orange, thinly sliced into 8 round slices
  • 4-8 sprigs of rosemary, cut to 1.5 inches in length
  • half of a small red apple, core removed and sliced thinly
  • 16 cranberries
  • coffee beans

Apple Cinnamon Ice (pair with whiskey or dark rum)

First arrange the fruit in the ice molds

Layer 1: Arrange cinnamon sticks at an angle in the molds, letting the stick sit jauntily out of the square on one side.

Layer 2: Add apple slices, sticking out of the ice vertically, opposite side of the cinnamon stick

Simple Syrup: add 1.5 ounces of Apple Pie syrup to each mold

Cranberry Rosemary Ice (pair with tequila or gin)

First arrange the fruit in the ice molds

Layer 1: Place the rosemary sprig into each mold, so it sticks out vertically

Layer 2: drop cranberries on either side of the rosemary sprig.

Simple Syrup: add 1.5 ounces of Cranberry Rosemary or Herb Garden syrup to each mold

Orange Vanilla ice (pair with whiskey or anejo tequila)

First arrange the fruit in the ice molds

Layer 1: Pinch the wedges of the orange slices so that they fold in on itself and wedges into each mold, with the top part of the orange sticking out of the mold.

Layer 2: drop 1 star anise in front of each orange slice.

Simple Syrup: add 1.5 ounces of Orange Vanilla syrup to each mold

Nordic Coffee Ice (pair with whiskey or vodka)

First arrange the spices in the ice molds:

Layer 1: Arrange cinnamon sticks at an angle in the molds, letting the stick sit jauntily out of the square on one side.

Layer 2: drop 13 coffee beans in

Simple Syrup: add 1.5 ounces of Nordic Coffee syrup to each mold

Next, fill the ice cube tray half full of water, stir to combine with the syrup. For clear ice, use bottled, distilled water only. (Alternatively, you can boil water to remove cloudiness. If you use tap or filtered water your ice will freeze cloudy, but as the ice melts, you will still see all the color and beauty of your decorations. )

Carefully transfer to the freezer and freeze until mostly solid. This will hold in your decorations and prevent them from floating. (If you skip this step and do a single freeze, that’s fine- your decorations will just end up in the drink more quickly if they’re not frozen into the middle layer of ice.)

Now fill the ice cube tray cells all the way to the top with more distilled water. Freeze again. Keep frozen until ready to use. To make multiple batches, unmold the cubes into a freezer safe ziploc bag or tuperware, then use the mold to make another batch. Orange slices, pomegranate arils, star anise, cloves, and berries also look great! Don't be afraid to mix up the fruit, herbs, and spices used. Serve fancy ice with 2 ounces of spirit such as whiskey, dark rum, tequila or vodka.