Frozen Hearts Punch

 Yesterday, I filled you in on everything that went down at my daughter's Frozen party.

Now for the hit of the party, Frozen Hearts Punch. It's really simple. In fact, it's not really a recipe. I just poured a 2 liter bottle of ginger ale into a punch bowl and topped it off with some blue heart-shaped ice cubes. 

You wouldn't believe how many kids were asking, "Ooooh. What's that?" 

If you'd like to avoid artificial food coloring in the ice, you can use all natural blue food coloring with water and pour it into a silicone heart mold. I think I got the molds at Target a few years ago. 

When I first searched the internet for all-natural blue food coloring, I didn't find much. There are several options for reds, yellows and greens just not a good true blue. 

I found an organic blue tea made from butterfly pea flower (whatever that is) which looks beautiful, but it's only available online and I'm impatient. 

So I went to a local organic grocery store and found something called Natural Color Sky Blue. The ingredients listed on the bottle are glycerin, water and plant and vegetable extracts. The color is very concentrated, almost black, and it pours out of the bottle really fast. I recommend using a dropper.

It's not cheap (about $12 for a 2 ounce bottle), but a little goes a long way. 

It has an earthy flavor which kind of reminds me of beats. Once diluted, I didn't notice the flavor. 

I've tried out the coloring on a few different things. Mixing 2 or 3 drops with a cup of water makes for these nice, dark blue ice cubes below. 

And here it is, heavily diluted, in a cup of water. 

And here it is mixed in a powdered sugar glaze. On a marshmallow. A little sugar with your sugar?

 My daughter had a friend over today, so we baked these shortbread cookies. I added about a tablespoon of coloring (because why not?) to the cookie dough and it turned out like this. 

So you see it's not an electric blue like artificial coloring, but it's definitely blue. 

I've gotten a little sidetracked here talking about food coloring, but do try some Frozen Hearts Punch at your next kid gathering. And I know what you're thinking. These would be perfect in red for that cute and cuddly holiday we're all so excited about. Yes, Groundhog Day would be a perfect occasion for some cranberry ice cube hearts in ginger ale.