Mimosa Ice Cubes for New Year’s Eve and Brunch

These mimosa ice cubes are frozen cubes of fresh orange juice with a thin piece of orange and a mint leaf set inside. Drop two into a champagne flute, pour cold sparkling wine over them, and you have a mimosa that gets more orange as it sits instead of more watery. They take about 10 minutes of work and 1 cup of juice, and the freezer does the rest. That is the whole job. On New Year’s Eve that counts for a lot. The toast stays cold, and nobody can tell they took 10 minutes.

One cup of pulp-free orange juice and 1 small orange fill a standard tray of 8 one ounce cubes. They need at least 6 hours to freeze solid, so make them the night before or first thing on the morning of the party. The same orange juice ice cubes work for a holiday brunch, Christmas morning, or a glass of soda water for anyone skipping the alcohol.

The Juice, the Orange and the Tray

The list is short: 1 cup fresh orange juice, 1 small orange cut into thin quarter rounds, a few fresh mint leaves if you like them, and sparkling wine, champagne or soda water to serve. You also need a silicone ice cube tray, a sharp knife, a cutting board and a measuring cup.

Use pulp-free juice, because pulp sinks to the bottom of each cube, freezes into cloudy streaks and hides the orange slice you went to the trouble of cutting. Freshly squeezed juice tastes brightest; pour it through a fine sieve first. A good not-from-concentrate juice from the store works too. Skip anything labeled orange drink, because the added sugar makes soft, slushy cubes that melt fast.

Slicing the Orange So It Shows

Cut the small orange into rounds about ⅛ inch thick, then cut each round into quarters. Thin pieces sit flat against the side of the cube and stay visible through the ice. Thick wedges take up too much room in a 1 ounce cube, and the peel turns bitter after it sits in wine for a while.

Mint is optional. One small leaf per cube is plenty, and a leaf with no brown spots on it looks best, because every mark shows once it is frozen inside the ice. A whole sprig crowds the orange and gives the drink a grassy taste that fights the wine.

Filling and Freezing the Tray

Set one orange piece in each of the 8 compartments, tuck a mint leaf next to it, and press both down gently. Pour the juice in slowly, about 2 tablespoons per cube, until each one is filled just below the rim.

Leave that small gap at the top. Juice expands as it freezes, and an overfilled tray freezes the cubes together into one sheet. Freeze for at least 6 hours, or overnight. Overnight is safer. The cubes are ready when they are solid all the way through and come out of the silicone in one piece.

If the orange pieces float up as you pour, pour just enough juice to half cover the fruit, freeze for 1 hour so it is anchored, then fill the cubes to the rim and freeze again.

Standard Cubes or Large Cubes

The recipe makes 8 standard 1 ounce cubes, which fit any flute. The tray in the photos has 8 large 1½ inch cubes. For that size, double everything: 2 cups juice and 2 small oranges. Large cubes melt more slowly and look great in a wine glass or a pitcher. In a narrow flute, stick to the standard size.

A silicone tray is the better choice for both. The sugar in juice makes the cubes stick more than plain ice, and silicone lets you push each cube out from the bottom without cracking it. With a rigid plastic tray, let it stand on the counter for 2 minutes before you twist it.

Serving Mimosas on New Year’s Eve

Put 2 standard cubes in a flute and pour about 4 ounces of cold sparkling wine over them. Pour slowly. Really. The bubbles foam up faster over ice than over plain juice, and a quick pour runs over the rim.

Choose a dry wine. The cubes bring the sweetness. Brut champagne, prosecco and cava all work. For a zero proof glass, use soda water or sparkling white grape juice. At a party, set the cubes in a bowl over a second bowl of ice and let people help themselves when midnight gets close.

For the dessert table, the sparkling raspberry prosecco jelly and the New Year’s Eve éclairs with gold glaze can both be made a day ahead, just like these cubes.

Brunch Ideas and Other Juices

For a holiday brunch, serve the cubes next to an overnight savory bread pudding, which also gets made the night before. For a red and green look on Christmas Day, our Christmas ice cubes use cranberries and rosemary. In spring, the carrot mimosa runs on the same idea with carrot juice.

Blood orange juice gives deep red cubes. Pink grapefruit juice gives pale pink cubes with a slightly bitter edge that goes well with dry prosecco. Same amount of juice for both.

Making Them Ahead and Storing

Once the cubes are frozen, pop them out and keep them in a sealed freezer bag or container for up to 1 month. Seal them. Open trays pick up freezer smells, and orange juice takes on those flavors faster than plain water does. Take them out of the freezer right before you pour. Juice cubes soften faster than plain ice.

Save these mimosa ice cubes on Pinterest for your New Year’s Eve party, and tell me in the comments which juice you froze.