Cold Coffee Punch

I’m extra excited about today’s post because it’s about Cold Coffee Punch, which was a STAPLE at all social functions at the Chi Omega house back in my good ol college days at Mississippi State!

Mama Jones, our infamous housemother, came up with this amazing recipe for this cold, caffeinated, milky, chocolatey, all out sinful drink that we counted on having each time we had an open house, or a preview day, or a brunch, or whatever.

So when the pledge class above mine decided that their philanthropy project one year would be to make a Chi O Cookbook, I was so excited because I had a feeling we’d get the recipe for this beloved Cold Coffee Punch!

Wellllll… As it turns out… The recipe that Mama Jones turned in was somewhat incomplete. And somehow the incompleteness slipped through the editors’ cracks and wound up in the cookbook making absolutely zero sense. So if you have this Chi O Cookbook and try to follow the recipe in there, there is no telling what you’ll end up with. You are left trying to guess a bunch of stuff and it’s pretty difficult to get it right.

A couple of weekends ago, we had my sweet pregnant friend Avery’s baby shower at my house! And since she was a Chi O, we had to have this punch! So I took the few notes I’d made in the past, made a few more after a little trial and error, and wound up with a recipe that makes much more sense! I wanted to share it in case anyone needed a little more direction in any future attempts at this recipe! And if you’ve never had Cold Coffee Punch, you need to get in on this action!

Disclaimer: It is a little different from Mama Jones’s version. I can’t really put my finger on why… I think she might have kept a secret ingredient to herself?! But it is tasty, so I hope you enjoy!

>> WHAT YOU NEED <<

3/4 cup instant coffee

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

5 cups milk

2 cups water, separated

>> WHAT YOU DO <<

Boil one cup of water in a saucepan and add the coffee, cocoa, and sugar, stirring until it is fully dissolved. Then add the vanilla, the milk, and the other cup of water.

If it is too strong, add extra water by the half cup, tasting after each addition, until you get it how you like it! (I think it’s good without adding any extra water!)

Serve in a punch bowl with a few scoops of vanilla ice cream floating in it! (It gets extra good once the ice cream starts melting a little!)

// This recipe makes about 8 cups of punch. For large parties or brunches, you might consider doubling! //

For this photo shoot, I didn’t have any vanilla ice cream, so I used some cookie dough Halo Top instead and this was a WIN. Just when I thought this punch couldn’t get better, Halo Top arrived to do the trick.

Fellow Phi Delta Chi Os, have y’all had any luck tweaking the recipe that’s in the cookbook?! If so, what changes do you think helped out? I’d love to hear!

Thanks so so much for stopping by today! I hope your day is the best!