Witchy Color Changing Lemonade | Hocus Pocus
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Looking for a truly magical Hocus Pocus party drink? This color changing lemonade is a perfectly spooky and refreshing drink to share! Made with butterfly pea flowers, this lemonade changes colors from dark blue to light purple and pink right before your eyes. Trust me, it’s not just a bunch of Hocus Pocus! Try making this glimmering purple lemonade for the ultimate Hocus Pocus party. You can even spike your lemonade for an adult twist!
Why You’ll Love this Witchy Drink:
This incredibly vibrant Hocus Pocus cocktail is hauntingly brilliant! It has all of the flavor of a classic spiked lemonade with the charm of incredible color changing capabilities and glittery essence!
Quick Mixed Drink: This lemonade is incredibly easy to make and mixes up quickly! With simple ingredients, you can easily make your own witchy color changing lemonade for a party or small gathering.
Halloween Party Drink: The beautiful colors and glittery glow make this the perfect refreshing drink for a Halloween or Hocus Pocus movie party. Get your friends together and sip on these blue & purple mixed drinks while you watch the Sanderson Sisters terrorize Salem!
Great for Kids: This lemonade can be served with or without alcohol, making it an excellent choice for children! If you love to watch Hocus Pocus with the entire family, then try mixing up these drinks with your littles. Plus, it’s made without artificial food coloring, making it healthy and safe to enjoy for everyone.
What is Color Changing Lemonade?
You may be wondering, how does this lemonade change colors? The secret lies in a special ingredient: butterfly pea flowers!
If you have not yet heard of butterfly pea flowers, they are a dark blue-purple flower that can be harvested and used for making herbal tea or other recipes. When steeped in water, the flowers turn the water a brilliant blue color that will also naturally dye any other food that you add it to!
Butterfly pea flowers are caffeine-free, contain antioxidants, help blood sugar levels, improves the appearance of hair and skin, and it has even been found to help with weight loss.
Gathering Ingredients:
To make this dazzling Hocus Pocus mixed drink, you will need to gather a few key ingredients!
Butterfly Pea Flowers. You can use whole, loose leaf butterfly pea flowers or butterfly pea flower tea bags.
Lemons. You will want to use fresh lemons for this drink and not bottled lemon juice.
Sugar. Granulated sugar is best for this recipe so that it does not alter the overall color of the drink.
Light Rum or Vodka. For a little spike, try adding light rum or vodka to your lemonade! Avoid anything that is darkly colored.
Edible Luster Dust. You can add this to your drink to give it a magical shimmer, though it is entirely optional.
Tips for Brewing Butterfly Pea Flower Tea:
To make your own butterfly pea flower tea, you will need some loose and dried butterfly pea flowers. The general rule is about 1 teaspoon or 10 dried flowers per 8 oz of water. The more flowers you use, the deeper the final color of your tea.
How to make Butterfly Pea Flower Tea:
Fill a tea pot with the butterfly pea flowers. I love this clear teapot so that you can watch the color of the water change!
Boil some water to 208° F (98° C).
Pour the hot water directly over the flowers, filling up to your teapot.
Cover the teapot and let steep for at least 5 minutes and up to 10 minutes.
Strain the butterfly pea flowers and use the tea.
How to Make Witchy Lemonade:
Step One: Once you have made your butterfly pea flower tea, you’ll want to leave it to cool down to room temperature. Once cooled, pour the tea into an ice cube tray and place the tray into the freezer until the tea is frozen solid.
Step Two: While the ice cubes are freezing, make the lemon syrup. Zest one of the lemons and save the zest for later. Then, juice all of the lemons until you have 1/2 cup (120 ml) of fresh lemon juice. In a small saucepan, combine the juice with the sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Finally, remove the pan from heat and stir in the saved lemon zest. Leave the syrup to cool for at least 20 minutes, then strain the syrup through a fine mesh sieve and chill the syrup fully.
Step Three: Make your lemonade. To a small pitcher, combine fresh lemon juice, the lemon syrup, and water. Whisk until well combined.
Step Four: Once the ice cubes are frozen and the syrup is fully chilled, it’s time to put together the lemonade! Bring the blue ice cubes out from the freezer and place them into a plastic gallon bag, Lewis bag, or blender. With a wooden mallet, begin to pound the ice until it it becomes crushed chunks, like a slushy. Likewise, pulse the ice in your blender a few times. Place the ice back into the freezer until ready to use.
Step Five: Add the crushed ice to a clear glass, filling it nearly to the top. Pour the lemonade and lemon syrup mixture over the blue ice. As the liquid settles at the bottom and ice rises to the top, you will see a beautiful gradient of pink to purple to blue hues!
Spike the Lemonade: To spike your lemonade, add 1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml) light rum or vodka to the bottom of your glass before pouring in the lemonade.
Make the Lemonade Glittery: Add a pinch of edible luster dust in blue or purple to your cup after filling with liquid and give the drink a quick stir with a straw or bar spoon.
Storage & Serving Suggestions:
Because this Hocus Pocus themed drink relies heavily on the color changing magic of the butterfly pea flower ice cubes, you will want to serve it immediately!
If you are preparing for a Hocus Pocus themed party, you can prep all of the drink components ahead of time. Keep the crushed ice in an ice bucket and the lemonade in a pitcher. Have guests mix their own drink, or mix it for them upon arrival. They’ll love watching the colors change right before their eyes, just like magic!
What to Serve at Your Hocus Pocus Party:
Looking for more Hocus Pocus party ideas? Try some of these witchy recipes to serve with your color changing lemonade!
Black Flame Candle Cakes
Dead Man’s Toe Cheesy Breadsticks
Poison Candy Apples
Baba Yaga’s Apple Oatmeal Tart
This delicious and sweet color changing lemonade is the perfect magical drink to serve at your Hocus Pocus movie marathon! This is a super fun drink recipe for kids and adults and witch lovers of all ages. If you love this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and let us know if you try it!
Similar Recipes:
Black Magic Punch
Vampire Bite Shots
The Pumpkin King’s Whiskey Smash
Hocus Pocus Color Changing Lemonade
Ingredients
- 40 dried butterfly pea flowers (or 4 to 5 tea bags)
- 4 cups (960 ml) boiling water
- 8 to 10 large lemons, enough for 2 cups (480 ml) fresh lemon juice
- 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
- 4 to 6 large lemons, enough for 1 cup (240 ml) of fresh juice
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 6 cups (1.4 L) water
- 8 oz (240 ml) light rum or vodka, optional
- Edible glitter, optional
Instructions
- Fill a tea pot with the butterfly pea flowers. Pour the boiling water directly over the flowers and close the teapot.
- Leave the tea to steep for at least 5 minutes and up to 10 minutes. The longer it steeps, the darker the color will be.
- Strain the tea and pour it into ice cube trays. Place the ice cube trays into the freezer until fully frozen, about 12 to 24 hours.
- Before serving, bring the ice out from the freezer and place it into a plastic gallon bag, Lewis bag, or blender. Crush the ice with a mallet or pulse a few times in the blender until it looks similar to a chunky snow cone consistency. Place the ice into an ice bowl or back into the freezer until ready to use.
- While the ice cubes are freezing, make the lemon syrup. Zest two of the lemons and set the zest aside for now.
- Then, juice all of the lemons until you have 2 cups (480 ml) of fresh lemon juice.
- In a small saucepan, combine the lemon juice with the sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
- Remove the pan from heat and stir in the saved lemon zest. Leave the syrup to cool for at least 20 minutes, then strain the syrup through a fine mesh sieve and into a pitcher or mason jar. Place the syrup into the refrigerator to chill completely.
- Juice the lemons and place the juice into a medium bowl. Whisk the juice with the sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- To a large pitcher, combine together lemon juice mixture and water. Add the lemon simple syrup to pitcher and stir to combine, about 2 minutes. At this point, you may add the alcohol and/or edible glitter, if using.
- Scoop the crushed butterfly pea flower ice into clear glasses, filling almost to the top.
- Pour the lemonade over the ice and watch the magic happen as the drink becomes a gradient of pink to purple to dark blue!
- Serve the drinks immediately.*
Notes
*If you are preparing for a Hocus Pocus themed party, you can prep all of the drink components ahead of time. Keep the crushed ice in an ice bucket and the lemonade in a pitcher. Have guests mix their own drink, or mix it for them upon arrival. They’ll love watching the colors change right before their eyes, just like magic!
Nutrition Facts
Calories
415Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
