Tag Archive for: drinks

Festive Ombré Blackberry Champagne

How to make an ombre blackberry champagne? Super easy! It’s perfect for festive celebrations and New Year’s Eve parties!

How to make an ombre blackberry champagne? Super easy! It's perfect for festive celebrations and New Year's Eve parties!

Christmas is over (omg, so fast!). Are you getting ready for the New Year’s Eve celebration already?

With a small kid, we’re gonna keep it low key, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have any festive drinks. What about you? Let me know in the comments… What do you love to drink on New Year’s Eve?

I’ve got a new cocktail recipe for you. Ugh, it’s been such a long time!

In the mood of this year ending and anticipation of what’s new to come, I have a recipe that’s very fancy and festive and easy to make. A delicious ombré blackberry champagne. I promise you’re gonna make an impression even though it’s so easy to make.

All you have to do is make a simple blackberry syrup with some fresh or frozen blackberries, rosemary, water, and sugar. All you have to do beforehand is cook it down to a syrupy consistency and cool down. Then you’re ready to serve at the last moment with some champagne.

How to make an ombre blackberry champagne? Super easy! It's perfect for festive celebrations and New Year's Eve parties!
How to make an ombre blackberry champagne? Super easy! It's perfect for festive celebrations and New Year's Eve parties!
How to make an ombre blackberry champagne? Super easy! It's perfect for festive celebrations and New Year's Eve parties!
How to make an ombre blackberry champagne? Super easy! It's perfect for festive celebrations and New Year's Eve parties!
How to make an ombre blackberry champagne? Super easy! It's perfect for festive celebrations and New Year's Eve parties!

How to make the ombre effect?

The trick is to make the syrup really thick and syrupy. Like any syrup. The weight of the syrup will make it sink to the bottom of the glass.

The other trick is in pouring the drink. First, you pour the champagne. Then you take a tablespoon, tilt the glass 45 degrees and slowly pour in the syrup so it slides on the sides and reaches the bottom.

How to make an ombre blackberry champagne? Super easy! It's perfect for festive celebrations and New Year's Eve parties!

How to decorate this festive blackberry champagne?

I used some flavored sugar that I made as Christmas gifts to decorate the rim. You can use regular sugar or demerara sugar if you like the gold color. You can use some water or melted butter to hold the sugar on the rim.

I also used a rosemary stem to hold some blackberries which I placed in the freezer and used to serve at the last moment. I love the condensation effect that happens when you take it out of the freezer 😀

All you need to do then is to enjoy.

How to make an ombre blackberry champagne? Super easy! It's perfect for festive celebrations and New Year's Eve parties!

Tag #useyournoodles so I can see your beautiful UYN creations. Also, stay in touch on Facebook and Instagram or subscribe to get the recipes directly to your mailbox ♥

How to make an ombre blackberry champagne? Super easy! It's perfect for festive celebrations and New Year's Eve parties!
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Course Drinks
Keyword celebration, champagne, cocktail, new year’s eve
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cup blackberries fresh or frozen
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ¼ cup water
  • 4 rosemary springs
  • 8 blackberries for decoration
  • 1 bottle of Champagne chilled

Instructions

  1. Prepare the decoration. Remove the leaves from the bottom half of the rosemary springs. Save the leaves for the syrup. Place two blackberries on each rosemary spring. and freeze.

  2. Place blackberries, sugar, water, and rosemary leaves in a saucepan. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until you get a syrupy consistency.

  3. Drain through a sieve to remove the pits and cool the syrup.

  4. Pour chilled champagne into champagne glasses, then tilt each glass 45 degrees and pour 2 TBSP syrup on the sides of the glass, so it slides to the bottom. Decorate with blackberries on rosemary springs.

How to make an ombre blackberry champagne? Super easy! It's perfect for festive celebrations and New Year's Eve parties!
How to make an ombre blackberry champagne? Super easy! It's perfect for festive celebrations and New Year's Eve parties!

Grapefruit-Elderflower Mocktail

Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy – the best kind!

Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy - the best kind!

After the elderflower cordial recipe from yesterday, I just had to make a delicious summery mocktail. Nothing beats the summer heat like a super refreshing drink. I made a non-alcoholic recipe, but I added a hint on how to make it boozy in the notes if you like that 🙂

We’re spending so much time outside now, that it’s finally hot and feels like summer is just around the corner. You know, no more long sleeves and socks… Grrr, I hate them, I truly do! The greatest time of year is when I can move my socks to the back of the closet. So yeah, we’re thinking about buying some kind of transportable cooker or grill, so that we can prepare dinners outside.

During the Winter it’s become such a nice habit to cook the dinner together with hubby and son. We really wanna continue doing this through the Summer, but we also want to be outside as much as possible.

Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy - the best kind!
Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy - the best kind!
Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy - the best kind!
Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy - the best kind!

Back to the recipe, this is another very simple recipe and it literally takes minutes to make. And if that is not enough, it’s packed with flowery elderflower flavor and has the citrusy zing of grapefruit and lime. What else could you ask for?

What if I don’t have elderflower cordial on hand?

You can use fresh or dried elderflowers just the same. Pour half a cup of boiling water over 2 elderflowers and add 1/4 cup sugar. Let steep for 10 minutes. Let cool down. Use it as the syrup in the mocktail.

Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy - the best kind!
Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy - the best kind!
Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy - the best kind!
Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy - the best kind!
Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy - the best kind!

Tag #useyournoodles so I can see your beautiful UYN creations. Also, stay in touch on Facebook and Instagram or subscribe to get the recipes directly to your mailbox ♥

Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy - the best kind!
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Grapefruit-Elderflower Mocktail

Course Cocktail, Drinks
Keyword elderflower mocktail, grapefruit mocktail
Servings 4 drinks
Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup elderflower cordial (link to the recipe in notes)
  • 3/4 cup grapefruit pink grapefruit juice
  • 2 TBSP lime juice
  • 1 1/2 cup sparkling water

Instructions

  1. Mix elderflower cordial, grapefruit juice and lime juice in a jar.

  2. Place ice cubes in 4 glasses.

  3. Pour over the mocktail mixture and add sparkling water.

  4. Serve immediately.

Notes

  1. ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL RECIPE HERE
  2. COCKTAIL VERSION: Add a shot of gin to each glass and enjoy!
Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy - the best kind!

Pink Grapefruit Gin and Tonic

Turn a classic gin and tonic into a delicious gin cocktail by adding pink grapefruit and aquafaba for a fabulous delicate foam.

Turn a classic gin and tonic into a delicious gin cocktail by adding pink grapefruit and aquafaba for a fabulous delicate foam.

Yay, it’s Spring! I’ve been waiting for it for such a long time. I say that’s a good enough reason to have a cocktail. Are you with me?

Today’s the day for a very refreshing and just a little fancy pink grapefruit gin and tonic. Secret ingredient – aquafaba. It adds such a delicate foam and also such a flavor. I just recently discovered aquafaba and I’m in love. If you never tried it, please do. It will rock your world. I made meringue a couple of weeks ago and it’s pretty fabulous. I might even prefer it to the egg white meringue. Still deciding, they are both so good!

Turn a classic gin and tonic into a delicious gin cocktail by adding pink grapefruit and aquafaba for a fabulous delicate foam.
Turn a classic gin and tonic into a delicious gin cocktail by adding pink grapefruit and aquafaba for a fabulous delicate foam.
Turn a classic gin and tonic into a delicious gin cocktail by adding pink grapefruit and aquafaba for a fabulous delicate foam.

How to make the beautiful foam?

The trick to getting the beautiful foam from aquafaba is to use a cocktail shaker. A mason jar works as well, although it requires a bit more shaking, but you can get the job done 🙂 Funny story. After the photoshoot, I saved the cocktail so me and my husband would drink it in the evening. The foam was almost gone by the evening so I wanted to shake the whole thing a bit. But totally forgot that the cocktail also includes tonic. Hello, bubbles! And hello, explosion! You can imagine the rest. Luckily I had enough so we could both have a sip or two. And a mess to clean up 😛

Turn a classic gin and tonic into a delicious gin cocktail by adding pink grapefruit and aquafaba for a fabulous delicate foam.
Turn a classic gin and tonic into a delicious gin cocktail by adding pink grapefruit and aquafaba for a fabulous delicate foam.
Turn a classic gin and tonic into a delicious gin cocktail by adding pink grapefruit and aquafaba for a fabulous delicate foam.

Guys, tomorrow I’m turning 31! In the morning I’ll be baking a cake for myself 🙂 Oh who am I kidding, I’ll probably bake more than one. Don’t judge 😀 We’ll have some friend and family over for the weekend so I need to equip myself with some goodies. I’ll probably also bake my plum apple galette. It is a big hit at my house.

Have a great weekend and cheers!

Tag #useyournoodles so I can see your beautiful UYN creations. Also, stay in touch on Facebook and Instagram or subscribe to get the recipes directly to your mailbox ♥

Turn a classic gin and tonic into a delicious gin cocktail by adding pink grapefruit and aquafaba for a fabulous delicate foam.
5 from 1 vote
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Pink Grapefruit Gin and Tonic

Course Cocktail, Drinks
Keyword cocktail, gin and tonic, pink grapefruit cocktail
Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup gin
  • 1/2 cup tonic
  • 1/2 cup grapefruit juice freshly squeezed
  • 1/4 cup + 2 TBSP aquafaba
  • ice

Ginger syrup

  • 1/4 cup water boiled
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • thimbs size ginger peeled and roughly chopped

Instructions

Ginger syrup

  1. Pour boiling water over chopped ginger and cover. Let steep for 10 minutes, then uncover and leave to cool for five minutes.

  2. Once cooled a bit add honey and mix until honey dissolves. Leave to cool completely and refrigerate before making the cocktail.

Pink Grapefruit Gin and Tonic

  1. Pour gin, grapefruit juice, aquafaba and ginger syrup in a cocktail shaker and top with a handful of ice. Close the lid securely. Shake vigorously until you see foam on top.

  2. Pour into four glasses and serve immediately.

Turn a classic gin and tonic into a delicious gin cocktail by adding pink grapefruit and aquafaba for a fabulous delicate foam.

Whiskey-Spiked Mulled Ginger Beer

It’s drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.

It's drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.

Hi guys! It’s been too long since I’ve written here. I’m not gonna bore you with a ton of details. If you want to see what’s been keeping me away from my blog, you can check my personal IG. You’ll see my little elf growing up, keeping me busy and on the move. He’s such a nice little boy an I love how he enjoys helping us in the kitchen or anywhere else for that matter. He loved to pick veggies from the garden in the summer. His favorite veggie for picking: green beans. Current obsession: baking cookies, dancing and playing with puzzles. One particular puzzle ALL DAY LONG. We’ve had to fix it multiple times it’s in such bad condition. 

It's drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.
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This was just a really short version of our life right now. And I’m so excited about the upcoming holidays. We’ve got the tree up, lights are on, decorations are up, we just need a drink to keep us warm. We’re all about spicy. Even the kiddo doesn’t mind a little heat. 

This whiskey spiked mulled beer is not for kids, but be sure to check the recipe notes for a non-alcoholic version that’s safe for kids 🙂 I want my kid to be able to eat and drink with all the rest of the family, so I try and make dishes and drinks that he can enjoy too. We’ve almost entirely banned eggs since he’s allergic and you’ll probably see a lot more egg-free recipes in the future.

Okay, let’s head to the recipe. I’ve tried mulled beer when we stopped in Lithuania on our Eurotrip honeymoon. It blew my mind. Who’d have known cooked beer would be so good. After that, I tried bad ones too and I can tell you choice of beer matters a lot. I’m making mulled ginger beer, but you can use others as well. Just make sure the beer is not too hoppy and bitter because this will reflect in the mulled beer. 

It's drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.
It's drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.

If you need more drinks to keep you warm during the cold winter you may want to try my Mulled Mandarin Juice or homemade Hot Chocolate.

Tag #useyournoodles so I can see your beautiful UYN creations. Also, stay in touch on Facebook and Instagram or subscribe to get the recipes directly to your mailbox ♥

It's drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.
5 from 1 vote
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Whiskey-Spiked Mulled Ginger Beer

It’s drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.

Course Cocktail, Drinks
Keyword beer cocktail, easy recipe
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Servings 6 people
Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

  • 1 L ginger beer
  • juice of 2 oranges
  • peel of one orange
  • 4 cinnamon sticks
  • 6 slices ginger
  • 4 rosemary springs
  • honey to taste
  • whiskey to taste

Instructions

  1. Add ginger beer, orange juice cinnamon sticks, ginger slices and rosemary springs to a pot and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes then remove from heat and add honey.

  2. Pour in mugs or heat-proof glasses and add whiskey to taste.

Notes

Non-alcoholic version: omit whiskey and use non-alcoholic ginger beer

It's drinks like these mulled ginger beer with a hint of whiskey that create the Christmas atmosphere.

Sparkling Basil & Blueberry Float

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink – sparkling basil and blueberry float.

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.

How’s summer been treating you so far?

So far, we’ve had increadible hot weather and we finaly managed to get some vacations. We love going to the lakeside. We spent a week at the amazing lake Bohinj. I dare say it’s one of the prettiest places in Slovenia. The lake lies right under the mountains in a national park. It’s amazing to see the slopes of the mountains end at the lake shore and see the most perfect sunset behind the peaks all while swimming in the cold (but no freezing) water.

Our friends with two kids joined us there. The kids had so much fun and us adults had a lot of beer. Omg, this sounds like we were neglecting our kids, but I asure you we weren’t. Beer was necesary to beat off the heat. And the uncountable wasp attacks. Anyway, it was a great vacation, minus wasps!

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float. A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.

Coming back home, we stepped right into the blueberry season. Not the wild ones, those are gone for a while. But they would work just as well if not better in this recipe. 

Anyway, the frost completely damaged our blueberry flowers and there are barely any blueberries. My parents-in-law have a lot, though. Luckily their blueberries survived the frost 🙂

I was thinking about making another drink recipe. I haven’t done one in a while and it’s about time to have one for the summer heat. I remember seing a ton of float recipes on Pinterest. I’ve never really tried one, but I was sure vanilla ice cream and blueberries would make an awesome summer float. So I made a simple recipe, that’s both a refreshing drink and an awesome dessert. Who wouldn’t like that?!

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float. A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float. A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.

Again my obsession with basil. I swear it’s in all my food these days. There’s just so much of it. And I like how delicious it tastes in sweet recipes. Blueberries and basil – a spot on combination. My new favorite! No really, it’s that great. You need to try the recipe ASAP.

Combine all of that with lime juice and a creamy bourbon vanilla icecream and you get the tasteiest, most delicious blueberry float. I actually saved some from the shoot in the fridge and they were just ass good the next day. Vanilla icecream turned into a creammy fluff and kept the bubbles from sparkling water right in the drink. It was just as yum the next day. Who would have thought 😀

 

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.

I feel like my posts are getting shorter and shorter, but I really need to get some sleep. I’m writing this while baby is two hours in his night sleep, so I only have a few more hours to get some proper rest. He usually wakes up at half past one or around two and after that it’s a gamble. He might sleep well, or he’ll move in his bed (sleeping or not). I can’t really sleep while I hear him moving, so I’m looking forward to him getting his own room in about two or three months. He’s actaully quite a good boy as far as sleeping goes, but I wouldn’t mind a full eight our sleep. Haven’t had one in four months.

We’ll I’ve kept my babbling way too long.

Off to bed now!

Good night folks and happy Friday in a couple of hours!

Tag #useyournoodles so I can see your beautiful UYN creations. Also, stay in touch on Facebook and Instagram or subscribe to get the recipes directly to your mailbox ♥

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.
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Sparkling Basil & Blueberry Float

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Blueberry Purée

  • 3 cups blueberries
  • 3/4 cup cane sugar
  • 3/4 cup water
  • juice of one lime
  • 10 big basil leaves

Sparkling Basil & Blueberry Float

  • blueberry purée
  • 400 ml sparkling water
  • juice of two limes
  • 8 scoops bourbon vanilla ice cream
  • frozen blueberries or crushed ice

Instructions

Blueberry Purée

  1. Place all ingredients into a skillet over medium heat and let simmer for 5 minutes.

  2. Purée cooked blueberries and the liquid in a food processor and let cool at room temperature. Refrigerate before serving if preffered.

Sparkling Basil & Blueberry Float

  1. Fill four small glasses with blueberry purée, place frozen blueberries or crushed ice over. Pour over lime juice and sparkling water and top each drink with two scoops of bourbon vanilla ice cream.

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.