I love Spring! A symphony of color burst through the cold grey earth. My garden herbs are bright and green. It’s time to celebrate the blooming of lavender and beckon the bees with the Lavender Cocktail.
This lavender cocktail is not too feminine, even though the lavender simple syrup gives it the rose color of a young maiden’s blush. I mix it with plenty of gin and a nice astringent bite of lemon. When you garnish with a Lavender sugar rim and pop in a lavender flower, it makes a great Mother’s Day cocktail.
Ingredients for this week’s Saturday Shakedown
gin (or vodka if you insist)
1 juicy lemon
lavender sugar (click here for recipe)
lavender simple syrup (click here for recipe)
cocktail shaker with muddler and strainer
ice ice baby!
Be a flower child
Get out there, Hipcooks, and inhale a bit of nature today. It will do you good. The hippies (and hip-cooks!) have long since prized lavender for its calming effects. It is said to reduce stress and anxiety, common side-effects of Quarantine. Sure, lavender essential oil rubbed on your temples, or as a foot-rub at night may coax a blissful sleep: but how about you get outside and enjoy the real deal? Take yourself on a walk. The odds are high (higher than receiving a PPP loan, that’s for sure) that you’ll find some of these beautiful purple blossoms. Check first for bees, and then run your fingers along the stem and buds, scrunching them as you go. Lift your hands to your nose and take a deep breath. Ahhh. Can you bottle that bliss? You can, Hipcooks, you sure can. Click here for the Lavender simple syrup recipe.
Mother’s Day is almost here!
I hope my little daughter makes me a Lavendar latte on Mother’s Day morning. With lemon and sugar crepes, like she always does, the cutie. While Hipcooks remains closed, how about a cute gift card so that you can celebrate at Hipcooks? Our gift certificates never expire. We hope to see you & Mum on the other side.
Ingredients
3 ounces gin
1½ ounce lavender simple syrup
½ ounce lemon
garmish: lavender sprig and lavender sugar rimInstructions
Prepare the cocktail glass by running the lemon wedge around the rim of the glass and then dipping it in lavender sugar.
Place the gin, simple syrup and lemon juice into the glass of a Boston cocktail shaker. Fill the glass with ice and shake, shake, shake. Strain into glass and garnish with the lavender flower.
5 comments
That photograph of the lavender martini is so Gorgeous and Inviting!!!! I’m very excited to learn how to make one this coming Saturday!
Thank you Hipcooks for staying connected.
Always!
This sounds so lovely but what can one do if there is nowhere fresh lavender to be found?
Thank you for posing this question, Mama! Indeed, I forget that in Florida you are not as blessed as we are on the West Coast. I recommend purchasing dried lavender flowers (you might find them in the bulk bin at Whole Foods), but here they are on Amazon. I took the liberty of ordering some for you: they’ll be arriving at your house soon — hopefully in time for Cocktails on Saturday. xo Monika