Recipe: Valentine's Day Cocktail - Strawberry Bellini with Rim Sugar

I'm a sucker for champagne and flowers on Valentine's Day (and pretty much every day of the year). But if you're like me and trying to create champagne cocktail (that's not cloyingly sweet) for the one you love - then go with a batch of Strawberry Bellinis.

It's pretty, tastes of summer and always a hit with the ladies. (That's why it's my go-to drink recipe for whenever I'm hosting a girl's night in.)

-Patricia

HOW TO:

First, you’ll need to make some Strawberry Syrup:

Ingredients:

1 pound of strawberries (fresh is better, but frozen will work in a pinch)

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

Hull and chop your strawberries, then add them into a medium-sized saucepan. Next, add the water and sugar. Place the pan over medium-high heat and bring your mixture to a low boil and let the mix cook until the fruit begins to break down (about 8 to 10 minutes). Stir, stir, stir the whole time!

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Next, put a mesh sieve over a large measuring cup. Strain your syrup through the sieve (to get rid of the fruit solids). Discard the berries or use the berries for another dish (we love adding them to plain yogurt!)

Pour the syrup back into the saucepan. Bring this mixture back to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and bring the mix to a simmer. You’ll want to simmer your syrup until it reduces and thickens up a bit (about 5 to 10 more minutes).

Once you’ve hit that stage, remove the pan from the heat and let your syrup cool. Pour into a glass container and keep chilled in the refrigerator.

Next, make your strawberry bellinis!

Cocktail ingredients:

8 oz Prosecco

4 oz strawberry syrup

Red sanding sugar

2 chilled champagne glasses

Directions:

Rim your chilled champagne glasses with red sanding sugar and set aside. Pour 2 oz of strawberry syrup into each glass. Top off glass with Prosecco. Garnish with strawberry, if desired. Makes 2 drinks.

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