eat make read

Well, hello and happy new year! 2012 is really here and that just seems a little bonkers. But there’s no going back so full steam ahead, right?!

I wanted to start off the new year with an extra tasty cocktail. After poking around my books for a while, I had some ideas floating around, so I went to the grocery to see if anything brought clarity to them. Low and behold, I found one of my favorite fruits, a blood orange. I snapped a few up and came up with the Applejack Flamingo, which is a play on the Applejack Rabbit. The original drink calls for applejack, orange and lemon juice and maple syrup, but I figured it might be interested to swap out the orange for its sweeter cousin, the blood orange. To be honest, I was a little unsure of how the blood orange would play with the applejack, but let me tell you, they’re good friends. The cocktail is sweet—I mean we’ve got maple syrup and blood orange—but the lemon cuts through it to bring a nice hint of tartness while the applejack provides a lovely apple base flavor. To tell you the truth, it’s a little dangerous, because it doesn’t really tasty boozy, just fruity and refreshing. But hey, I’m not complaining.

Cheers! To a new year, tasty cocktails and sunny days ahead!

Applejack Flamingo
makes 1 cocktail

1 1/2 ounce applejack
1 ounce blood orange juice
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce maple syrup
dash orange bitters
2-inch strip of blood orange peel

1
Combine all ingredients (except orange peel) in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake for 10 seconds.

2
Strain into a cocktail glass. Gently squeeze the blood orange peel and twist, gently hang it from the edge of the glass. Enjoy!