Clever muffin

It’s summer. It’s Australia. And what is the most quintessentially Australian thing to do in summer? That’s right – drink VODKA!

I’m sorry, what was that? The first production of vodka was in Russia in the 9th century and was rarely consumed outside of Europe before the 1950’s?

Oh, oh, well sorrrry for stepping out of my Aussie stereotype.

Shall I throw another shrimp on the barbie? Drink some booze strored in an esky? Then go jump of a pier into a beautiful clear blue ocean*?

*all these pics were taken on my Christmas day.

Well yea, I could do all those things.

And then, I could drink vodka! So let’s do that.

First up, we’re going to need to make strawberry infused vodka. There are some fabulous instructions and pics over at Shutterbean.com on how to do this. I did, and it’s really easy. Here is the two minute version:

1. Vodka + strawberries in jar
2. Put in cupboard, shake daily
3. 3 days to 1 week later, remove strawberries and strain with coffee filter
4. Put in bottle. Ta da!

You really, really want to do this.

If you use a 750ml bottle of vodka, by the time you’ve thrown away the fruit (as Tracy from Shutterbean wisely says, only eat it if you want to get really messed up) and strained it you end up with about 600mls of vodka.

Now, take that vodka, some Cointreau, crush up some ice and put it in some glasses (exact quantities below).

Get some limes, palm sugar (or brown sugar) and mint in a mortar and pestle and give it a good muddle (I think that’s the technical term).

Spoon your muddled lime, palm sugar and mint evenly into the glasses.

Taking your 1960’s style soda syphon – spritz it! I.e. add some soda water.

Enjoy!

Makes four drinks

Ingredients
75mls strawberry infused vodka in each glass
25mls Cointreau or orange liquor such as triple sec in each glass
4 limes
2 tablespoons palm sugar (found in Asian groceries, or use brown sugar)
1 tablespoon mint
Soda water

Note on alcohol content: What are you here for, a haircut? But seriously, this is a strong drink made with the above proportions. It’s over three standard drinks. Drink wisely, alter proportions as needed.

Method

1. Place vodka, Cointreau and crushed ice in each glass
2. Muddle limes, palm sugar and mint together
3. Using as spoon evenly add muddles lime mixture to glasses
4. Spritz with soda water and enjoy!

Healthy? Alcohol is what we call ‘empty calories’. And you may have 265 of ‘em for this drink. Don’t worry, after the first one you won’t care anymore.

Gluten free: Why yes, this is a celiac friendly drink!

Storage: Just drink it.