I love strawberries! The color, the sweetness the versatility…I love everything about them.  I’m just so thankful I’m not allergic like a few of my friends.  I haven’t made too many cocktails or dishes with strawberries in them yet but I did make some strawberry simple syrup last weekend to add to cocktails and teas.  Strawberry simple syrup is a great idea if you have strawberries in your fridge that are loosing their freshness.  I pinned this cocktail a while ago and knew that it would be the perfect drink after a long day!

Though the cocktail is pretty easy to make, it introduces a “technique” that you may or may not be familiar with: spanking the mint.  I’ve heard of this before but, honestly, ignored it. However, I’ve read all of the good that comes from spanking mint so I obliged to the recipe. I have to say…spanking the mint is a good thing.  This isn’t just something you can do for cocktails or mint; you can and should be spanking all of your herbs to give it a little pep! Yes, even your herbs need a little pep talk every now and then.  I have to say that once the mint was…spanked, the smell of the mint immediately became more fragrant.  It was beautiful! So, I highly suggest if you’re using any type of herb that you’d like to stand out in a dish or a drink, spank it first!

Not pictured here is the bourbon and the club soda…not sure what I was thinking.

If you have a difficult time finding vanilla beans in your regular grocery stores, try a specialty store like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.  Sometimes vanilla can get a little pricey but the good thing with vanilla is that a little goes a long way. Don’t go overboard.

Strawberry Bourbon Cobbler Cocktail – recipe from YumSugar

1 tsp. sugar in the raw
2 strawberries, hulled and cut into quarters
1/2 inch of vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
10 mint leaves
1 1/2 ounces of bourbon
Ice
1 ounce of chilled club soda

Directions:

In a cocktail glass, muddle sugar, strawberries,
and vanilla bean until strawberries are pulpy. 

Spank mint
leaves and add to glass. Pour in bourbon, and stir until combined. 

Fill
glass with ice, and top with club soda. Garnish with more mint, if desired.

I would even switch it up a bit if I were to make this again and add champagne at the end instead of club soda.  That sounds tasty, right?

Have a great weekend!