BOOZY SNOW CONE RECIPE

I mentioned how delicious our boozy snow cones turned out for a little blogger get together a few weeks ago here, and now I'm back to share the recipe with you!

Meg was so sweet to come over a few days before the event to help me make the syrups.  I found a few general recipes online, but figured we could kind of wing it.

The biggest lesson we learned is that a little simple syrup goes a long way.  Remember that this is a very concentrated syrup that you only need a very small portion of to make a big impact in your drink.

We made two different flavors: strawberry basil lime and lemon berry (we made an alcoholic and non-alcoholic version of this flavor).

Strawberry Basil Lime
--2 cups of water (for a big batch)
--1 cup of sugar (We used Truvia for a lower calorie option. Make sure to buy the baking blend version.)

This will make a large batch of simple syrup.  If you want to make a smaller batch, just adjust the amount of water and sugar, always keeping the ratio of 2 parts water to 1 part sugar the same.

--3 cups of cut up strawberries (there isn't really an exact science here, just add a healthy serving of strawberries)
--4-5 basil leaves
--1 lime

Step 1: Add your water and sugar to a saucepan and heat over medium heat until all the sugar dissolves. 

Step 2:  Once the sugar has dissolved in the water, take the saucepan off the heat and let cool for about 30 minutes. 

Step 3:  Pour the cooled sugar water into a bowl and add the strawberries and basil.  With a potato masher, mash the fruit and leaves.  You're trying to get the flavor into the sugar water mixture. 

Step 4:  Next, with a fine mesh strainer, strain the mixture into another bowl.  Then squeeze the juice of one lime into the syrup and stir. 

Step 5:  The final step is when you add the vodka if you want to make this snow cone syrup boozy.  Meg and I had a difficult time figuring out how much vodka to add.  We started off with 3 ounces, then moved to 6, and onto 9.  Right before the party, Meg added more, and they turned out great.  I guess this part depends on how boozy you want the snow cones to be.  I would suggest starting slowly and adding a little more alcohol at a time to get to the taste you prefer.

Drizzle some over some shaved ice and enjoy!

 

Lemon Berry

Everything is the same as the recipe above, except swap out 2 lemons and about 2 cups of blueberries instead of the strawberries, basil, and lime.

What I loved about these recipes is that they didn't require us to stick to a strict recipe.  It's just a lot of taste testing as you go and adding together flavors that sound good.  Thanks Meg for helping me make these delicious syrups!  It was a great excuse to hang out:)

Have you made simple syrups before?  Any flavor combinations I should try next?