Sunday, October 10, 2010

Sparkly Sunday


I decided to glam up football day with sparkly pink drinks.


As we lounged around on the couch watching the game, I was thinking about the raspberries that I needed to use, and soon. I wasn’t in the mood to bake and never need much of an excuse to open a bottle of champagne, so I asked Andy what he thought about raspberry and orange together. Fine, he said. What about raspberry, orange and basil??? The look on his face said it all, but then he elaborated that the addition of the herbs made him uneasy.


I pureed the ingredients together, leaving the basil out, and gave him a taste. It was good. I added the basil, pureed again, and gave him another sample. Even better. The basil seemed to open up all the other flavors. Winner! 

Raspberry Sparklers

6 ounces raspberries
5 tablespoons fresh orange juice (I used Clementines)
1-2 tablespoons sugar (depending on tartness of raspberries)
2-3 large basil leaves, roughly chopped
Champagne or sparkling wine

Put raspberries, orange juice, sugar and basil in a blender and puree until smooth and sugar is dissolved. Pour mixture through a strainer to remove raspberry seeds and excessive basil.

Spoon raspberry mixture into champagne flutes (I used 3 spoonfuls per glass), then add champagne slowly (raspberry mixture causes major foaming).

Garnish with raspberry, basil leaf, and slice of orange, if desired.


This recipe made about 3/4 cup of mixture; enough for 1 bottle of champagne.

I know this sounds like an odd combination, but the flavors really work well together. These drinks go down like punch, and even though it’s pink and has a girly name, it’s sure to please even the brawniest football fan.

Cheers!

  
Click here for a couple of my other fun Sunday afternoon cocktail ideas:

64 comments:

  1. Another great little cocktail for us girls! Love it!...so pretty too, and healthy with the fresh fruit and basil. The champagne doesn't hurt, either!

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  2. A beautiful drink! I once made basil mojitos and they were good so I am ALL for the adding of herbs! Love this!

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  3. well this looks like my kind of drink raspberry anything and its for me!~

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  4. Yum! And I thought I was spoiled with my plain old champagne with orange juice! NEXT Sunday we are having Raspberry Sparklers thanks!

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  5. Wow, pass me a glass, please! Looks wonderful!

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  6. YUM! This looks fantastic. I love these flavor combinations and this is my kind of a Sunday football beverage!

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  7. This sounds like a great beverage to serve at a bridal shower or other girl party.

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  8. Sounds refreshing and fragrant. Love the color too.

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  9. Oh yes! I have been there, sometimes my hubby look at me like I'm a crazy person lol, but most of the time my unusual combination is well accepted.
    Your drink looks delicious, very glam...

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  10. This is so my kind of drink...will have to try this! I am big on Sunday Mimosa's, but this is a lovely twist :)

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  11. Looks divine and I bet it tastes just as good.
    Sue :-)

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  12. Oooh...that looks very refreshing...love it! Beautiful colour...brings smiles :)

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  13. Gorgeous! In my opinion, basil belongs with fruit! I like to add it to fruit salad and in sorbets!

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  14. Oh yum! I love champagne, and I love using basil in unconventional ways- it's such a great herb!

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  15. Wow! It looks beautiful and I would love it. Thanks for the recipe!

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  16. These drinks would DEFINITELY make football day a whole lot more tolerable for me. Fantastic!

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  17. It's so pretty. This would make a fantastic cocktail for the fall.

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  18. I agree...you never need an excuse to pop open a bottle of champagne! And I love any cocktail with fresh basil. I'll have to give this a try, thanks!

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  19. So pretty! I'm not a football fan, so this would definitely make watching the game a lot easier! I love your addition of basil- it just seems to bring out the flavor of fruit!

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  20. looks not only delicious and refreshing, but really pretty! Great looking cocktail!

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  21. I love a fruity drink with champagne. I bet it definitely classed up the whole game-watching thing. Thanks for sharing!

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  22. What a pretty blog you have! I drooled over many of your photos.

    This drink sounds wonderful I'd love to serve it for brunch!

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  23. Wow, what a beautiful drink! I would love to try this basil and fruit combination. Your photos are wonderful.

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  24. What a delicious and beautiful combination! I'm not a football fan but would certainly join the viewing in order to imbibe! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I'm looking forward to seeing what else you've cooked up.

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  25. Yes, this would make my Sunday sparkly. Most definitely!

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  26. enjoy the soup and wow these are so pretty, great blog thanks so much for stopping by Rebecca

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  27. Karen this looks so good. I have never had basil in a cocktail before. I can't wait ton try this for some friends this weekend.

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  28. Perfect for injecting some colour (and bubbles) into your day!

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  29. It's five o'clock somewhere... Great looking cocktails!

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  30. Anything with champagne is a good thing but raspberries and orange just sounds so fresh and summery. Good addition with the basil too :)

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  31. Your cocktails look incredible! Yesterday I had my first Madras (cranberry juice, orange juice, and vodka), but your raspberry with sparkling champagne sounds even better :)

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  32. What a lovely drink! I can see myself sipping one of those as I prepare Thanksgiving dinner, at 9 am in the morning. It will just have to replace my mohito.

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  33. Football fans need sparkle too! This looks awesome. I had a bikini bellini this weekend that didn't look near that pretty. Going to have to save this one!

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  34. Wow! I love the idea of a girly drink while watching football! I'll be making this one tonight!

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  35. I love the sound of the basil in this! What a great creation. This would make looking at men slapping each other around much more bearable ;)

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  36. Ooooh I love it! The color is absolutely stunning and the ingredients sound delicious. I know what I'll be drinking this Sunday afternoon ;)

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  37. What a lovely blog you have! Your photos are fantastic. Thanks for stopping by ;o)

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  38. Funny I've been eyeing this lovely cocktail! Just had to get through my inbox so I could come comment! I love clementines! Wish I had one of these right now! I bet it was good with the basil.
    -Gina-

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  39. Simple and fresh - fantastic pictures! So colorful!

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  40. Looking so refreshing esp right now in Winnipeg, it's pretty warm.

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  41. This looks so refreshing! Beautiful photos!

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  42. Loving this cocktail! It's got tons of great flavors in there and I don't know about you, those champagne cocktails (especially mimosas!) tend to sneak up on me! But I'm not complaining =)

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  43. How cute! I never think to make my own drink, but I feel like I should. This looks delicious!

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  44. I can't wait to make these! I bet they'd also be delicious with fresh mint. Yum yum!

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  45. I just saw your picture here was a Foodbuzz favorite PHOTO, right?! Awesome!!!!!

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  46. Wonderful post!!! Great Pics and congrats on making Foodbuzz Top 9!! That is totally cool!!!

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  47. Congrats on Top 9 Karen. The pics are amazing. Great color and depth of field.

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  48. Wonderful pics, this cocktail looks totally great, refreshing and colours are so awesome!!!
    thanks for your comment on my blog!
    Your blog is wonderful!
    Annalisa

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  49. how perfectly refreshing does that look!?!?

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  50. sparkalicious! this looks so refreshing I will definitely give this a whirl, have a glorious day

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  51. Oh yum!! Congrats I saw it on the top 9, yay!

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  52. It definitely looks fantastic and refreshing. I just happen to have all the ingredients I need in the fridge, though the champagne my aunt brought was some that someone gave her and is almond flavored. How weird is that. I bet it would taste good with this though.

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  53. Ok now I have an excuse to go open my bottle now of champagne! I bet the basil is so good in it! I think I will make this tonite!
    Thanks for stoppping by my blog! :)

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  54. Can't wait to try this cocktail! Wherever did you find Clementines? We don't have them in Seattle yet. Thanks for posting! Cheers, K.

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  55. Basil and raspberries just happen to be two of my favorite things -- a bit of the bubbly is icing.

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  56. What a great idea. I already love mimosas, and I love raspberries, so I'm sure these Raspberry sparklers will be amazing.

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