Sips // The Bellini {Guest Post}

My first guest post ever! Wouldn’t have anyone else, either – joining us today is my lovely and culinarily-talented sister Abigail!  She blogs over at Living the Savory Life, rocks grad school, and well, I could say many nice things about her, but I’ll let her get on with the good stuff : Bellinis! MY FAVORITE!

Welcome, Abby!

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I’m so lucky to be guest blogging for my sister today! Inspired by one of Annabelle’s favorite drinks—the Bellini—I’m continuing my Summer Sangria Series with this post.

Ok, so if you’re a wine-o, you know that a Bellini is technically not in the sangria family, but for today we’re going to extend the Summer Sangria Series to cocktails made with wine.

The Bellini is of Italian origin, made with white peach puree and prosecco. [Prosecco is a dry sparkling wine from Italy.]

Although there may be a traditional method for making a cocktail, there is truly no “right” way: this creativity is something I love about making cocktails. So I made a few changes to the traditional recipe for my liking. Here is my personalized Bellini:

• Peach Puree
• Peach Schnapps
• Prosecco (or another dry sparkling wine)
• Lemon juice
• Lemons and peaches for garnish

Now if you’re like me… the thought of pureeing peaches sounds horrendous. Lots of dishes… very little (albeit delicious) gain. So when I was at the store scouring for peach juice (none to be found), I stumbled across this little gem:

Yes, that is baby food. Organic peach baby food. The only ingredient is pureed peaches – ready for your cocktail! It had a perfect consistency and no added ingredients (I checked, twice!). I can’t wait to try some more drinks with the Mango or Strawberry purées they had available!

The peach puree is a bit brown in color, but I guarantee you it is delicious. To that I added the juice of one lemon for a bit of added tartness.

This is a drink you make directly in your glass! Pour about 1-2oz of the peach and lemon mixture into your champagne flutes. (Use a slightly larger alternative to leave room for fruit!) Top with ½ oz of Peach schnapps.

Then tilt the glass on its side and slowly pour the prosecco in the glass: try to avoid making too much foam! Lastly, take a bar spoon (or iced tea spoon) and gently stir the drink. [The prosecco is treated with this delicate touch in order preserve the majority of the bubbles (technical term: carbon dioxide) for the drinker’s enjoyment!]

Serving suggestion: soak some skewers for a few minutes, then thread with blueberries and raspberries (or another fruit served well frozen). Freeze for 1-2 hours. These fruit skewers are an excellent way to keep your beverage cool in the summer heat, while not diluting the flavor with water!

Annabelle, thank you for letting me visit your blog.

Readers, I hope you are inspired to savor some summer flavors in your cocktails!

Til next time,
Abigail

Photocredit: Thank you to my dear friend, Hannah Fehrman for gifting me with beautiful photographs with my point-and-shoot camera! [Photos 1, 4-8] Check out her work here.