Strawberry Cucumber Gin Elderflower Spritz Recipes

STRAWBERRY-CUCUMBER GIN-ELDERFLOWER SPRITZ

Steps:

• Muddle sliced strawberries, halved cucumber slices, sugar, and lemon juice in the bottom of a pitcher until fruits break down and release most of their juices and sugar has dissolved. Stir in gin and St-Germain to combine. Fill 6 glasses halfway with ice. Divide fruit-and-gin mixture evenly among glasses. Top each with 1 to 2 ounces club soda; stir once. Top each with a few dashes of bitters, whole strawberries, and cucumber rounds; serve immediately.

CUCUMBER & ELDERFLOWER SPRITZER

Steps:

• Chop the cucumber into a few chunks, then put in a blender or food processor with the wine and elderflower cordial. Whizz until well blended, then pour through a sieve set over a large bowl or jug. Tip the contents of the sieve back into the machine, whizz again until pulpy, then sieve again into the liquid already collected. Add 1-2 tbsp of the cucumber pulp from the sieve into the liquid and discard the rest. Chill until ready to serve.
• To serve, fill glasses with a few ice cubes and some mint leaves. Pour in enough cucumber base to come halfway up the glass, then top up with soda water.

STRAWBERRY & ELDERFLOWER COBBLER

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Toss the strawberries in an oval, roughly 25cm, ovenproof dish with the vanilla, lemon, sugar and cordial. Roast in the oven for 10 mins, or until the strawberries are jammy but holding their shape. Remove the vanilla pod and discard. Mix a little of the strawberry juices into the cornflour, then add the cornflour mixture to the strawberries, combining well.
• For the cobbler topping, toss the flour with the sugar and a pinch of salt. Rub the butter into the flour mixture using your fingertips, then swiftly stir in 80ml buttermilk. If it looks dry, stir in the remaining 20ml. Spoon the cobbler mix over the strawberry base (about eight large spoonfuls), sprinkle over the demerara sugar and bake for 25-30 mins, or until the topping is lightly golden brown. Leave to rest for 10 mins, then serve with clotted cream or ice cream.Twist itSummer berries: Use a mixture of summer berries and up the sugar to 60g. Frozen summer berries work well - just leave out the cooking time for the fruit in step 1, toss the berries with the vanilla, lemon, sugar and cordial, then follow the method from step 2.Peach melba: Slice 3 ripe peaches and toss them with 400g raspberries in step 1 for a peach melba twist. Remove the elderflower cordial if doing this twist, and top the cobbler with flaked almonds before baking.Gooseberries: Simply use the same quantity of gooseberries and cordial, but increase the amount of sugar to 80g.

CHERUB'S CUP - GIN AND ELDERFLOWER SPARKLING COCKTAIL

Steps:

• Muddle the strawberry in a shaker.
• Add the Gin, Lemon Juice and Simple Syrup.
• Shake and strain over fresh rocks in a collins glass.
• Top with Brut Rosé or Brut Champagne.
• Garnish with a strawberry.