Mint Iced Tea
Check out more of Luke Havens' recipes in his upcoming cookbook "HBG Dessert Bar: Sweets and Drinks" coming out late this summer on Amazon.com.
We’re in South Carolina, and that means sweet tea. However, I’ve made this iced tea with you out-of-staters in mind, too. Its mild sweetness is augmented by mint to make something undeniably refreshing, the Mason-Dixon line be damned.
4 cups of boiling water
8 black tea bags
7 T granulated sugar
4 cups cool water
40 mint leaves (about half a bunch)
Put the sugar and tea in a pitcher and cover with boiling water. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Steep for 10-15 minutes. Add cool water to the pitcher and remove tea bags. Chill the tea until cool. Add the mint leaves and crush them against the side of the pitcher while stirring with a wooden spoon. Serve over ice.
Pink Lemonade
No, seriously.
I know what everyone thinks of when they hear the words “pink lemonade:" It's that food coloring and sugar-laden drink made from a powder. A drink more aptly described as "pink" than "lemonade." This isn’t that. Somewhere between herbal iced tea and the classic, this lavender-infused lemonade is subtly sweet and endlessly sippable. It's the perfect drink for lying in the grass on a hot day.
4 cups boiling water
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup lavender flowers
zest of one lemon (in strips)
4 cups cool water
juice four lemons (about ½ cup)
Cover the sugar, lavender and lemon peel with the boiling water and stir until the sugar dissolves. Steep 10-15 minutes. Strain the liquid into a pitcher. Add the lemon juice and cool water to the pitcher and stir to combine. Chill and serve.
Blackberry Julep
OK, PSA time: Buy your moonshine from the store, not Uncle Beau. You don’t want to go blind. Also, if the words “apple pie” precede the word “moonshine” on the bottle, it’ll taste like neither. Get the good stuff and you’ll have one hell of a summer drink. Or, if you aren’t 21 yet, make it with seltzer and a little less simple syrup for a tasty homemade soda.
2 blackberries
2 T rich, simple syrup*
6 mint leaves
6 T moonshine (corn whiskey)
Lightly muddle the blackberries into the bottom of a highball glass. Shake the simple syrup and mint vigorously over ice. Clean out the empty container with the moonshine and stir into the minted syrup. Strain into the glass and stir. Fill the glass with ice and garnish with a mint leaf. If it isn’t sweet enough, muddle the blackberries some more.
*To make the simple syrup, combine 2 cups of sugar and 1 of cup water. Heat until the sugar dissolves and let it cool before use. Store in the refrigerator.
