Ruby red French 75 cocktail made from blood orange juice, light, sparkling and refreshing!
BE PICTURED IN; CHARACTERIZED IN:
Valentine’s Day just begs to be celebrated with something red and bubbly, right?
So beautiful! And just as nice to drink as the original, if not more so.
The classic French 75 is light and refreshing and brings a little kick with gin. First launched a hundred years ago, it is made with lemon juice, gin, sugar and sparkling wine.
One of the things that makes a French 75 work so well is the interplay of tart citrus with gin, champagne and simple syrup. Since we’re substituting blood oranges for the lemon juice in the classic recipe, and blood oranges tend to be sweeter than tart, I’ll add some lime juice to help balance the drink.
A few notes about the recipe. If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, you can use any sealable container, even a quart-sized mason jar. I used a wide-mouth plastic sports water bottle as the shaker.
Blood oranges tend to be quite fleshy, so it’s a good idea to strain the juice at least once.
For added flavor, add a few strips of blood orange zest to the simple syrup once it is boiling.
Enjoy!
Blood Orange French 75 Cocktail
To make a peel from the zest, use a vegetable peeler to peel a long strip of zest from the blood orange. Cut into thin strips with a sharp knife. Twist it into a curly shape and hold it like that for a few seconds.
*To make simple syrup, combine equal parts sugar and water in a small saucepan. (I usually make syrup with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water and save the excess for other uses.) Bring to a boil. If you have a few strips of blood orange peel, add them to the water for extra flavor. When the sugar has completely dissolved in the water, remove from the heat and allow to cool. Remove the shell. Pour into a mason jar and store in the fridge.
ingredients
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1 1/2 tablespoons (3/4 ounce) freshly juiced blood orange juicetense
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1/2 tablespoon (1/4 ounce) lime juice
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1 1/2 tablespoons (3/4 ounce) simple syrup*
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1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) gin
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1/4 cup (2 ounces) champagneProsecco or other sparkling wine
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A twist blood orange peel
method
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In a cocktail shaker (or anything that can be used as a cocktail shaker) combine the blood orange juice, lime juice, simple syrup and gin with a few ice cubes.
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Shake well and strain, pour into a champagne flute.
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Top up with champagne, prosecco or sparkling wine.
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Add a touch of blood orange zest to the glass.
Links:
Elderflower French 75 by Garnish with Lemon
Mexican 75, a tequila and champagne cocktail by Glutenfree with LB
Pomegranate French 75 by The Speckled Palate
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 200 | calories |
| 0g | Fat |
| 16g | carbohydrates |
| 0g | protein |
