Katelyn's cocktail crusades

I’ve gone nuts… more literally than you think! Last week we shot a story on chestnuts and by Friday I was dreaming about the friggin’ things…. Like most themed shoots we do, by the end of it all I am so over Christmas cake, aubergines, strawberries or chocolate… ok wait, with the exception of chocolate! I can never have too much chocolate!

So my post this week is NOT about chestnuts – I can’t possibly look at them anymore! After the hectic week I had, all I seem to think about is something ice cold and refreshing to relax me...

I love cocktails – there is nothing more relaxing to me than mixing up something exotic. Experimenting with colours and flavours makes me feel like I’m in a laboratory concocting a potion of some sort. And then there’s the sipping – my favourite part!

This cocktail is made with 1 shot fynbos schnapps, 1T honey, 1t lemon juice, crushed ice and then topped up with iced rooibos tea or lemonade. I thought it was a rather cute idea to style the cocktail with a honey drizzler* as a swizzle stick.

* and yes this is what I decided to name it after an intense debate with my magazine colleagues over what the heck that honey 'thing-a-ma-jig' is called...

Combine two of my favourite summer essentials and what do you get? Cocktail sorbets... Yum! Just the thing to soothe away the summer sizzle! These sorbets were made using the classic favourites - strawberry daiquiri, mojito, cosmopolitan and pina colada. The trick to making these boozy sorbets is to not be too heavy handed with the alcohol - yes, its hard I know - but too much will stop it freezing and leave you with a slushy (but still tasty) mess.

Mix 3 cups fruit purée or juice with 1/3 cup alcohol and 150ml sugar syrup. Now get creative by substituting cocktail ingredients into the recipe. Freeze the mixture and whisk every 1/2 hour to prevent crystals forming or churn in an ice cream machine.

Photography by Angie Lazaro

Looking at the boring caipirinha through rose-tinted glasses... I gave Brazil's national cocktail the Katelyn touch - I absolutely love the fragrance of rose water and it combines really well with the lime and rum. And, of course, it just had to be pink so I used rose syrup to give it a pretty hue.

Muddle 1 sliced lime with 1t sugar in a glass. Fill the glass with ice. Pour in 1 shot each of rum and rose syrup. Stir and garnish with lime slices and rose petals.

Here's to getting through the work week and shaking up something ice cold and yummy for the weekend! Cheers!