cranberry cosmo

In my perfect blog world, I took the time to remake these drinks in a variety of flavors and took amazing stylized photos to accompany exciting text on how to create a fun Valentine's day drink. In my reality, this will have to do.

The picture is of a cranberry cosmo drink I made in December for a Christmas party. Cranberry definitely seems seasonal, but I think you could also easily make it with other fruit flavors (any red fruits like strawberry or raspberry would be perfect for Valentine's day.) I found the basic recipe on the Food Network and modified it for my needs. Of course, my version needed to be non-alcoholic so I tried a few different sodas until I found the taste I liked.

Here's my version of the cranberry cosmo:

scoop of cranberry granita (see recipe below)

ginger ale (I also tried club soda but thought it was too bitter)

splash of fresh lime juice

Place granita in glass, cover with ginger ale and add splash of lime juice. Serve immediately. The frozen granita acts like ice to keep the drink cold and easily melts into the ginger ale. I also added a toothpick skewered with frozen cranberries to help keep the drink cold.

Cranberry Granita

2 cups water

1 1/2 cups cranberries

3/4 cups sugar

Place all ingredients in sauce pan over medium heat until berries start to pop (approx. 7 minutes). Remove from heat and puree. Pass the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a freezer safe pan. (I don't have fine mesh strainer so I used a thin white dishtowel. It worked great, just turned my dishtowel pink.) Place pan in freezer until frozen. When ready to use, scrape with fork to create shaved ice texture.