fennel raspberry rosé spritzer

My mom is coming to visit! She finally booked her tickets and will be here for a month. She says she wants to visit Alaska in December though she found San Francisco too cold in May, I’m not sure how this works. Yes, this is my mom! It will be a month of fun, she will try to spoil my pets and M, despite my objections. She doesn’t like to cook and unlike most regular families, there will be some role reversal where I will be making her food for her to try out. This weekend, I won’t get to spend Mother’s Day with my mom, I’ll call her up and talk to her over the phone and listen excitedly to her as she lists all things she wants to see and do while she visits. My mom is pretty cool and selfless, I love my mom. 

My mom likes port wine, I think it is the only alcohol besides beer that I have ever seen her drink in my lifetime. So did my grandma but I think I might have seen my grandma drink whisky (not completely sure) though I know she loved chocolates stuffed with liqueurs. So I figured if I were to create a Mother’s Day drink, I should make a cocktail with wine for her (even though she won’t able to drink this over the weekend, I will drink one for her) that’s lightly sweet. This drink is also an excellent spring and summer drink for brunches (or anytime you want a refreshing cocktail).

This cocktail is easy to prepare, it uses a simple syrup infused with fennel seeds. I then smash fresh raspberries and mix this into the fennel simple syrup and strain this mixture. The spritzer then comes together with the addition of rosé and club soda. Serve it chilled!

Here are some of my kitchen tips when preparing this cocktail;

• Use fresh good quality raspberries, I used Driscolls. Make sure the fennel seeds are not old or the flavor won’t be as good. 
• You can serve this over ice cubes, I didn’t but either way it is delicious!

fennel raspberry rosé spritzer

yields: 4 servings

ingredients

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon whole fennel seeds

1 package (6 ounces or 1 1/4 cups) Driscoll’s Raspberries

300mL rosé

120mL club soda

4 thin lime slices

extra raspberries for garnish

1. Prepare a simple syrup by mixing the water, sugar and fennel seeds in a medium-sized thick bottomed saucepan. Heat on medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 2 minutes. The sugar should be completely dissolved. Allow this mixture to cool for at least 2 hours (preferably overnight). Strain and discard the fennel seeds by passing the syrup through a sieve. Refrigerate to chill the fennel infused simple syrup for at least 2 hours.

2. Place the raspberries in a large measuring cup and smash to form a smooth pulp. Add the chilled simple syrup to the raspberry pulp. Allow to sit for 10 minutes. Then strain this liquid through a strainer and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Discard the solids in the strainer. 

3. In a large jar, mix the fennel-raspberry infused liquid along with the wine and club soda. To serve pour the chilled cocktail into four glasses and garnish with a slice of fresh lime and a few raspberries.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Driscoll’s. All opinions expressed are solely my own. . Visit Driscoll’s for more berry recipes & enter to win the Sweetest Berry Sweepstakes