Morning Toast: New Year’s Brunch Cocktail

What kind of toast goes best with brunch on New Year’s Day? Whichever one you didn’t drink the night before. (Ba-dum dum.)

Actually, we think the best spirit to bring to the first day of the year could be a seasonal one you mix at home. So we turned to “The Liquid Muse,” Natalie Bovis, to shake things up and away from the usual mimosas and Bloody Marys. An LA-based mixologist and author, Bovis is also the creator of OM, the world’s first USDA-certified organic prepared cocktails. For Clean Plates, Bovis infused invigorating seasonal flavor into her Lavender Gin Sour. (Psst…for more great recipes, check out The Clean Plates Cookbook.)

Lavender Rosemary Gin Sour

¾ oz. Lavender Rosemary Syrup (see instructions below)
¾ oz. fresh lemon juice
1 ¾ oz. dry gin
Garnish: lavender sugar rim (lavender and sugar ground finely in a coffee grinder)

Rim a cocktail glass with lavender sugar.  Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass.  Add ice, shake vigorously and gently strain into rimmed cocktail glass.

Lavender Rosemary Syrup

1 c. brewed lavender tea
1 c. white granulated sugar*
25 rosemary leaves, plucked from sprig

*Clean Plates tip: Substitute coconut palm sugar for cane sugar.

Add eggs, potatoes, and toast…to a delicious new year.

Lavender image courtesy of  PHOTO/arts Magazine.

Recipes excerpted from Edible Cocktails: Garden To Glass by Natalie Bovis, The Liquid Muse, 2012. Used with permission.