Blueberry Basil Vodka Gimlet

Medically reviewed by Christiana George Updated Date: June 8, 2023

Who was it that said you could kick a habit by avoiding it for 21 days? I believe it was Benjamin Franklin. Wise man. I am not so wise, and even less strong of will, so it’s taken me this many years to heed his words. But I’ve finally gone and done it: I think I’ve kicked my chocolate habit. Huzzah!

Instead, I’ve funnelled my sweet tooth into fruit. With a passion. As in, I’m running high on fructose, like a hummingbird. What do they call this type of behavior again? Sublimation perhaps? (I used to know all this stuff back in high school, when Jungian dream analysis and Freudian psychoanalytic mumbo jumbo fascinated me. Nowadays, I choose to direct my attention towards resisting substances causing weight gain. Who said you become wiser the older you get?) I’m not sure if it’s really an improvement (I was reading an article the other day about how eating fruit is just as bad as eating candy. Of course, I found it on one of those websites that sensationalizes everything—I really need to unsubscribe from their email lists) but it’s certainly better for me psychologically.

With all the excess of fruit in the apartment, I’ve been finding non-dessert-like ways of incorporating it into my diet. I absolutely love fruit in salads and sauces (peach salsa!), but of course, I can’t ignore the fact that cocktails make the perfect vessels for truly capturing their essence.

At what point is a drink no longer the drink it purports to be? Because I’m pretty certain that real gimlets contain neither lemon juice nor vodka nor sparkling water nor basil nor blueberry. I’m pretty certain a real gimlet, at least according to authority figures like Raymond Chandler (heck YES), is just a beverage containing gin and lime juice. Half and half, no more no less.

So as far as naming terminology goes, I don’t know how much artistic license I have to call this cocktail thing a gimlet. It’s based on a gimlet recipe; maybe that’s good enough? Or maybe I just need to come up with an original name for it to avoid confusion.

Wherever it stands, I can tell you that it tastes remarkably similar to a certain kombucha flavor I used to be pretty obsessed with. Does that sound weird? Let me try to explain with this play-by-play: when you take a sip, a menthol-like taste sort of hits you first that quickly transitions into an herby, funky tang. It blossoms out, mellows, and leaves behind the very subdued, almost solemn flavor of blueberry. A mishmash of elements, but kind of addictive anyway.

What got me thinking about this drink was actually the bunch of lime basil I’d bought at the farmer’s market. It smelled intoxicatingly of lime and lemongrass and that whole family of summery aromatic sours. I sort of swooned. I don’t know, I guess I just have a soft spot for tart things you know? Anyway, I tried using it in a caprese salad but it was a bit too lime-y, so I decided to turn my thinking towards a drink instead.

Whether you use lime basil or regular basil (or lemon basil! There are literally 10 varieties of basil at my greenmarket.), I don’t think the taste of the drink will be impacted too much. However, I am going to be particular and insist that you try it with vodka rather than gin, which overpowers the rest of the flavors.

As an aside, something kind of freaky happened when I was making the simple syrup, or rather, afterward. I’d just placed a jar of the stuff in the fridge to cool and resumed work at my computer, when I faintly registered the sound of buzzing outside the window. I didn’t really think about it, but the sound soon became a droning that I couldn’t ignore. When I looked out the window, there was a small swarm of bees outside! It was so eerie, because they were all flying about frantically, trying to get past the screen. (Thank god for screens.)

After my mini freakout had subsided, I reasoned, either Beelzebub was hanging around nearby (I watch a lot of scary movies), or there was some scent attracting them to the apartment. It turns out, bees love basil.

Brianne! Basil for your bees!

One year ago: Caponata

BLUEBERRY BASIL LEMON GIMLET

Adapted from Gourmet

Ingredients:

4 parts blueberry basil syrup (recipe below)
3 parts vodka
3 parts fresh squeezed lemon juice
Seltzer water to top off individual glasses

Directions:

Stir together all the ingredients into a pitcher filled with ice cubes until cold. Strain into individual glasses, filling them up about 3/4 full. Top off with seltzer water and garnish with basil sprigs.

BLUEBERRY BASIL SYRUP

Makes about 2-1/2 to 3 cups

Ingredients:

2 cups water
1 cup sugar
Zest from one lemon
1 pint blueberries
2 cups packed fresh basil sprigs

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, stir together all the ingredients over medium heat until the sugar has melted. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat a little and simmer until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes.

Strain the contents into a bowl, pressing hard against the sieve, then discard the solids. After it’s cooled, cover the syrup and store it in the refrigerator until cold.

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Birthday Cake Oreo Mini Donuts

Recipes

Christiana George

Updated Date:
December 19, 2022

Last weekend we celebrated my daughter’s 8th birthday. The theme this year was donuts. I made four different types of mini baked donuts including these Birthday Cake Oreo Mini Donuts. If you haven’t eaten a Birthday Cake Oreo yet, you have got to try them. They are so good. I used them both in the donut mix and in the frosting. They were a big hit at the party. I even topped them off with Birthday Cake M&Ms to keep the celebration going.
Here is a peek at the “Krispy Kreme” themed party. My daughter even wore her donut tee- shirt for the event. She spent all week helping me put together the decorations.

The inspiration for the theme had come from Pinterest of course. My daughter was all for it, so when Party Pail contacted me to ask if I wanted to review some of their products, I knew exactly what I wanted. They sent me some white tissue paper fans, red and white honeycomb balls, and some red cocktail napkins. They have everything you need to throw a party in lots of different colors and themes, just go to partypail com and check it out for yourself.

At first I was going to hang the decorations in a lovely pattern, but since I was not doing the party at home, I opted to be creative and make some decorations that were easily transportable. Party Pail’s supplies worked out perfectly. I was able to make a fun centerpiece and some cute topiaries. The tissue paper fans and honeycombs balls were very sturdy and easy to work with. I would definitely recommend their products.

Here’s a look at the donut cake. It was kind of an afterthought since I was concentrating so much on making all the other mini donuts, but all the kids loved it. What kid wouldn’t love a stack of donuts?

Back to the Birthday Cake Oreo Donuts. I adapted the recipe for my Mini Chocolate Oreo Donuts. I left out the cocoa and added extra crushed Oreos instead. I wanted to make sure not to lose the taste of the birthday cake cream. I used the chocolate ones, but I suppose you can try the golden ones also.

Now the original recipe calls for buttermilk, if you have some on hand, that’s great. I never do, so I just make a simple substitute of milk and vinegar and let it curdle. Typically you use white vinegar, but lately I have been using rice vinegar because it has a sweeter taste and my donuts have been coming out perfect. I use rice vinegar a lot for dinner recipes so I always have it on hand.

I used my Babycakes machine to make these, which was great because it didn’t heat up the whole kitchen. It’s already hot enough outside, I really didn’t want to warm up the inside of the house. You only need to bake them for 3-4 minutes. I just use the timer on my microwave, not the one on the Babycake machine. The frosting was super easy. I just adapted a marshmallow fluff frosting recipe to include the crushed Birthday Cake Oreos. It’s hard to decide which is the best part, the donut or the frosting. If you can find the Birthday Cake M&M’s, they make a great topper for these donuts. I found mine at CVS pharmacy.

When I originally tested this recipe, I did not glaze the donuts. They were eaten within two days, so no worries. For my daughter’s party, I started baking the donuts on Monday for her party on Saturday. I didn’t want them to dry out, so I did glaze them all before frosting them. They stayed nice and moist. The glaze was just a simple powdered sugar glaze. You can get the ingredients here. I don’t feel the glaze is necessary if you are going to be consuming the donuts within two or three days. I did keep mine refrigerated for the simple fact that it’s darn hot in these parts. That’s why we had my daughter’s party at the neighborhood pool clubhouse. Everyone was able to keep cool while celebrating. Now I have to start planning my son’s birthday party.

Birthday Cake Oreo Mini Donuts

by The Sweet Chick

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 3-4 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert snack Birthday Cake Oreos marshmallow fluff birthday donuts American

Ingredients (36 mini donuts)

For the donuts

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 cup crushed Birthday Cake Oreo cookies (about 15-17 cookies)
1 egg, beaten
1 cup buttermilk (or substitute, see note below)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the frosting

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup marshmallow fluff
5 Birthday Cake Oreos, crushed

Instructions

For the donuts

Preheat your Babycakes Mini Donut Maker.

Using a food processor, crush the Oreo cookies until you yield 1 1/2 cup of mixture.

In a medium bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and crushed Oreo cookies.

Next add the egg, buttermilk, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla. Using a hand mixer, blend until mixture is smooth.

Fill a piping bag or a Ziplock bag (with tip cut off), with the batter and fill each donut reservoir of your donut maker with about 2 tbsp of batter.

Bake for about 3-4 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of donut comes out clean.

Place hot donuts on cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting

In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and the powdered sugar.

Then add the marshmallow fluff and mix on medium until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add the crushed Oreo cookies and mix until well blended. (Go on, try a spoonful, don’t be shy.)

Optional Toppings

Feel free to top these donuts off with chunks of broken Oreos, sprinkles, or Birthday Cake M&Ms.

Notes:

If you are using a mini donut pan, bake your donuts in the oven at 425ºF for 3-4 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle of donut comes out clean.

As a substitute for buttermilk, I used 1 tablespoon vinegar (white or rice) plus enough milk to equal 1 cup.

Frosting recipe adapted from L’il Luna

Disclaimer: Party Pail did provide me with some products to review, but I was under no obligation to develop a recipe for them nor provide a favorable review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This recipe may be shared at these fabulous parties.