Celebrate Kentucky Derby Week by whipping up homemade Blueberry Mint Juleps, a twist on the Churchill Downs traditional cocktail! Blueberry puree mixes with mint, sugar, hot water, a little lemon juice and bourbon to create this colorful summer drink.
Ice, crushed finely in the food processor or with a meat tenderizer
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Instructions
Make the Blueberry Puree
In a blender or a food processor, blend 1 cup of fresh blueberries until completely pulverized.
Pour the blueberry puree into a mason jar for storage, and chill until time to make the drinks.
Make the Juleps
In a cocktail shaker, muddle the mint leaves into the caster sugar.
Pour in the hot water, swirling the mint leaves and sugar in it until the sugar has dissolved.
Measure in the blueberry puree, lemon juice and bourbon.
Add the ice, shaking the cocktail in the shaker until everything is chilled and combined.
Serve in a favorite glass over ice, and enjoy immediately with a garnish of mint leaves and fresh blueberries.
Notes
This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if you're making juleps for a crowd. To make this a faster process, make a larger batch of blueberry puree and the mint syrup in advance. Blend additional blueberries in the blender for the puree, and instead of individually mixing the water with sugar and mint leaves in the cocktail shaker, do this in a saucepan on the stovetop. Heat the water until it's simmering, then add the mint leaves and sugar. Stir for a few minutes, then chill the mint syrup until it's time to mix the drinks. Make the juleps in batches as large as your cocktail shaker can hold.I'm told that the secret to a great Julep is the ice. Do yourself a favor and use your blender to create fluffy, fine chunks of ice to add wonderfulness to this drink.