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The highest holy day of the year calls for a joyful and festive drink to go with it. We’ve got you covered with a delicious and easy Easter cocktail recipe. Best of all, it’s easy to make ahead of time for your Easter brunch!
Before deciding on the perfect Easter cocktail, I made a list of conditions. This cocktail had to be just right. These were my criteria:
- Delicious
- Made with easy-to-find ingredients
- Can be made in a big batch for easy serving
- Includes a non-alcoholic option
- Easy to make
- Made with seasonal ingredients
- Has symbolic meaning
- Is guaranteed to make you the most popular person at Easter brunch!
I want you to know, dear reader, that a significant amount of research went into this article. I found some lovely ideas for Easter cocktails, but I wanted this one to include ingredients you can find easily and be equally delicious without alcohol. So at long last, I present to you the perfect Easter cocktail:
The strawberry mimosa
Here’s the symbolism behind it:
- The champagne or sparkling wine has bubbles that rise up, symbolizing Christ rising up from the dead.
- The red of the strawberries reminds us of Christ’s Passion.
- The strawberry garnish looks like a heart, recalling Christ’s love.
One thing I learned while researching is that sparkling wine is better for mimosas than champagne. Here’s a great explanation:
The best Champagne for mimosas isn’t actually Champagne. For mimosas, opt for less-expensive Cava or Prosecco. Cava is from Spain and Prosecco is from Italy, but they’re both delicious dry sparkling wines that mix well with juice. Bonus? They’re affordable. A good bottle of Cava or Prosecco will run about $12 to $16. Avoid super cheap sparkling wine (cough, André), unless you want a headache with your mimosas. Don’t waste your pricey bottle of Champagne on mimosas, since we’re diluting those delicate notes with orange juice.
I also wanted to include a non-alcoholic option, both for friends and family who don’t drink and so that any kids at the Easter party can enjoy their own festive drink. For the non-alcoholic version, substitute an equal amount of sparkling water, such as Perrier or Lacroix, for the sparkling wine (or you can just serve the blended juice on its own!).
Here’s how you make it!
Ingredients:
- 1 bottle sparkling wine (Cava or Prosecco are ideal)
- 2 quarts hulled strawberries (separated)
- 2-3 cups orange juice (preferably freshly squeezed)
Combine orange juice and 1 quart strawberries in a blender. Blend until smooth.
Carefully pour sparkling wine into a large pitcher. Slowly and carefully pour orange juice mixture into the pitcher (if you pour too fast, it’ll fizz right up over the top!).
Gently stir. At this point the mixture may be foamy, in which case you can skim off the foam or wait 10 minutes for it to settle.
Garnish with hulled and halved strawberries, cut to look like a heart.
As a final note, the recipe above is approximate; feel free to adjust to your preferences. I tend to think that the amount of wine in a cocktail, much like the chocolate in desserts or garlic in savory dishes, should be measured with the heart. I do recommend a ratio of 1 part wine to 1 part orange juice mixture, or 2 parts wine to 1 part orange juice mixture, depending how fun you want your party to be.
Enjoy, and Happy Easter!
And today we celebrate...