The June 2012 edition of Better Homes and Gardens was in my mailbox on Friday. Even in these days of Pinterest obsession I still love getting a magazine in the mail. I know, not very green of me, but I can’t help it.
I opened it up and one of the first things I saw was a recipe for a Rosemary Lemon Drop. You had me at Lemon Drop sir.
I had planned to host a dessert and drink event at my house for my sister’s birthday. It was the perfect excuse to try this recipe.
Weird random fact about my family: Our cat Sommer is 16 years old and was born on my sister-in-law Rachel’s birthday. Each year I think this will be the year that I will be writing a RIP Sommer post–but the crazy, old girl just keeps hanging on. Our dog Stella is 2 years old and was born on my sister Nicole’s birthday. Weird, huh?
Here is what you will need for this tasty, summer drink–
White Wine
Love the Naches Heights Vineyard Pinot Gris
Lemons, Rosemary, Sugar & Water
Rosemary Lemon Drop (Better Homes and Gardens, June 2012)
Boil 2 cups water, 2 cups sugar, peel from 8 lemons, and 8 rosemary sprigs. When sugar dissolves, cool and strain. Fill 4- to 6-quart dispenser with 3 bottles of white wine (such as Pinot Grigio), juice from the 8 lemons, and half the syrup, adding more to taste. Stir in 6 cups of ice, citrus slices, and fresh rosemary sprigs.
This was so good! Even my sister, who doesn’t normally like white wine (until I introduced her to NHV Pinot Gris), loved it! At the end of the night she left me with this command “You know you have to make that for every family event now”. That is an assignment I am happy to accept from my little sister.
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Yum! Definitely trying this. Picked up a beautiful rosemary bush at Trader Joe’s last week, so this posting is serendipitous – thx!
That is good timing.
I love Trader Joe’s! It’s one of things I miss about living in Seattle.
I love getting magazines + I love drinking alcohol = I love this post.
You’re my kind of girl.
When can we come over and snap some photos of your garden adventures?
Yum. I KNOW I am going to love this one!
I just found your blog by googling this recipe when I was looking for it to share it with my friend. I made a mini batch of the Rosemary Lemon Drop last night to try it, and it’s great! I’m thinking of adding a spalsh of club soda to give it a little fizz. Anyway, I’ve started reading some of your back posts and I love your blog; keep up the great work!
I’m glad you found us!
I was thinking the same thing-this would be good with a little sparkle. I might try it with sparkling wine. Let me know how yours goes and I’ll let you know about mine.
I had this drink at a BBQ yesterday, & it was so fantastic I had to have the recipe. I found your website while Googling for it- looking fwd. to reading more- & thanks for posting this recipe!
I’m glad you found us Patty. The lemon drop recipe is so good! And it’s great for a crowd since it makes a pretty big batch.
I love, love, love rosemary and lemon. I’m planning on making the Rosemary Lemon Drop on several occasions this summer, Wedding Brunch, Shower, and Wedding all for different people. The recipe did not say how much it serves, do you have any idea? If all the ice melt will it delute the drink too much or is it deffinately part of the recipe? I have a server with a center column to hold the ice so it will stay cold.
Hi Ann.
Thanks for stopping by. This is a great drink for what you have planned this summer! I didn’t make the entire batch. I made the full amount of lemon/rosemary syrup and mixed small portions of it with the wine and ice in batches. I was worried about it getting diluted too so it worked well doing it that way. But if you are serving a large crowd, definitely make the full batch. I’m pretty sure it won’t last long enough to get diluted.
I would think you would get 12 servings out of a full batch since you get about 4 servings per bottle of wine.
Hope that helps.
Stacie
Thank you Stacie,
I think I will make enough syrup for two batches and if I don’t use it all I can freeze the left over. Don’t think there will be any left over though, I’m expecting about 25 people who love this sort of thing. It’s going to be fun.
Ann
“You had me at lemon drop.” Me too! Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Stacy,
Did you boil the whole lemon rind? Wasn’t it bitter? I got the impression that the recipe called for just the yellow peel to be cooked in the simple syrup. Either, way… looks awesome and I can’t wait to try it. I’m thinking of using it as my entry in our annual “Sangria Smackdown”.
I did boil the whole rind and didn’t taste any bitterness. But I just went back and re-read the recipe and it says to boil the peel. I didn’t notice that before. lol It still tasted really good and it was easier to throw the whole thing in there. But I’d be curious to know if you could taste the difference between the two methods. Let me know if you try it out.
Oh, and good luck with your Sangria Smackdown. Sounds like fun! I’d love to hear more about it.