rum - A Tipsy Giraffe

These Strawberry and Thyme Slushie Cocktails are not only gorgeous, they’re totally delicious too. Sweet strawberries are muddled with aromatic thyme and white rum, add some crushed strawberry ice and soda water and you have the perfect Valentine’s Day cocktail to share with your sweetheart. It’s so easy to make, with a little help from your Vitamix!

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Disclaimer: Vitamix sent me their Total Nutrition Centre Blender to create wonderful recipes for you. All words and opinions, as always, are my own.

Love is taking over Giraffes Can Bake at the moment, and I am a-okay with that! Valentine’s Day seems to be a bit of a marmite holiday, and I am one of the lovers! Sure, you could say it’s a commercial holiday exploited by Hallmark and chocolate companies but it’s also about love, and what’s wrong with that? A day to celebrate love, in all forms, is a day I’m a fan of. You don’t need to buy into the commercial side of it to celebrate love. And in this often scary and sad world, I think we all need a day where we take that extra step to tell the people we care about that we love them and wouldn’t be about them. So yes, I am firmly in the pro-Valentine’s Day camp.

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A fresh, zesty cocktail in cookie form!

Greetings from Atlanta! I arrived here on Thursday and almost got sent home again, immigration weren’t very happy with me! Don’t worry, I wasn’t doing anything illegal they’re just a bit unhappy with how much time I spend in the states considering I live in the UK. It’s all good though, we came to an agreement though so I can keep on coming here. The reason I come here so often and that is my best friend lives out here. Honestly, best friend is not a strong enough word! She is my other half, my soul mate and being so far apart from her is torture. But I am so grateful I get to spend the summer with her.

Hanging out at Buckingham Palace last year 🙂 I’m on left, Leah on the right

So I hope you’ll forgive me for being a little late to Fiesta Friday 17, I was busy catching up. And by catching up I mean watch Captain America, The Avengers and Th Winter Soldier! But better late than never, right? And these cookies are sure to make up for it!

The mojito cookies are soft, yummy and full of such fresh flavours! The lime zest and fresh mint really pack a punch with the white rum. Just like the cocktail, the flavours work so well together and these cookies have the added sweetness!

These would be great for a summer party or BBQ, served with cocktails of course. But I actually made these for a good friend of mine as a late birthday present, she loves Mojitos so it was only natural that I made something for her with that in mind! She loved them so they were a success!

In theory, you could probably make these with mint extract. But you’d really be doing them a disservice if you don’t use fresh mint, the fresh kick really is what makes them so great!

I hope you all enjoy these cookies as much as my friend did! As always, a big thank you to Angie for hosting Fiesta Friday, and go check out Selma, Jhuls and Alex as they are co-hosting this week! Have a great weekend everybody!

[recipe title=”Mojito Cookies” servings=”18-24″]
Ingredients

For the cookies:

170g unsalted butter, room temperature
350g caster sugar, plus extra for rolling cookies in
Zest of two limes
2 egg yolks
120ml sour cream
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp white rum
2 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
375g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

For the glaze

50ml white rum
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp lime zest
1 tsp lime juice

Method

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed. Add the lime zest, lime juice, rum, mint and egg yolks and combine. Beat in sour cream until just combined.
In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk to stir and aerate. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and combine on a low speed until al mixed in.
Put some caster sugar in a bowl. Using an ice cream scoop or spoon, scoop out balls of cookie dough and roll them in the sugar. Place on baking sheet with at least 2 inches space between each one. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least an hour
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes until they are slightly golden and set.
Combine the glaze ingredients in a bowl and brush over warm cookies with pastry brush. Leave cookies to cool on wire rack.

[/recipe]

Watching Marvel movies last night 🙂