A friend of ours got engaged this month. To celebrate, we hosted an engagement happy hour. I kept it simple with an easy menu of appetizers and desserts. I found blackberries on sale last weekend and used them to make both a cocktail and a dessert and were delicious.
To make it easy, I premixed two cocktails before people arrived: my summer sparkler, and blackberry lemonade.
Blackberry Lemonade
1 can frozen lemonade
1 cup blackberry vodka
1 bottle San Pellegrino (or other sparkling water)
handful of fresh blackberries
At this time of year, I love using fresh berries with cream and often make a mixed berry trifle with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. This time, I used only blackberries and the trifle was still delicious. First, I cut a pound cake into squares of about the same size. Next, I zested fresh ginger into a small pot and added blackberry vodka and cooked on low for a few minutes. I used the ginger-vodka mixture to pour over the pound cake. I created the layers by starting with pound cake on the bottom, then fresh whipped cream topped off with blackberries. I just repeated the layers until I ran out of cake. I topped it with a few mint leaves from my herb garden.
Maybe you can give one of these a try for your next party or just for the weekend. Enjoy!
-J