Homemade Strawberry Simple Syrup

I decided to make Mojito's tonight using a homemade Strawberry Simple Syrup.  The recipe is very simple and most of the ingredients you will already have at home!  It makes a lot, so you will want to make sure to have a container to store it in! You can do so much with this, from topping for pancakes, to Fresh Homemade Strawberry Lemonade! The possibilities are pretty much endless :-) And the wonderful thing is it's homemade, so you don't have to worry about any pesky preservatives!

Now down to the recipe!

Strawberry Simple Syrup

Ingredients:
2 Pints of Fresh Strawberries (Please use fresh!)
2 Cups of Sugar
2 1/4 cups of water


Step 1.  Chop up your strawberries and place them in a pot large enough to hold the berries and your water.
Step 2.  Add your water to the pot and bring it all to a boil, once it's boiling bring it down to a medium simmer.  Allow it to simmer for 20 minutes -- The berries should be a very pale pink color--Almost colorless!
Step 3.  Strain the berries with a mesh strainer and discard them! DO NOT squeeze the berries! It won't help lol. It will only make your syrup cloudy!
Step 4.  Add your liquid back to your pot and add the sugar.
Step 5. Bring your sugar and liquid to a boil stirring frequently ! Once it is boiling , lower it to a simmer, and allow it to simmer for 5 minutes.
NOTE: If you plan on using this for pancakes or something where you need a thicker consistency allow it to simmer a few minutes longer. Otherwise this is the PERFECT consistency for beverages!

Allow it to cool and lets get ready to make our Mojito!

Strawberry Pineapple Mojito

I really wanted to go out tonight and have fun with friends, but time and hectic happenings would not permit!!  Regardless of what went on today I decided that I still deserved a nice cocktail!!  Normally when I'm at home I drink red wine, but today , I wanted something different!

I recently had a strawberry mojito at Bahama Breeze that was just amazing, so I decided I had to have one at home too!

Strawberry Pineapple Mojito

Ingredients:
1/4 Cup Club Soda
1/4 Cup Bacardi Pineapple Rum (One Shot or more if thats how you like it lol)
2 Tablespoons of Strawberry Simple Syrup

Mint Leaves

Lime

Step 1.  Chop up a couple of mint leaves and place it at the bottom of your glass.  Squeeze a slice of lime over the mint leaves.  Muddle mint leaves and lime slice at the bottom of your glass.  Add your ice.

Step 2.  Mix your club soda and rum in a shaker and pour it over your ice.  Add the simple syrup and enjoy! If you want a sweeter drink you can add more of the syrup!

White Chocolate Chip Cookies made with Coconut Oil (No Butter!)

These cookies are sooo good!! I made them at about 12:30am last night!!  It seems like the later I bake the better it tastes lol!!  Anywho, at that time of the night, I had absolutely no macadamia nuts, and wasn't going to go to the store for them! So I decided to make the cookies with white chocolate --- sans the macadamia nuts.  I was sooo happy that I had all of the ingredients right in my fridge to whip up a quick batch!!  It wasn't until I went to take my butter and egg out of the fridge did I realize I did not have any BUTTER!!!!

I usually keep butter ON DECK....But for some reason, today just wasn't my day lol!!! So many things happened thorughout yesterday that made me want to pull my hair (flat tire, serger problems ), but in the end they all worked out. And these cookies were absolutely no different than the rest of my day!!
So what did I do?

I definitely didn't brave this cold harsh Atlanta weather if thats what you thought!!

I improvised!!  I had coconut oil sitting on my counter already melted becuase of how warm and cozy it is in my home. So I decided to use that with a really good Chocolate chip cookie recipe!!  Of course I substituted White Chocolate , but everything else remained the same within the recipe.  I substituted the Coconut oil to Butter 1:1.

The cookies came out amazingly soft and moist and were deliciouis! I couldn't really taste the coconut oil, so I'm not sure if it made a difference as far as flavor!

I have always read that coconut oil is a healthier alternative to other oils we use like butter. So if you are feeling guilty about these cookies, you can at least use that fact to help you sleep at night! lol. Anyways, enjoy!!

The recipe only makes 6 servings (about 12 cookies)
You can double or triple it how ever you like!




   

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 an egg
• 1/2 teaspoon Mexican vanilla extract (or regular vanilla extract)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon hot water
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 4.4 ounces of White Chocolate (Lindt is my favorite brand!)
• 1/4 Cup Coconut Oil , melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the coconut oil, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop spoonfuls (I used an ice cream scoop) onto a wax paper lined cookie tray.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.  Do not over bake!! They bake as they cool down outside the oven because they are really really hot!!