charred lemon ginger mocktail
bright, citrusy spring mocktail + behind the scenes at our video shoot
I love tart, citrusy drinks all year round, but for some reason bright lemon-forward recipes feel extra springy to me. I think it's the childhood connection between lemonade stands and that special feeling of the weather starting to turn warm on the east coast.
This Charred Lemon Mocktail gives me all those good feelings. The bright, citrus notes paired with the zingy ginger tea is so perfect. And the subtle difference in flavor from charring the lemons creates these mellow, toasty notes that really add dimension to the mocktail.
charred lemon ginger mocktail
makes: 1
time: 15 minutes
ingredients
For the charred lemon juice (yields about 1/2 cup juice)
3 medium size lemons
1 tbsp avocado oil
For the mocktail
1/2 oz charred lemon juice
2 thyme sprigs, plus more for garnish and rim
3 oz ginger tea, chilled
3/4 oz honey syrup
Sugar, for rim
Charred lemon, for garnish
Chamomile, for garnish
directions
For the charred lemon juice
Cut the lemons in half. If you’d like to use charred lemon slices for garnishing, slice a lemon into rounds as well.
Heat a saute pan over medium heat. Lightly oil the pan. Place the lemons, face down on the pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes until the lemon slices are golden brown and juicy. For the slices, cook until golden brown, then flip.
Allow to cool then juice using a citrus squeezer.
For the mocktail
Add charred lemon juice and thyme leaves from 2 sprigs to a cocktail shaker. Muddle to release oils from the thyme. Add ginger tea, honey syrup and ice. Shake until well chilled.
Prepare rim: Combine sugar and thyme leaves on a shallow dish. Moisten the rim of your glass with honey or citrus. Dip in the sugar mixture until coated.
Strain mocktail mixture into the glass. If desired, garnish with a charred lemon slice, thyme and chamomile.
product feature: caraway sauté pan
I've been slowly trying to upgrade to non-toxic products and the Caraway products are 100% non-toxic and SO pretty. I used the 4.5 qt black sauté pan for this recipe. I don't usually go for black products but it looks so good with the gold hardware and I thought it would be lower maintenance (which I def need).
Use my link and code CAROLYN for 10% off your purchase!
behind the scenes 📸
We've been experimenting with shooting phone video in different ways for social media lately and had lots of fun with this one!
We went for a wider shot that showed me and the room around me. We were getting really pretty direct sunlight in our living/dining room through our doors, but it wasn't reaching our scene, so we supplemented with an artificial light with very light diffusion coming from the same direction as the door light, to match the light behind us. Travis always likes to have fun with shadows so he attached some artificial stems and a bounce card to strategically shadow our scene!
Here's how the final video turned out: charred lemon ginger mocktail
Cheers,
Carolyn