Scratch Lemon Drink Food

BEST LEMONADE EVER

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.
• Remove seeds from lemon juice, but leave pulp. In pitcher, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 7 cups water.

LEMON SIMPLE SYRUP RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Using a sharp paring knife , cut off and reserve the zest, or bright yellow part of the peel, of 1 of the lemons. You can also use a Microplane zester, but then you'll have to strain the syrup at the end instead of simply lifting out the strips of zest-the choice is yours. Whichever way you zest the lemon, be sure to focus on the bright yellow part only and carefully avoid the bitter white pith below.
• Working with 1 lemon at a time, cut the lemons in half and juice them until you have 1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice (you may not need all the lemons-they vary greatly in how much juice they produce).
• Combine the juice with the sugar in a small saucepan and bring the mixture just to a boil over medium-high heat.
• Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the syrup is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
• Add the reserved lemon zest. Transfer the syrup to a small metal bowl and let it sit until cool, about 20 minutes. 
• Lift out the zest, letting any excess syrup drip off and back into the bowl, and discard the zest.
• If you ended up with lots of small pieces of zest, strain the syrup through a sieve. The zest can turn bitter if left to sit in the syrup while it's stored, so remove and discard it.
• If you want to use the syrup while it's still warm, now is the time. (Don't worry, you can always warm it back up if you need to.)
• Alternatively, cover the bowl and chill the syrup to add to cold beverages. Or transfer to a clean jar, screw on the lid, and store in the fridge for several months if you need to.

LEMON-CUCUMBER COCKTAIL

Steps:

• In a large pitcher, combine the club soda, gin and lemon juice.
• Place a lemon slice and a cucumber slice in each of 12 glasses. Add 1 cup crushed ice to each glass. Pour the gin mixture into the glasses and garnish each with a mint sprig, if desired.

LEMON DROP COCKTAIL

Steps:

• Combine the vodka, lemon juice, and sugar and pour into a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour into martini glasses and garnish with lemon slices.

EASY LEMONADE

Steps:

• Tip the lemons, sugar and half the water into a food processor and blend until the lemon is finely chopped.
• Pour the mixture into a sieve over a bowl, then press through as much juice as you can. Top up with the remaining water and serve with plain ice or frozen with slices of lemon and lime.

BEST LEMON SQUARES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
• Process 2 cups flour, butter, and 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; press into the prepared baking dish.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the edges of the crust are golden brown, 18 to 22 minutes. Cool crust to room temperature.
• Beat white sugar, eggs, 1/4 cup flour, lemon juice, baking powder, and lemon zest together in a bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy; pour onto the cooled crust.
• Bake in the oven until custard is set, 25 to 28 minutes. Cool lemon squares completely; dust the top with more confectioners' sugar.

VINTAGE LEMONADE

Steps:

• Peel the rinds from the 5 lemons and cut them into 1/2 inch slices. Set the lemons aside.
• Place the rinds in a bowl and sprinkle the sugar over them. Let this stand for about one hour, so that the sugar begins to soak up the oils from the lemons.
• Bring water to a boil in a covered saucepan and then pour the hot water over the sugared lemon rinds. Allow this mixture to cool for 20 minutes and then remove the rinds.
• Squeeze the lemons into another bowl. Pour the juice through a strainer into the sugar mixture. Stir well, pour into pitcher and pop it in the fridge! Serve with ice cubes.

LEMONADE... FROM SCRATCH

Steps:

• Combine 6 cups water and the sugar in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and chill in the fridge. When fully chilled, add the lemon juice and salt. Serve with fresh mint leaves.

LEMON SIMPLE SYRUP

Steps:

• Heat sugar, zest, and 2 cups water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil. Pour through a fine sieve into a medium bowl; discard solids. Let cool completely. Stir in lemon juice.

REFRESHING LEMON-LIME DRINK

Steps:

• In a large container, combine the limeade and lemonade concentrates and orange extract. Stir in water. , Just before serving, stir in lemon-lime soda. Serve over ice. Garnish with lemon and lime slices.

LIMONCELLO

Steps:

• Zest the lemons, and place zest into a large glass bottle or jar. Pour in vodka. Cover loosely and let infuse for one week at room temperature.
• After one week, combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Do not stir. Boil for 15 minutes. Allow syrup to cool to room temperature.
• Stir vodka mixture into syrup. Strain into glass bottles, and seal each bottle with a cork. Let mixture age for 2 weeks at room temperature.
• Place bottled liqueur into the freezer. When icy cold, serve in chilled vodka glasses or shot glasses.

SCRATCH LEMON DRINK

Steps:

• Pour sweetened condensed milk into blender.
• Add the lemon juice, sprite, and lemon zest.
• Blend until the mixture is homogenous.
• Fill 6 tall glasses with crushed ice.
• Pour the drink over the ice, and serve immediately.