Planning a date night at home? This delicious champagne cocktail is the perfect aperitif drink, served with bite sized morsels of delicious creamy washed rind cheese. My favourite is Fromager d’Affinois Le Campagnier as the creamy texture goes perfectly with the fizz of the cocktail. Enjoy!”
Prep: 20 minutes plus 3-day maceration
Ingredients:
- Your favourite washed rind double cream cheese
- 500g ripe peaches or any stone fruit of your choice, plus extra for garnish
- 1/2 bunch lemon thyme, plus extra to garnish
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 bottle chilled champagne
Method:
- Finley chop the peaches and place in a glass bowl or plastic container.
- Add sugar and thyme sprigs and combine with your hands, to break up peach chunks a bit.
- Cover and place in the fridge for 24 hours, stirring halfway through to dissolve the sugar that has fallen to the bottom of the bowl.
- Now add the vinegar, mix through, cover and place back into the fridge. Let steep for a further 1-2 days.
- Place a muslin or chux into a fine sieve over a jug. Pour mixture in and gently twist the cloth closed. Gently squeeze out the peach and thyme syrup being careful not to push too hard to force fruit through as we don’t want a cloudy result.
- The syrup is ready to use for your cocktail, or can be stored in a bottle in the fridge for a few weeks.
- To make the champagne cocktail, add 15-30ml of the peach syrup (depending on how sweet you like your cocktail), add a few thin slices of peach and top with champagne. Garnish with a sprig of thyme.
- Serve cocktails alongside your favourite double cream cheese – i like to serve mine with Fromager d’Affinois Le Campagnier.
Justine Schofield is one of Australia’s most prevalent cooking personalities with an infectious energy, impeccably creative skills in the kitchen and an undeniable passion for food! As well as a best-selling cookbook author, she is the host of the hugely popular cooking show Everyday Gourmet and was a fan favourite in the first series of MasterChef and MasterChef All Stars.
