Oh.
My.
Darling...Clementine.

Cheers! It's been awhile since we had a toast on Whipped Up Whimsy. Too long if you ask me! Now that the holiday season is upon us, I figured it was time to whip up a little something special for the season. A little something to help you escape, if you will.

About a week ago I went to brunch at a charming place in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn called Clover Club. It's one of my favorite brunch spots mostly because their huevos rancheros is ON. POINT. I mean, it might be my favorite huevos in New York. That's not saying much because Mexican food in New York is generally bland but this dish... it's drool-worthy. Anyhow, when I went to brunch I was celebrating a job offer that had come through (that didn't work out... booooooo) and had to get a breakfast cocktail to go with my favorite breakfast dish. Enter in the clementine champagne cocktail of my dreams.

After having having one of Clover Club's "Meet me in Montauk" drinks I knew I wanted to try and recreate the crisp, refreshing cocktail on my own. A quick glimpse at the description cued me into the main ingredients, clementine, lemon, yellow chartreuse, gin and champagne, but I wanted to add my own twist. You know I'm all about originality here. I thought a dash of rosemary was the perfect way to add a seasonal element of my own.

After finding out my job celebration came a little too soon, I wanted to recreate this drink ASAP. Sometimes you want a treat for the opposite of celebration, am I right? Clementines are delicious in the winter season and rosemary adds a perfect depth to this drink. With a little tweaking and experimentation, I was onto something delicious. If you ask me, this fresh-squeezed cocktail became the perfect accompaniment to Thanksgiving morning.

So for those in need of a celebration or for those in need of an escape; cheers!

My Darling Clementine
(recipe for two; easily doubled or tripled for a punch)

5 clementines, freshly squeezed
1 lemon, freshly squeezed
2 oz (1 shot) rosemary simple syrup (sugar, water, rosemary)
2 oz (1 shot) gin
1 oz (1/2 shot) yellow chartreuse
ice
4 oz (2 shots) champagne
rosemary sprig and sugar for garnish

In a small saucepan, heat up 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup water, and three sprigs of rosemary, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat and simmer for five minutes on low. Strain simple syrup to remove rosemary and let the syrup cool.

Once syrup is cool, squeeze clementines and lemon with a citrus squeezer or citrus reamer into a cocktail shaker. Add in rosemary simple syrup, gin, chartreuse. Throw in a couple of ice cubes and shake that mixture up like no one's business. I'd say 30 seconds or so of hard shaking to cool that puppy down. Just turn on the J. Biebs and shake it. Sha-sha-sha-shake it.

Pour cocktail into two cocktail glasses and top off with champagne or prosecco. Garnish with rosemary and sugared rim if desired. Salud!