Apricot-Lavender Cream Cocktail

Apricots are one of my favorite summer fruits, so I started to look for ways to incorporate apricots into cocktails. I made one delicious one with muddled apricot, lemon verbena, and gin (now I'm wishing I had taken a picture--I promise I will next time I make that). I've had apricot drinks at bars using apricot liqueur, and, while those are good, I miss the textural richness of the apricot when it's just a clear liqueur or apricot brandy.

About a week ago I got home from work feeling like I needed a drink, which had nothing to do with having had a bad day (I love working at Infuz, so that's not a problem). I think the problem was that I had had too much caffeine late in the day and I got anxious from that. Anyway, the point is that I wanted a drink, and we had some perfectly ripe apricots in the fruit bowl. I decided to make a blended drink since I wanted to keep all the richness of the apricot. Inspired by Taste's delicious use of mascarpone in drinks, and in order to emphasize the creamy texture of apricot, I added a few spoonfuls of mascarpone to the mix, along with lemon juice, orgeat, lavender, triple sec, and rum. Blended over ice, this mixture emerged as a deliciously smooth, cold, and nicely flavored cocktail. It's more filling than a typical cocktail because of its thickness--part smoothie, part milkshake, and part cocktail. But don't be fooled, it still has plenty of alcohol to classify it as a cocktail.

Apricot-Lavender Cream Cocktail
makes 2 drinks

1 apricot
a pinch of dried or fresh lavender, of a few spoonfuls of lavender syrup
1 splash of orgeat syrup (add more to taste)
2 tablespoons mascarpone
juice of one lemon
4 ounces of rum
1 ounce triple sec
ice

Blend everything together for 30 seconds, then pour into serving glasses.