Homemade Lavender Lemonade

I realize that the thought of making lemonade from scratch seems like a lot of work, and it's something simple you can buy at the store, BUT it's worth it!! If you have never tried making lemonade at home, now is the time! Freshly made lemonade is incredibly bright and refreshing, you won't ever want to have lemonade any other way. It's like making homemade cookies, they just taste better. Well, it's the same for homemade lemonade!

The best way to sweeten a cold drink is with simple syrup because it dissolves evenly in the liquid. All you need to do to make a regular lemonade extra fancy is to make a flavored simple syrup with lavender.

Freshly squeezed lemon juice is combined with some water, ice, and the lavender simple syrup to create a perfect homemade lemonade. The sweetness level of the lemonade can be adjusted by the amount of simple syrup added. This drink can be made even more special by turning it into a cocktail. I like to add a little bit (as much as you like) of vodka.

Get your kids involved if they want to have their own lemonade stand. It’s the most perfect summer project to do together AND if you don’t sell any at least you get to drink it yourself!

Homemade Lavender Lemonade

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 cup water

• 2 tablespoons food-grade lavender

• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

• lavender springs for extra decoration; optional

• extra lemon slices for decoration; optional

Directions

1. *Place the sugar and water into a pan and stir together over medium heat until the sugar dissolves

2. *Whisk the lavender into the pan and stir together

3. *Once the mixture starts to lightly boil turn the heat down to a simmer

4. *Simmer the mixture together for about 10 minutes; you can simmer for less time if you want a lighter lavender flavor

5. *Strain the lavender and pour the simple syrup into another container to cool

6. *Juice the lemons to get 1 cup of lemon juice

7. *Combine the lemon juice with 4 cups of water

8. *The lavender simple syrup will yield about 1 cup; add 3/4 cup of it to the lemon juice/water mixture

9. *If you would like it sweeter you can add more of the syrup and if you want it more lemony add more lemon juice

10. *Add ice and serve

11. *To make this a cocktail simply add as much vodka as you like