Boozy Peach Coolers – Refreshingly Summer
This peach cooler cocktail recipe post was one of our first recipe posts back in 2009. It’s fun to see how our photography and travel stories have changed over the years!
Peach Cooler Cocktail
When we started our first garden over 13 years ago, we knew exactly what we wanted to plant. We didn’t wait and dived head first into fruit trees. The two most important categories that topped our list were citrus trees and stone fruit trees. We wanted the garden to burst with citrus glory in winter. And in the Summer, a sweet, nectary bounty with all the stone fruits. We have a current collection of stone fruit trees. Ranging from white peaches, yellow peaches, Dapple Dandy pluots, two weeping Santa Rosa plums, and the Spice-Zee nectaplum, we’re wanting to plant more. Summer just isn’t complete without stone fruits. When they’re ripe and ready at the market or dropping like baseballs off your backyard trees, stone fruits signify the years most bountiful season. If you live in the right climate zone and have room in your balcony/backyard/land/or ranch, you must plant a stone fruit tree. There’s nothing more satisfying than picking a tree ripened peach, nectarine or what ever stone fruit off your own tree. Bite into it and the soft flesh will explode with sweet juice and the flesh will melt in your mouth.
Fresh Garden White Peaches
What to do with all the garden fruit? The only minor problem to having a healthy, fruiting trees is that all the fruit will ripen at once! When that happens, be prepared for the onslaught of fresh fruit. They’re all for eating, cooking, canning, grilling and giving away to neighbors and the mailman. Maybe even your boss will appreciate a basket of peaches and give you that raise that you’ve always wanted! Last two years we had so much fruit, we couldn’t keep our dogs off the tree! The sweet smells from the sweet fruit had our dogs camping out underneath the tree, waiting for them to fall from the sky for dinner. They would even go as far as nudge them, lick them and leave bite marks on the fruit while still on the tree!
Drinking the stone fruits is one of our favorite ways to help deplete our huge bounty of fruit. Bellini’s are one of our favorites but a more kiddie friendly version are peach coolers. Even without the booze, these refreshing peach coolers are equally wonderful, satisfying for the whole family to enjoy. Everyone under 21 can celebrate summer’s peach drinking fest! But we’re never without options and have included an option for adding Gin or Vodka for all the adults!
Having a batch of fresh peach puree is so versatile and it’s the perfect summer staple for all your outdoor parties. The puree can be added to your iced tea for a naturally sweet boost, or mixed with soda water and a little bit of sugar for that quenching beverage on a sweltering hot day. The possibilities are endless and it just doesn’t end with peaches, but plums, pluots and apricots make a fine and delicious puree as well.
Happy Summer fruit eating to you all! Hope you enjoy our boozy peach cooler cocktail!
-diane and todd
Check out our Cocktail Recipes Here and our Complete Whiskey Guide.
Boozy or Virgin Peach Cooler Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 medium ripe Peach
- 1/4 cup (60ml) fresh Orange Juice
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) Sugar , or to taste
- 2 Tablespoons (1 ounce or 30ml) Gin or Vodka , optional
- optional - dash of peach bitters
- ice
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Club Soda
Instructions
- Peel, pit, and core out the peach's rough pit flesh (if needed).
- Place in blender or food processor with orange juice, and sugar. For the boozy version, add the gin or vodka and add the peach bitters if desired. Puree until smooth. (If your peach isn't super ripe and juicy & won't puree very easily, add a touch more orange juice to thin it out.)
- Put ice in a glass and pour in peach mixture. Slowly pour the in the club soda, then gently stir everything to combine. Garnish with a slice of peach and a sprig of thyme if you want to get fancy.
Wow, the food is beautiful, but the first thing I noticed was the olive wood cutting boards. I have one from Italy when I went to Terra Madre in Torino.
Peaches seem to be the winner for drinks!
I love freaking peaches! Huge fan of just grilling them with some sugar and then devouring them over ice cream. Of course even bigger fan of just devouring them straight up.
Seems the only thing I have yet to plant is fruit trees. Maybe next year……
What fun this is! Great recipe!
I wish we could grow stone fruit in Hawaii. The fruits that are imported from the mainland can be a hit or miss. I am going to contribute another mango recipe (could mango be considered a stone fruit, it does have a pit?)
Now you’re talking! This looks really refreshing especially with a sneaky shot of something added in ( if you’re that way inclined, of course). Great color.
Great pics!! Here a recipe for a nectarine pie with creme fraiche ice cream. Now, I love me a nectarine, but that ice cream was really lovely and was perfect with the pie. Enjoy!! see you next week!
Those are beautiful peach coolers. I love alcohol free “fancy drinks”.
Are your peaches freestone or clingstone? I have such a hard time finding ANY freestone peaches here at all – and I like to halve my peaches, take the stone out, grill them and then fill them with amaretto soaked sweetened ricotta. But it’s almost impossible to get the pit out of a clingstone and have the peach look decent. If you have any great tips on removing the stone, I would love to hear it.
I’m always so jealous of your beautiful fruit trees. Growing up we had a huge garden for vegetables and strawberries but the climate was not good for stone fruits. There is nothing like a fresh peach especially in a cooler 🙂
I found local yellow plums and made a beautiful salad. The dressing is so good you can prepare your salad with any fruits and this dressing made with real maple syrup is a real treat.
Dressing: (serves 6-8)
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons minced shallots (about 1 medium)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon country-style Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
Cheers,
Hélène
What a great way to enjoy peaches without having to turn the oven on! NJ has some great peaches starting to show up at the farm markets – I just bought a bunch of white ones over the weekend and they’re DELICIOUS!!! I’ve been eating them just as they are but am considering grilling them for an added treat. I think it would be a great summer dessert treat without a lot of fuss. Your photos are wonderful – thanks for the recipe for the coolers!
Love the coolers, but my daughter and I are both swooning over your smoochable pooch, kissing a peach! Just love that face. Thanks for the awesome, soon-to-be-spiked drinks. They’ll be on the patio this weekend.
I’m jealous of your beautiful peach tree! And those drinks look incredible!
Such lovely photos and what a refreshing drink for those hot summer days.
Someday, or maybe in my dreams, I will have a garden like yours, with so many yummy fresh fruits, veggies and herbs. Lovely!!
Love coming to your blog and seeing the beautiful photos, easy reading, simple recipes! It’s like seeing a topnotch magazine on my computer screen.