Cocktail Hour: Ramos Gin Fizz

For Cocktail Hour this week, here is a snowy white treat for the first week of December.  It has been almost balmy here in Boston during November, and I must admit I am ready for some chill and maybe a little snow to set the season.  This is a Ramos Gin Fizz, a fairly classic cocktail that employs egg white to get that nice froth.  Yes, raw egg white.  So be sure to use very fresh eggs with this, and if you are pregnant, don't make this drink (oh yeah... you wouldn't be making it anyway!) The egg white really gives a nice richness to the drink without being heavy.  In addition, there is a touch of cream.  I am totally not into drinks with cream or milk or Baileys etc... at all, cause they usually are so sweet and heavy.  When I first started drinking, one the first drinks I tried was a Kahlua and Cream, cause that was the drink of choice of my super cool big sis (hi Marcie!) and I thought it must be sophisticated (Marcie also introduced me to delicious Malibu rum by leaving a bottle in her room when she went away to college).  But it was not my thing.  Here, the cream is mixed with bright and bracing gin, lots of citrus, and a touch of orange flower water.  It is a refreshing and festive cocktail and I am converted to cocktails that employ a bit of cream. I know it is bad, but hey, it is the holiday season, treat yourself.

Ramos Gin Fizz  (makes small cocktail) (print recipe)
Adapted from Epicurious.com (I added more citrus, for original recipe click here)
1/4 cup gin (I used Bombay Sapphire, love the bottle, love the gin)
1 dash (3 to 4 drops) orange flower water
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon half and half
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon simple syrup (I cheated and used 1 teaspoon sugar and shook this thing very hard)
1 cup ice cubes
soda water to top off
cinnamon to garnish

Directions:

1. In a cocktail shaker, combine the gin, orange water, egg white, half and half, lemon and lime juice and sugar/simple syrup.  Shake vigorously for 30 seconds.  Word to the wise, make sure that dang cocktail shaker is secured tightly so you don't have gin fizz all over your kitchen or bar.
2. Add ice cubes, shake vigorously for another 30 seconds (same, keep the thing closed tightly!)
3. Drain liquid and not ice into a small/8oz glass. 
4. Top off with seltzer water to increase the fizz.  
5. Garnish with a touch of cinnamon.