Light and refreshing, this beautiful 5 ingredient raspberry Collins cocktail is a riff on the classic Tom Collins cocktail and is perfect for enjoying after a long work week (and it reminds me of spring and summer, which I’m super ready for!)

TGIF folks, am I right? Some weeks seem longer than others, this one in particular seemed endless. It could have to do with the fact that last week I was on vacation (I have super fun vacation posts coming next week to share what we did on our European vacation, which you to see a sneak peak of on Instagram) so this week I was playing catch up. So it’s Friday which means it’s time for Five Ingredient Friday’s, and a cocktail recipe seemed all to fitting.

Let me tell you how this cocktail recipe came about. My husband and I have this friend John (really it’s my hubby’s friend from way back when, but I was introduced to him the first week my hubby and I started dating so I’m pretty sure that makes it ok for me to lay some friendship claims of my own) who is known for his alcohol collection. It could rival some bars’ collections, that’s for sure. He has shelves chock-full of booze. Whenever I have a cocktail in mind, chances are I’m going to turn to John for some advice, as I did in this case.

I had always known I wanted to write a cookbook, and before my cookbook had a publisher I was working on an ebook that was going to be called “Five Ingredient Friday’s with Friends and Family.” Each chapter was going to revolve around a friend or family member and what they were known for – and each chapter was going to be titled “5 for ….” – so for example one chapter would have been “5 for Mom” and then the chapter would contain 5, 5-ingredient recipes that moms would enjoy. A little confusing, I know – my editor thought so too. In the actual cookbook that will be out this summer it’s arranged in chapters that are easier for a home cook to navigate – chapters like ‘breakfast’ which will contain breakfast recipes, it’s pretty revolutionary, lol! Well, in the process of perfecting the table of contents, some of the cocktail recipes I was initially going to include got nixed.  John and I had spent a bunch of time coming up with cocktail recipes – one weekend I packed up a bunch of stuff and set up a studio at his house. His roommate and my hubby played video games while we plied them up with booze for ‘recipe testing.’ I of course had to snap some behind the scenes and awe #friendshipgoals right there.

While we were working, other friends stopped by…where there’s booze, they will come, right? One of our friends took a headshot photo of me and John acted as the light bounce board holder. It was a very fun day.

This recipe for a raspberry Collins is a riff on a Tom Collins cocktail which is made from gin, lemon juice, sugar and carbonated water. In our recipe we used gin, lime juice, raspberry jam, club soda and a little bit of mint. The cocktail is truly delish! Do you like those cool big ice cubes and Collins glasses? (I was obsessed with the ice cubes, they can be made using an ice cube tray mold like this one, and the glasses are tall cocktail glasses like these) – John had all the cocktail glasses and utensils one could think of.

John is also a fantastic hand model: you may remember his original debut here on the SweetPhi blog from this beer brat and caramelized onion pizza post from last year. I keep telling him needs to start his own blog to showcase not only his hand modeling skills, but to share all the cocktail recipes he creates. Just look at him carrying the tray of cocktails above like a pro -do you recognize the sangria on the tray?

Do you ever make fancy cocktails at home? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Yield: 2 cocktails

5 Ingredient Raspberry Collins Cocktail

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Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 oz gin
• 1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1-2 cups club soda
• 8-10 mint leaves

Instructions

In a cocktail shaker combine jam, juice of lime and mint leaves and muddle to combine.

Add in the gin and 4 ice cubes and shake vigorously for 30 seconds -1 minute.

Strain the mixture into two glasses.

Add in ice cubes and then pour club soda to fill the glass. Stir and enjoy!