Drink the Book: Pimm's No. 1 Cup Jelly Shots

Ingredients

• 1 inch cucumber coarsely chopped
• 0.8 cup cupcake liners 
• 2 large sprigs mint leaves fresh
• 2 envelopes gelatin powder 
• 0.7 cup ginger ale 
• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• 6  ice cubes 
• 4 medium optional: lemon cut into 8 wedges
• 1  cranberry-orange relish coarsely chopped
• 4  strawberries 
• 1.5 cups water 

Equipment

• frying pan
• sauce pan
• sieve
• peeler

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Muddle the lemon wedges. Bring to a rolling boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Remove from the heat and strain immediately. Allow the syrup to cool to room temperature.Short cut: A 50-50 mix of frozen lemonade concentrate and water may be substituted for Lemon Syrup. Make sure to strain to remove any lemon pulp!
3. Muddle fruit together the strawberries, orange, mint, and chopped cucumber in a large cocktail shaker.
4. Add Pimm’s and the ice cubes and shake vigorously. Strain liquid through fine mesh strainer and set aside (you should have approximately 2/3 cup of liquid).
5. Combine ginger ale and lemon syrup in saucepan in a medium saucepan and sprinkle with gelatin. Allow gelatin to soak for a minute or two.
6. Heat over very low heat, stirring constantly, until gelatin is fully dissolved, about 5 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and add the reserved Pimm’s liquid, stirring well to blend.
8. Pour into pan and chill until fully set, several hours or overnight.
9. To serve, cut into rectangles. To garnish, peel “ribbons” from cucumber using a vegetable peeler. The ribbons should be about 6 inches long for easy handling. Group the slivered fruit and mint as desired, and tie each bundle with a cucumber ribbon. Trim the ribbon ends to desired length.
10. Place a fruit bundle on each jelly shot.