This is a perfect summer drink. Last week I was at a friend’s house for a gathering (girls’ night out type of thing) and she served these as we sat outside (near the pool) and gossiped. She made hers from apricot brandy. I knew I had some peach brandy I’d been looking for a use for, so I decided to come home and make them. They’re delicious. Fruity and cool and sweet.

There are several versions of this recipe on allrecipes.com and they’re all slightly different. I’m going to share my friend Jennifer’s recipe, since that’s the one I made and I know it tastes good. Then I’ll tell you what I’ll do differently next time.

Jennifer’s Apricot Brandy Slushy recipe

Ingredients:

Make 2 cups of really strong tea (3-4 tea bags)

Add…
1 – 12 oz. can of Frozen Orange Juice
1 – 12 oz. can of Frozen Lemonade

After thawed add…
1 1/4 cups of sugar

After sugar is dissolved add…
1 1/2 cups of Apricot Brandy
7 cups of water

Freeze overnight (it’s a lot of liquid so it will take at least overnight. It will freeze to a hard slush consistency because of the alcohol)

To serve: scoop desired amount into a cup then add clear soda (7-up, Sprite, Sierra Mist) to make “slushy”. Serve with a stirring straw.

Okay, so what would I do differently? I’d probably not use flavored brandy at all. This is really sweet and after I made it, I was thinking I could have halved the sugar, but using non-flavored brandy would work as well. I did use peach brandy, but I also added a 1/2 cup of vodka because I wanted it a little stronger. If making it again, I’d use 2 to 2 1/2 cups of brandy and only one cup of sugar. And while I used black tea (Lipton’s tea bags) one recipe suggested using green tea. That might be tasty!

Also note, this makes a small metric ton of slushy, so if you don’t want that much, you could halve the recipe. I’m going to take it to a party tomorrow, so ours won’t go to waste, but next time, I’ll make half a batch.

2014 update: I now make this exactly as the recipe above states, except I use 2 cups regular brandy & 1 cup peach rum (you could use peach schnapps or peach brandy, or apricot flavored alcohol too). Doing it this way solved the “too sweet” problem.