Strawberry & Vanilla Bean Lemonade

Vanilla beans aren’t the cheapest ingredient to work with, so when I add them to a recipe, I like to make sure they are really adding enough flavor to make it worth it. This strawberry and vanilla bean lemonade is one of those recipes. You can taste both the strawberries and vanilla beans without one masking the other, and they compliment each other perfectly. This might just be (actually, it definitely is) our new favorite lemonade recipe.

Strawberry & Vanilla Bean Lemonade

 

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Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 cup strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 4 cups cold water
• 1 cup ice

Instructions

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar and the 1 cup of water. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, and scrape out as much of the contents as you can into the sugar mixture. Add in the empty bean. Let sugar dissolve and bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let cool.
2. Combine strawberries and 2 tablespoons water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the strawberries are soft and begin to break down a little, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add in vanilla, and puree.
3. Combine the vanilla bean simple syrup, strawberry puree, lemon juice, 4 cups of cold water, and 1 cup of ice. Stir together and serve cold.

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