Strawberry Italian Cream Soda

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Strawberry Italian Cream Soda Recipe

Yield: Makes 8-10 sodas

Ingredients:

For the strawberry simple syrup:
1.5 cups diced strawberries (from about 10 strawberries)
1 cup water
1 cup sugar

For the cream sodas:
ice
2 liter bottle seltzer water
1 pint half and half
Strawberries, for garnish, optional

Direction:
To make the strawberry simple syrup, place the strawberries, water, and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium high heat and cook for about 20 minutes, mashing the strawberries with a spoon as they soften. Do not let the mixture boil, or you will lose too much moisture.

By the end of the 20 minutes, the simple syrup should have a red color, and lthe strawberries should be really soft. Remove the pan from the heat and strain through a sieve. Let the syrup cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until cold.

Side note: you can save the strawberries that were strained out for your yogurt. It makes for a great stir-in.

To assemble the cream soda, put a few cubes of ice into a glass. Pour seltzer about ⅔ of the way up, then add a couple tablespoons of the strawberry simple syrup, as well as a couple tablespoons of half and half. Garnish the glass with a strawberry if desired, and stir the drink to mix all the ingredients. Taste it and add more simple syrup if you want more sweetness, or more half and half if you want more creaminess. Enjoy!