When Life Gives You Lemons, Freeze Them Into Rose-Shaped Ice Cubes
As it turns out, there's a lot of awesome stuff you can do when life gives you lemons. Perhaps, you add them to your favorite hollandaise sauce recipe or make a Mexican icebox cake with your harvest. Better yet, why not slice them up and create some fancy rose-shaped ice cubes to gussy up your water or elevate your go-to citrusy cocktail? If we lost you on the last one, allow us to explain. There are so many unexpected ways you can use ice cube trays. For this particular project, the tray acts as a stabilizer for your soon-to-be frozen lemon slice masterpieces.
To make tiny frozen rose florets, use a sharp knife to slice a lemon into thin rounds, and then halve each round to create little half-moons. These slices will become your rose petals. One by one, place the slices inside the cavity of the ice tray in a circular pattern, building layers to create a whorling rose effect. A silicone tray with large cavities works best in this case. Not only will the bigger cavities allow for a more elaborate design, but the flexible material allows you to easily maneuver the frozen roses out without breaking them.
Add a little more than water to your ice tray for frozen roses
After the lemon roses have been assembled in your ice tray, you're going to need to add some liquid into the mix as a binding agent. If you intend to use the ice cubes to chill and flavor water or iced tea, pouring a bit of water no more than halfway up the rose before putting it in the freezer will work. Be careful not to add too much water, as fully submerging the lemon slices will essentially work to hide the rose away inside a block of ice.
However, you may also choose to forgo the water altogether, using just some juice from the lemon to freeze the peels together. Making a simple syrup with a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water and combining that with the lemon juice can also be a tasty addition to prosecco or a lemony French 75 cocktail recipe, adding flavor as it melts. You're not limited to just using lemons, either! Slices of lime, grapefruit, or cucumber can all be used to create the same rose effect.