Valentine's Day is just around the corner. There is nothing more romantic than popping open a bottle of bubbly. Toast to love with this colorful twist on the classic, Orange Creamsicle Mimosa.

Mimosas are the ultimate celebratory and festive drink. Whether it's saying cheers to the holiday season with Apple Cider Mimosas or this lightly sweet summery classic, they're always perfect for brunch, enjoying time with friends, or toasting the person you love.

Ingredients

Creating a classic mimosa is one of the easiest cocktails you can create. Giving the classic a twist is not only easy, but only requires a few basic ingredients. Nothing bad ever started with a bottle of bubbly including these cheery and fun drinks.

Champagne - Cheers to love and romance! Whether it's the classic mimosa with orange juice or this creamy and dreamy rendition, they all start with some bubbles. Use your favorite.
Blood Orange - Fresh squeeze is best! Not only will fresh blood orange juice give your mimosas a dramatic color but it will also give them a slightly tarter flavor.
Heavy Cream - Combined with orange gives you that classic summertime creamsicle flavor. Also gives this mimosa its pretty in pink color.
Sugar - Move over sprinkles. The sugar rimmed champagne flutes are the crowing glory of this festive libation.

How to Make an Orange Creamsicle Mimosa

If you can pop open a bottle of bubbly, you can make this cocktail. Effervescent, a little creamy, and light and bright, this is a drink that is sure to become a new favorite.

Time needed: 5 minutes.

Fresh squeezed blood orange juice is combined with cream for a twist of the brunch time favorite.

Squeeze
Cut your blood oranges in half and use a juicer to get out all of that crimson, bright juice.
Strain
Pour the juice through a strainer to collect any unwanted seeds or pulp.
Mix
Add the heavy cream and mix to combine.
Rim
Use a slice of blood orange to rim the lips of the champagne flutes. Dip them into a shallow plate with sugar.
Pour
Add a little or add a lot of the orange and cream mixture into your champagne flutes. Carefully pour the bubbly into the glass. Cheers!

Champagne vs. Sparkling Wine, What's the Difference?

We've all stood in the wine aisle at the store and tried to decide on just the right bottle of celebratory bubbles. Champagne, sparking wine, Cava, Prosecco, brut, extra dry...it can get a little confusing.

Champagne can only be called champagne if it comes from Champagne, France. The grapes must be grown there, it needs to be fermented there, and it also has to be bottled there in order to be truly called champagne.

Sparkling wine can be made with the exact same grapes as champagne, or other types of grapes, but is not produced or bottled in Champagne, France. All champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is champagne.

Prosecco is similar to champagne in that it has to have a designation of origin. Prosecco is the Italian sparkling wine, usually dry and sometimes a little sweeter.

Cava is the Spanish sparkling wine and is crafted from Macabeau grapes. It has a similar flavor to champagne.

The dry and brut you see on the labels lets you know the flavor profile of the sparkling wine. Brut is less sweet and a little sour and acidic. This is the preferred type of sparkling wine before meals making it perfect for brunch. Extra-dry has more sugar concentration and is a little sweeter, making it perfect to serve after a meal or with dessert.

Substitutions

Besides being able to swap out the sparkling wine in this recipe for your favorite type of bubbles, you can also swap out the freshly squeezed blood orange juice. While it will give a distinct slightly flora note and beautiful color, you can use regular freshly squeezed orange juice in this recipe.

In addition to replacing the blood orange juice, you can also use half and half in place of the heavy cream in this recipe. It will give you a slightly thinner texture.

Tools

Use a juicer to get the most out of your fresh citrus. It can be a simple manual juicer that simply fits over the top of a glass or an electric juicer.

For the smoothest texture, pour your freshly squeezed juice into a fine mesh strain to remove any excess pulp or seeds.

Top Tip for an Orange Creamsicle Mimosa

Fresh squeezed is always best! Take the additional time to make your own fresh squeezed juice for these mimosas. The flavor is worth it!