Festive Ginger Pear Bellini Recipe with 'Gold Flakes'

A festive ginger pear bellini drink that is perfect for any celebration - Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve or any other day! The pear accidentally but beautifully looks like gold flakes, which just adds to the festive celebratory feeling. 

 

 

The mild pear and punchy ginger are perfect with the champagne, prosecco, or any dry, sparkling white wine. It is the fresh and delicious fall and winter counterpart of the traditional bellini. 

 

If you need more inspiration to fresh cocktails I can recommend the Penicillin cocktail packed with ginger and honey, the blood orange margarita, spiced orange hot toddy, and a grapefruit mint iced tea sangria. All of them are fresh but also great for winter.

 

I serve this for New Year's Eve, just like I would with grapefruit mimosas, sparkling vodka cranberry, or Sugar Plum Fairy's plum drink. It is possible these cocktails would be compiled in a round-up once, so you're getting a head start here!

 

 

What is a bellini cocktail?

 

A bellini is a cocktail traditionally made with 1 part white peach puree and 2 parts prosecco. Prosecco is an Italian sparkling white wine. The drink originated from Venice in Italy at Harry's Bar somewhere between 1934 and 1948. The man behind the drink is named Giuseppe Cipriani. 

 

 

Why is it called a bellini?

 

Giuseppe said he named the drink the Bellini because the unique pink color reminded him of the toga of a saint in a painting by 15th-century Venetian renaissance artist Giovanni Bellini. The pink glow is sometimes made by a tiny addition of raspberry juice.

 

 

What is the difference between a bellini and a mimosa?

 

It is very easy to confuse a bellini with a mimosa, after all, they are both perfect celebratory and sparkly cocktails served in champagne flutes! There are just a few minor differences:

 

• Bellini: 2 parts sparkling white wine, traditionally prosecco + 1 part fruit puree
• Mimosa: 1 part sparkling white wine, traditionally champagne + 1 part fresh juice

 

While traditionally a bellini is made with white peach puree and a mimosa with orange juice, there are countless variations. Such as this ginger pear bellini or my elderflower grapefruit mimosa.  

 

 

Ginger Pear Bellini

 

We will begin with the ginger pear simple syrup. It's important to use a flavorful, ripe pear in order to get the best flavor for the bellinis. In a medium saucepan, add equal parts water and sugar, and peeled and sliced ginger. Over medium heat, stir until the sugar has dissolved. Let this mixture cool a few minutes.

 

 

Meanwhile, chop your pear. Remove the pits and stem and roughly chop the pear, add to a blender. Now pour in the sugar mixture and blend until smooth.

 

If you don't want a punchy ginger flavor, you can now discard the ginger, but I love it. You can also add them raw directly into the blender, like in these pictures.

 

 

You can re-heat this mixture if you want to cook the pears. The ginger pear simple syrup will last about a week or two in the refrigerator. 

 

Let this completely cool in the refrigerator before mixing your ginger pear bellini cocktail. It may separate a little and turn to a darker brown color once it has set.

 

Just give it a stir before placing 3 tablespoon (or more if you want!) in each champagne flute and top with prosecco or champagne or any sparkling white wine. Now gently stir to combine.

 

Enjoy!

 

If you like this, I'm confident you will love my mulled white wine - also with pear and ginger!

 

 

Did you like this Ginger Pear Bellini Recipe? Here's more food and drinks perfect for celebrations:

 

• Rose and pistachio white chocolate mousse
• Chocolate lava cake with raspberry sauce
• Peppermint filled dark chocolates
• Grapefruit mimosa with elderflower
• Orange cranberry sangria
• Blood orange margarita

 

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Comment below or tag me @thegingerwithspice on Instagram. And don’t forget to Pin it for later! To make sure you’re never missing another recipe, please feel free to subscribe to my newsletter. As a thanks you will receive a free e-cookbook Travels Through the Seasons, with many delicious recipes from around the world that suit different seasons of the year. 

 

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This recipe was originally published on Feb 12th 2018, but updated on Dec 27th 2020 for better photos and content.