Strawberry Blonded: A Chocolate Strawberry Cocktail

Recipe: Kristine Nguyen , Bludhorn , Houston

Photo: Marcela Alvarez

May 22, 2026

An dessert cocktail evocative of a chocolate-covered strawberry.

For a lighter dessert cocktail, Kristine Nguyen, head bartender of Houston’s Bludhorn, layers together a strawberry aperitif with bitter bianco and Aperol and tops it with a crown of white cacao cream. “I wanted to mimic the flavors of a chocolate-covered strawberry with a slight bitter backbone,” Nguyen says.

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz. Dolin Strawberry Chamberyzette Aperitif
3/4 oz. bitter bianco
1/2 oz. Aperol
1 hard dash Peychaud's bitters
1 barspoon strawberry confit or strawberry syrup
white cacao cream, to top

Tools:mixing glass, barspoon, strainer
Glass:Nick and Nora

Preparation

Add all of the ingredients, except the white cacao cream, to a mixing glass with ice and stir. Strain into a chilled glass. Top with a layer of the white cacao cream and add a drop of Peychaud’s bitters.
White Cacao CreamAdd 1 oz. of heavy whipping cream, 1/2 oz. of white crème de cacao, and 1/4 oz. of rich simple syrup to a shaker with a spring and shake hard until creamy.