Diet coke with ice and a straw is my number one, all time, top, take only it to a deserted island, favorite food.  My favorite-favorite is Diet Cherry Coke (which you cannot find anywhere these days) followed closely by Diet Coke with a splash of Strawberry Crush.  Given that information, I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I am completely obsessed with the Strawberry Diet Cokes from Sonic Drive-In.

Whenever we drive within 50 miles of a Sonic I always drag my road trip buddies in for a large one.

Sadly (stupidly) there are no locations in NYC, so I’ve had to wait for my next fix.

I’m not very good at waiting though.  So I decided to take matters into my own hands and come up with a copycat recipe to make at home.  Please note – I’m using “recipe” pretty loosely here, these strawberries are not exactly complicated.

Strawberry Diet Coke, serves 4

• 16 oz fresh strawberries, cored and chopped
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

Place berries and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 – 5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved completely and the berries have started to weep.  Remove from heat and let cool before storing* in a sealed container in the fridge.  *Be sure you get the berries and the liquid, that syrup is where a lot of the flavor ends up.

Put ice and prepared strawberries in the bottom of your cup.  Pour desired soda on top – you don’t have to use Diet Coke, I guess.  Drink with a straw.

Yum!  These turned out perfect.  If I had crushed ice then they would be just as good as the original.

And you know I had to find a way to involve sweetened condensed milk.  See below for a Berries and Cream variation.  Even if you’re not a SCM addict, including the vanilla bean paste in the regular recipe would be a nice touch.

Recipe Variation – Strawberries and Cream Diet Coke

After berries have cooled, stir in 1 tsp vanilla bean paste.  Once you’ve assembled your berries, ice, and soda, drizzle sweetened condensed milk over the top.