Cinco De Mayo ‘Ritas

Coming from a long history of college partying on Cinco De Mayo, my Frat Daddy fiancé and I couldn’t really give up one of the best “party” holidays just because we were parents, however, we don’t exactly “party” these days… We wanted something kid friendly, by the pool with a few of our close friends and their little ones. Well we got it! Thanks to the not too hot Scottsdale weather, we threw a nice little fiesta at our beautiful pool!

I wanted to make some margaritas, but I didn’t feel like there was enough effort going into this cocktail sesh, so I figured I’d try to make my own simple syrup. It went SO well, I wish I’d taken more pictures of the process, but I was in SUCH a hurry I had no time to photograph a process that was going much slower than I needed it to anyway. BUT, it’s worth blogging about, because this can be made with most any fruit, I feel like, and could be used in a bunch of different ways!

Plus, it’s too easy!

As you can see, I wasn’t working with the fanciest tequila, that’s why the mixers must be tasty enough to conceal that, um, taste.

For the simple syrup all you do is combine sugar and water in equal parts, on the pot over high heat, boil until the sugar is dissolved. (I whisked away for a little while longer, hoping for a syrupy consistency, which worked, a little) Then, in my food processor, I combined about a cup and half of strawberries and obliterated them, seeds and all, because those little bastards don’t really bother me. If they aren’t your cup of seedy tea, then run your final mixture through a fine strainer to remove the seeds. But you’ll still end up with some in your ‘rita, cuz you’re putting fresh strawberries in there, so you’re really fighting a loosing battle…

Anyway, let the sugar water mixture cool completely before combining it with the strawberries either in the food processor or the blender. You should use just the blender, but I like to make a mess, so I used a food processor and a blender. Mix that shit up, real good, pour in a jar and set aside.

NOW, we’re ready to assemble some dranks.

I didn’t have any Grand Marnier this time, but I really prefer it in my margarita so my recipe calls for it.

This is for one margarita, just double, triple, whatever you need!

2oz Grand Marnier
2oz Tequila
2oz Lime juice (I use the premade stuff, juicing that many limes isn’t for the faint of heart.)
2.5oz Simple syrup
(Depending on your tolerance for the hard stuff, you can add a little Sprite to the mixture which makes your batch of ‘ritas go further and not pack such a punch. Messing with the recipe messes with the taste, keep that in mind. If this isn’t hard enough, or you just had a rough day, don’t be shy about adding some moscato. Don’t drink too many, because you will have a noticeably worse hangover than you can remember having for a long time. Obvi, wine, fire water and the Marnier aren’t friends, but they taste splendidly together.)

For the garnish and rim, keep some sliced limes and strawberries on the side as well as a little receptacle for a sugar/salt mixture for the rim.

You can either rim the glass with a lime wedge and dip into the salt/sugar, but I find that’s not sticky enough and I often fill the other half of my “’rita salter thingy” with lime juice.

Either combine everything in a blender with ice, or in a shaker with ice and serve!

Enjoy and happy margarita making!