Me again! I’m popping back in for just a quick second with something a bit different. Over the past couple of months, my husband has been having fun experimenting with different cocktail recipes – and I have to admit, I was kind of skeptical at first, but it’s amazing how good a well crafted cocktail tastes compared to the kind of drinks I was used to before. So today I thought I’d share one of his new recipes with you! This cocktail is a slight twist on a classic daiquiri – not a fru-fru thing with a tiny umbrella, but a citrus-y sweet cocktail right out of the Caribbean.

Read below for the full recipe!

The Traditional Daiquiri

2 oz rum
1 oz fresh lime juice
1/4 oz Cointreau
1/4 oz simple syrup

The daiquiri that most people meet is basically a fruit smoothie with alcohol – colorful, filled with ground ice, and overly sweet.  This is not that daiquiri.  This daiquiri is an old drink from Cuba, a natural development from the island’s history of sugar and citrus growing.  It balances sweet and sour, alcohol and citrus, and is remarkably crisp and refreshing.

A classic daiquiri is made with just rum, lime juice, and simple syrup.  I usually substitute Cointreau – a liqueur made from dried orange peels – for about half the simple syrup called for in a traditional recipe.  The Cointreau adds both sweetness and a beautiful citrus flavor that pairs really well with the lime in the daiquiri.  Pour all of the ingredients into a shaker filled about halfway with ice.  Shake – hard – for 20 seconds.  Pour into chilled glasses.

 

A couple of cocktail tips:

A general rule for mixing drinks: if the drink is all spirits, stir it; if it includes spirits and other ingredients, like juice, sugar, or a egg, shake it.  Shaking with ice cools the drink, aerates it to improve the texture, and makes sure all the ingredients are fully blended so they won’t separate out in your glass.  For daiquiris, I like to shake them vigorously, resulting in a nice frothy foam and little slivers of ice on top of the drink.

You can mix large batches of simple syrup and store them in a bottle in the refrigerator for up to a month.  Just mix equal parts sugar with water, then gently heat them in a pan on the stove, stirring frequently, until the sugar has dissolved into the water.  Brown sugar or cane sugar are best for mixed drinks, especially the daiquiri.

Enjoy!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper