This cherry lime margarita is a fun summertime cocktail with cherry juice and a lime sugar rim on the glass. It can be served up or on the rocks. The instructions include how to make fresh cherry juice (cocktail can also be made with store bought), how to make lime sugar, what to do with extra lime sugar, and how to serve as a batched cocktail.
– 1 oz/30ml Cherry Juice – 1 oz/30ml Reposado Tequila* (blanco/silver tequila is fine, the smoky tequila flavour is just less pronounced.) – 1 oz/30ml Orange Liqueur (Cointreau or similar) – 1/2 oz/15ml fresh lime juice
– 3/4 c/150g Granulated Sugar – 1/2 tsp/3g Sea Salt – 1 tbsp/3g Lime Zest – 1/2 tsp/1g Ground Black Pepper
– Pit 1 lbs/450g of washed sweet cherries, Brooks or Bing varieties preferred. Place on a lined tray in the freezer and freeze for at least 2 hours. – Once completely frozen, remove cherries from freezer and defrost**. – Blend on the lowest power in a blender or food processor until just broken up. You should still see pieces of cherry skin. Do not blend fast or foam will form and make it difficult to separate the juice. – Strain through cheese cloth or a fine mesh sieve. Allow gravity to do most of the work, before squeezing or stirring to extract the remaining juice. Pulp can be used in smoothies or dried for fruit leather. – Makes about 1 cup or 240ml of cherry juice. Can be store for a couple days in an airtight container in the fridge. If doing so, add 1-2 tsp/5-10ml lime juice or lemon juice to prevent discoloration.
– Combine sugar with lime zest, salt, and pepper in a food processor and blitz for 2-3 minutes until completely combined. – Can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to use. – Extra is great for use in cookies or meringues. Or combine with equal parts water and heat until dissolved for a lime simple syrup.
– Distributed the sugar on a small flat plate. – Use a piece of lime to moisten ½”/12mm of the rim of the glass. – Carefully roll the outside of the rim in the sugar by turning and gently tapping the moistened rim in sugar. – Set glass aside. – Can be served up or over ice. If serving over ice, add ice to prepared glass after rimming with lime sugar. – Combine cherry juice, tequila, orange liqueur, and lime juice in a shaker. – Fill with ice and shake for 20-30 seconds. – Strain into prepared glass. – Garnish with a wheel of lime.