Cranberry Margarita

I attempted to make cranberry margarita in the past and it was awful. I recently attempted to make cranberry lemon drop and it too was horrible. My sister made these on Christmas Eve and we were all very happy. Her good friend Susie created it and taught her this wonderful recipe. I loved them so much I had to make them on Christmas day and they were a huge hit.  I was serving them all night. 

They are a perfect combination of sweet and tart. When I made them the first time back in nyc I made them with cranberry juice. They were just too tart because as we all know cranberries are super tart. I watched Rachel Ray's husband make a cranberry simple syrup so I made cranberry lemon drops and they too were just way to tart. Susie found a cranberry sauce that she adds to the drink and it gives the perfect combination. 

Different from Susie is that I use my margarita recipe but add her cranberry sauce. If you like it a little more tart remove the fresh orange juice. 

For Cranberry sauce: (recipe came from a great food blog called Damn Delicious)

Ingredients

1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

zest of 1 orange

1/2 cup sugar or more to taste

1 (12 ounce) bag of fresh cranberries

3/4 cup of water

Recipe

In medium sauce pan combine orange juice, zest, sugar and water and cook on medium heat until sugar dissolves. 

Add cranberries and bring to a boil. Continue to simmer until sauce thickens about 15 minutes. 

let cool. 

For the cocktail: (Makes one drink)

Ingredients

2 1/2 ounces tequila

1/2 ounce triple sec

2 ounces fresh Orange juice

1 lime squeezed

1/2 ounce cranberry sauce

brown sugar for rim of glass

Directions

Add ice to a shaker and add all ingredients. Rim glass with brown sugar and add ice to glass. Shake all ingredients and pour into glass.

Try it and let me know what you think. You can freeze cranberry sauce to you can continue to have it when cranberries are no longer in season.