Tropical Frozen Margarita

You know the time of year. Those first few days of the year where it’s bearable to go outside in just a cardigan. The sun is out, your legs are out, and the BBQ is well and truly out too! And what better drink to go with that chargrilled food than a frozen cocktail, more specifically a frozen margarita!

I love a good cocktail, but a frozen one on a hot day just hits that spot a little bit better, don’t you think?

Now, this isn’t your normal margarita. Bartenders look away. I haven’t used Triple Sec because, let’s be real, who has that in their cupboard? I also didn’t dip the rim in salt—I always find the salt a bit too much for my palate. Instead I opted for *gasp* sugar.

Anyway, you have a BBQ to be getting on with so here’s the recipe. I use a bartender jigger to measure some of the ingredients in the list, but you can also just use a measuring jug or eyeball it.

Ingredients & Method

Makes 2 drinks

For the vanilla simple syrup:

• 1/2 glass of water
• 1/2 glass of sugar
• 1 vanilla pod OR 1 tsp vanilla extract

The rest:

• 2 passion fruits, de-seeded (+ 1 cut in half for decoration if desired)
• 50 ml blanco tequila
• 30 ml lime juice
• 50 ml tropical juice
• 1 tsp demerara sugar
• 1 glass crushed ice (+ more to adjust for your preferences)

1. For the simple syrup: Pour the water into a small saucepan and add the sugar. If using a vanilla pod, run a knife down the middle to release the seeds, and add this to the sugar water. Alternatively, add your vanilla extract. Bring to a simmer and stir very occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved and the watery substance has turned into a syrup, take off the heat, remove the vanilla pod if using, and pour the syrup into a bowl to cool for at least 1 hour. Keep in the fridge for up to a week.
2. Making the cocktail: To decorate the glasses, squeeze some lime juice onto a small plate and sprinkle sugar generously onto another. Dip the rim of your glass into the lime juice and then into the sugar, rolling it around until adequately coated. Repeat with the other glass. You can also do salt here if you want or a mix of salt and sugar!
3. Next, push the insides of the passion fruit through a sieve into a separate bowl, using a spoon to squeeze every last milligram of goodness from them. Put all of the ingredients apart from the ice into a blender, plus 30 ml of the vanilla simple syrup you just made. Add your ice and pulse the mixture gradually to crush up the ice. If your blender gets stuck (which it most likely will unless you have one of those super-duper powerful ones—congrats if you do), add a touch of water and pulse again. After a few pulses, move onto actually blending the mixture. Start slowly, otherwise you risk hurting your blender’s blades. If it’s too thick to blend, keep adding more liquid, alternating with water, lime juice and more tropical juice (adding lots of water to get the right texture will water down the drink and nobody wants that). Have a taste, add more tequila if it’s not strong enough for you, and then spoon into your glasses. Top with a passion fruit half and serve with a glass straw.