Perfecting Your Daiquiris for Summer

With summer nearly upon us, or here already depending on where you live it's time to crack out your favorite daiquiri recipes.   The basic daiquiri is a perfect blend of rum, sugar syrup and lime juice and is fantastic anytime of the year, but summer is when the frozen daiquiri makes a very welcome appearance.


I love making up a batch of frozen daiquiris and hiring a frozen daiquiris machine (I think they're officially called a frozen drinks machine!) so that people can serve themselves at a summer party.

Margaritaville Tahiti Frozen Concoction Maker, DM3000
I am definitely tempted to get my very own frozen daiquiri machine and this one seems perfect because you can make more than one drink. Imagine a daiquiri of your choice and a margarita of your choice and an alcohol free frozen drinks for sober drivers, moms to be or children.

This machine would certainly get the party started in style and having read the reviews I am even more tempted....... it would certainly save on the rental, plus it's available for those impromptu gatherings as well....

If you have one please let me know how you've found it in the comments.

In the mean time have you perfected your daiquiri making skills for the upcoming summer? Whether you decide to stick to classic daiquiri recipes or embrace some frozen daiquiri recipes we do all have our favorites don't we? I love the abundance of strawberries in summer which is why I want to talk strawberry daiquiris (my hubby is muttering about an abundance of mango, but as I don't like them and I'm writing this I'm going to stick with strawberries!)

How to Make Strawberry Daiquiris

Strawberry Daiquiri Recipes

Strawberry Daiquiri By The CulinaryGeek
from Chicago, USA

If you're making your strawberry daiquiri during the strawberry season then you'll often find that they are sweet enough to not require any added sugar so be sure to taste them first (the overly sweet bagged concoction of strawberry daiquiri concentrates that are available are enough to put you right off the drink!).

Here is a recipe that doesn't call for ice, just in case your teeth are feeling a little sensitive or you don't think it's a warm enough day for a frozen drink -

Sugar Free Strawberry Daiquiri Recipe

This makes four servings so it's perfect for when your closest girlfriends come over.

6 oz rum
4 oz fresh lime juice
1 pint strawberries, hulls removed, reserving 4 for garnish

Place all of the ingredients into a blender and process until blended smooth.

Pour the mixture into 4 tall glasses and garnish with the reserved strawberries.

Homemade Strawberry Daiquiri

Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri Recipes

Please don't buy those bags of mix, making your own can be so easy by following some of these recipes -

Super Quick Strawberry Daiquiri Recipe with Frozen Strawberries

1 cup light rum
2 cups frozen whole strawberries (1 16-ounce bag)
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup of lime juice

First of all place your rum and lime juice into your blender and then add sugar allowing it to dissolve.

Add a few strawberries to the blender; pulsing to break them up then add more until mixture is nice and smooth.

Pour into chilled or frozen glasses as room temperature glasses allow your daiquiri to thaw too quickly. If it's an impromptu gathering and you don't have any chilled glasses then fill the glasses with ice before starting to make the daiquiris and empty them before adding the drink - it will help to cool the glasses down quickly.

Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri with Fresh Strawberries

2 parts light rum
1 part triple sec
5 large strawberries
1/2 cup crushed ice
lime juice as needed

Add all of the ingredients to the blender including just a little squeeze of lime juice and blend until the mixture is smooth - taste to see if you need a little more lime juice or not.
Rim the edge of a martini glass with lime juice and then fine sugar and fill with the strawberry daiquiri.

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Party Decorations (and cocktails) for your 4th of July Party

Celebrate Independence Day in style with some of these party decoration ideas, and a few of these drinks too.

I discussed some fantastic red, white and blue cocktails last time, but you need more than just cocktails to have a good 4^th of July and I love the idea of decorating your table with these Patriotic Top Hats.

Patriotic Top Hats (1 dz)

Pop a couple on each table as table pieces and you’ll get a very festive feel at the beginning of the party and you know that as the party wears on people will start wearing them, rather like the paper hats we all don at Christmas dinner.   At the end of the party you’ll find a number of people will leave wearing these hats which will act as a reminder of what a great time they had at your place.

American Flag

If you’re after a stunning looking shooter then an American Flag is the drink for you –

1 part grenadine

1 part white crème de cacao

1 part blue curacao

Pout the grenadine into the bottom of a shot glass, layer the crème de cacao on top and then layer the blue curacao on the top of that.

While we’re talking of the American flag – buy a whole lot of them to add as decorations in your food, drinks, on your table etc.   You can never have too many American flags on Independence Day!

USA Plastic Flags (144 pc)

Now if your get togethers are anything like mine then half of the guests will prefer to drink beer instead of cocktails (silly people!) and if you’ve got a keg on hand for them then you’ll need some patriotic cups to drink from.

Patriotic Plastic Flag Cups

Of course if you’re serving bottles or cans then your guests can drink out of them instead – whatever is easier I always say.

Another great idea for table decorations are these cute Patriotic rubber duckies.   I first came across these a few months ago and fell in love with them – I also love celebriducks so I guess I was bound to love these.

Patriotic Rubber Duckies

Now you could just scatter them around or you could decide to revive the 80s cocktail – the fluffy duck and make the drink in larger glasses with ducks floating in them.   Here’s the recipe for a fluffy duck –

Fluffy Duck

1 part white rum

1 part advocaat

1 part cream

Lemonade

Add the rum, advocaat and cream to a cocktail glass (I like to use a hurricane glass personally) and then slowly top up with lemonade.   Be aware that the cream and lemonade have a chemical reaction to each other which causes the drink to rise and froth (tastes delicious, but if you add the lemonade too quickly it can get messy).

Before we go here’s another drink for your 4^th of July get together –

4^th July Lemonade Drink (bear in mind this is not your usual lemonade – it is an alcoholic cocktail!)

1 part Jack Daniels

1 part triple sec

1 part sweet and sour mix

4 parts lemon-lime soda

Pour Jack Daniels, triple sec and sweet and sour mix into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well.   Pour into a highball glass and top up with the lemon-lime soda, stirring gently.

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Red, White & Blue Cocktails

The 4th July will be upon us in no time so it's time to start thinking of what cocktails we want to be serving up - how about a collection of red, white and blue cocktails?

There are a number of different red cocktails from the super easy Bloody Mary to a Campari Cocktail and more.   I've actually compiled a collection of red cocktails for Valentines day on another page, but you could give them more of a patriotic name and use any of them at your 4th July celebrations - Red Cocktails.

Bloody Mary


1 part of vodka
tomato juice
celery salt
Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco sauce

Pour 1 part of vodka into a highball glass that has ice in it, top up with the tomato juice.    Add a dash of celery salt, Tabasco sauce and a couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce, give it a stir and it's done.

Campari Cocktail


2 parts Campari
1 part vodka
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Pop all of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well.   Strain into a cocktail glass to serve.

Now let's move onto white cocktails and personally I think the best white cocktail is the White Russian and as the saying goes 'forget the rest and have the best,' but I'm thinking you probably want a selection of drinks so here are a few more ideas.    Hair of the Dog and Brandy Alexander are two other white cocktails that you can choose from.

Hair of the Dog


1 part Scotch whisky
1 1/2 parts single cream
1/2 part honey

Gently mix all of the ingredients together and pour into a shot glass over ice to serve.

White Russian


2 parts vodka
1 part kahlua
1 1/2 parts cream

This is served in an old fashioned glass over ice and there are a number of different variations on the mixing of it - although it can be nice to float the cream on top in this case I think you should make it the way I do so that you have a 'white cocktail.'    Pour all of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well before straining into an old fashioned glass over ice.

Now let's talk about blue cocktails.   One of my favorite ways of creating a blue cocktail is by using Blue Curacao and when it comes to summer cocktails you don't get many that are as refreshing as the Blue Lagoon.   Other blue cocktails include the Sapphire Martini and the Blue Carnation.

Sapphire Martini

2 parts gin (frozen)
2 dashes dry vermouth
2 dashes blue curacao

Take a chilled cocktail glass and add your dry vermouth and blue curacao - swirl around the glass to add a coating before pouring in the gin.   It's very important that the gin has been kept in the freezer over night as this martini is best served extremely cold.   Be aware that this is a very strong cocktail that would do the likes of Winston Churchill or Ernest Hemmingway proud.

Blue Carnation

1/2 part white cream de cacao
1/2 part blue curacao
2 parts cream

Now this is a delicious, creamy cocktail which is always a plus in my books and it's also incredibly easy to make as you simply pop all of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and 'shake, baby, shake,' next strain into a cocktail glass to serve.

So there you have it some red, white and blue cocktails for your 4th July celebrations - have fun and be safe. Remember to make sure you have some designated drivers and have drinks available for them, a really easy way of creating red, white and blue drinks for drivers is by using lemonade and food coloring.   For more great ideas check out my Mocktails page.

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Blue Lagoon Cocktail

One of the great summer cocktails just has to be the Blue Lagoon, it's definitely one of my favorite (non chocolate and non creamy that is) cocktails.   Blue Lagoon is an ideal cocktail for summer afternoons as it's a long cocktail as opposed to some of the stronger 'knock you off your feet' cocktails that you get served over summer like frozen margaritas and daiquiris (but we'll still talk about them on other posts!)

The Blue Lagoon cocktail is really easy to make and I usually just serve mine in a highball glass like this one - 

The same glasses that I'll also serve iced tea in in fact, and now for the recipe -

Blue Lagoon

2 parts vodka

1 part Blue Curacao

lemonade

Basically you pop ice in your highball glass and then pour in the ingredients as listed, stir with a straw (you could use a spoon, but as I serve it with a straw I give it a stir with the straw it's being served with) and voila - one blue lagoon cocktail.

There are lots of other great cocktails that begin with B and you can find the recipes for them (along with this Blue Lagoon recipe) at ABC of Cocktails.   These recipes include Bellinis, Black Ice Martinis and Black Velvets among others.

Now you have some Blue Curacao, however, what else can it make?   This delicious liqueur is also a striking color which leads to some pretty cool looking (and tasting) cocktails so it pays to have a couple of Blue Curacao cocktail recipes up your sleeve to impress people with.   There are lots of great cocktail recipes like the Blue Lagoon that you can make with this liqueur and you can check some of them out at the Top Blue Curacao Cocktails  - I'll give you a little peek at some of the names of the cocktails in that top ten - Blue Hawaiian, Envy, Electric Blue Margarita and Blue Monday - don't they sound delicious?

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Cocktails Beginning with A

There are so many delicious cocktails that begin with A is hard to know where to start, I've even devoted a webpage to cocktails beginning with a, b and c which you're welcome to check out - ABC of Cocktails.

I think one of the most popular cocktail that starts with A is the Appletini or Apple Martini, the basic recipe calls for -

3 parts vodka

1 part apple schnapps

1 part cointreau

Shake the ingredients together in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain to serve in a cocktail glass like this one - this is a fun way to drink appletinis in a glass made specially for them!

Of course there are several other versions of the appletini available and you can find recipes for the sour apple martini and extreme apple martini amongst others at Drink Recipes: Appletini or Apple Martini.

Of course there are far more cocktails that begin with the letter a than just appletinis as you will know if you've already clicked on the first link.   One which I think is a great cocktail that most people won't have tried before is the Asian Pear Martini, this is a very modern cocktail and is sure to be a hit when you serve it.

Asian Pear Martini

2 shots sake

1 shot pear liqueur

1 1/2 shots fresh pear juice

1/4 shot fresh lime juice

Pop all of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well before straining into a cocktail glass to serve.

Asian style cocktails are very in vogue at the moment and you can get a range of different types from the Asian Pear Martini here to some very exotic Vietnamese and Indian cocktails.   For more information on Asian Inspired Cocktails I do have a resource for you to check out that is aptly called Asian Inspired Cocktails!

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Royal Wedding Cocktails

With the Royal Wedding between William and Kate taking place today it seems only appropriate to have a selection of Royal Wedding Cocktails.

Now of course any wedding should include champers so and Champagne Cocktails would be fantastic to kick off the Royal Wedding especially the following one which contains William in the ingredients........okay it's not Prince William, but the pear liqueur - Poire William.

Royal Silver

1/2 shot Poire William

1/2 shot Cointreau

1 1/2 shots pink grapefruit juice

Champagne

This cocktail is served not in a Champagne flute as you'd imagine, but in a wine goblet, a jewel encrusted goblet would definitely add to the occasion, but Kate and William may prefer a touch of fun with these wine glasses -

Now to how to mix this right royal cocktail.

Add the Poire William, Cointreau and grapefruit juice into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well.

Pour into the wine goblet and top up with Champagne - delicious!

I always think of strawberries as being a romantic fruit so it seems appropriate to also offer a strawberry mocktail for guests who can't or don't want to drink, after all the Queen will be there so we don't want too many drunken antics do we?

Strawberry Kiss

12 strawberries
1 1/2 shots lemon juice
1/2 shots double cream
1/2 tsp caster sugar

Pop all of the ingredients, along with a handful of ice, into a blender and blend well.   Serve in a wine goblet with a strawberry garnish - this looks and tastes so good you won't even miss the alcohol.

Will Kate wear white?   If she does then a White Lady seems appropriate.   It's a gin cocktail and gin always seems like a very British drink doesn't it?

White Lady

1 shot gin
1 shot cointreau
1 shot lemon juice

Shake all of the ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass to serve.   Some people will say you should add egg white, but the original recipe didn't call for it and the Palace really doesn't want to wake up the next day with Salmonella Poisoning hits Wedding Guests plastered all over the world's press does it?

So there we go some delicious cocktails for the Royal Wedding..........even if you're only watching on television!

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Randy Little Kiwi Cocktail

Well I haven't long got back from a trip to New Zealand and so when I was sorting through some old files in the office and came across a recipe for a cocktail called Randy Little Kiwi I just had to post it.

I'm not really sure where I found this cocktail, but it sounds divine (I'm certain I haven't actually tried it yet, but I'm planning on a little cocktail evening soon so....)

30 ml Absolut Citron

30 ml Midori

1 Kiwifruit

1/2 tsp sugar

Peel and quarter the kiwifruit.

Muddle kiwifruit and sugar in the bottom of your shaker.   

Add the Abolut Citron, Midori and ice.

Shake well, strain and serve in a martini glass.

Let me know what you think of the recipe.

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