Happy Hour | Sweet and Spicy Margarita

Whether you love frozen, blended or you are a strict “on the rocks” person, the perfect margarita can’t be topped. Paired with some spicy Spanish delights or shared from an enormous glass with friends, this cocktail is the perfect celebratory fair.

According to the Nibble, the margarita began its life in 1948 in the kitchen of Margaret “Margarita” Sames, a wealthy Dallas socialite.

10 Delish Drinks: Margaritas

Sames had fallen in love with the cocktails during visits to Cuba, and wanted to recreate the experience.

After trial and error, she eventually fell back on her favorite liquor, tequila. At that time, there were no cocktails mixed with this, so the margarita is the first of its kind.

The original margarita is three simple ingredients – tequila, Cointreau, and lime juice – garnished with a lime wedge, and of course, a salted glass rim. The drink is shaken and then poured over ice cubes.

To create a frozen version, replace the ice cubes with crushed ice.

My favorite part about a margarita is that it’s a totally customizable drink. Switch out orange juice for Cointreau, or grapefruit juice or any other fruit. I’m sure Margaret Sames wouldn’t mind.

2013 Cocktail Guide

Twinkle’s Sweet and Spicy Margarita

• Kosher salt (for garnish)
• 1 oz. premium or silver tequila
• 2 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1.5 oz. fresh-squeezed lime juice
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• 2 slices of fresh jalapeño
• 1 dash of turbinado sugar

Lightly squeeze a lime slice around the rim of your glass. Set the slice aside.

Turn the glass upside down into your Kosher salt to rim the glass. 

Muddle one slice of jalapeño with sugar and pour into shaker.

Pour in liquid ingredients and shake with ¾ cup ice; float the remaining slice on the drink and garnish with lime.

2013 Cocktail Guide

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Twinkle VanWinkle was born in a small town in Mississippi. A life-long lover of music, media and food, she grew up following those three things along her path. She has almost 20 years of professional cooking under her apron strings, feeding thousands of friends, family and other folks while working in restaurants and bakeries in Oxford, Miss. She baked apple pies for the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and appeared on Food Network's “The Best Of...” in the same year. Along with producing dynamic lifestyle content for LIN Media, she is a mother, musician and social media fanatic.

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