Summertime and the living is easy, right?! The dog days of August call for a refreshing, mint drink that will equip you to enjoy these last days and hours before the hustle and bustle of school and activities begin again. Take time right now to make this Mojito Slushy. I promise that you will be glad that you did. Mint is easy to gather these days. If you aren’t already growing mint in your herb garden, ask friends and neighbors, for by now mint has taken over the garden, the yard and anything in between.
This recipes is one of our favorites from our cookbook, The Newlywed Cookbook, Cooking Happily Ever After and we didn’t want summer to slip away without sharing one of our favorites from this book. Enjoy!
Mojito Slushy
Makes 2 generous servings
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
¼ cup fresh mint leaves plus 4 to 6 mint leaves, divided
¼ cup light rum
¼ cup fresh squeezed lime juice
2 cups ice cubes
Mint leaves and lime slices or thin wedges, for garnish
Heat together the sugar, water and ¼ cup mint leaves in a 1-quart saucepan over medium heat. Use the back of a spoon to bruise (and muddle) the mint leaves. Cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar syrup comes to a boil and the sugar dissolves.
Remove the pan from the heat and allow it to stand at room temperature for 1 hour or up to 6 to 8 hours so mint flavors the sugar syrup.
Strain the sugar syrup, through a fine-mesh strainer, into a blender container. Discard the mint leaves. Add the rum, lime juice, remaining 4 to 6 fresh mint leaves and ice cubes. Blend until smooth and slushy and the ice is finely chopped. Pour into glasses and garnish each with fresh mint leaves and lime slice or wedge.
Makes 2 servings.
Tips:
Make ahead convenience. Make the mint flavored sugar syrup early in the day or the day before. Strain the syrup into a refrigerator container, then cover and refrigerate the syrup until ready to use.
Serving a crowd? This cocktail is smooth and delicious so you will want to have plenty ready to make quickly. Double or triple the sugar-mint syrup so you have plenty of syrup that is cool and infused with the mint flavor. For two drinks, pour ½ cup of sugar-mint syrup into the blender, add the remaining ingredients as directed, blend and serve. Pour another ½ cup of the sugar-mint syrup into the blender, add remaining ingredients and let the party keep going.
The volume of liquid and ice that a blender can handle varies by brand and model. By blending 2 servings at a time, most blenders can easily handle the task and you can still serve a crowd.
Recipe Credit: The Newlywed Cookbook: Cooking Happily Ever After by Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore (St. Martin’s Press, 2014.) Photos by David Shaughnessy. Click here for more information on the book.
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