Hold on to Summer with this Minty Strawberry Daiquiri Recipe

Strawberries + Mint + Lemon and Lime Juice + Simple Syrup + Rum = Utterly Delicious.

I like to drink with the seasons. In the cold winter I crave the full-body warmth of a Malbec, Zinfandel, or Tempranillo and spicy, dark beers. During the summer I cool down with a Sauvignon blanc, Pinot Grigio/Gris, wheat and pale ale brews, and in the past few years I've been exploring rosés which are quite delightful. I also tend to venture into the world of cocktails a bit more during the hotter months of the year, so with the change of seasons at my doorstep, I wanted to make one last summer-appropriate cocktail: a Minty Strawberry Daiquiri. 

This was very easy to do and could be served over ice (as featured here) or blended to serve frozen like a slushy. I always prefer drinks on the rocks vs frozen, but in this case my husband said he would have liked this particular drink blended because he didn't like the pulpy strawberries. I on the other hand loved the crushed, fleshy strawberry pieces and felt like I was eating a bit of fruit while sipping my cocktail. To each their own.

Ingredients (this makes two cocktails):

• Strawberries: ~1/2 cup, sliced (I used a lot because I wanted the strawberries to be the star of the drink)
• Mint: I didn't have much left on our plant so I only added about 1.5 Tbsp. I'd probably increase this is if I had more.
• Lemon juice: About 2 Tbsp - I used the juice from 1 lemon. Bottled could be used in a pinch.
• Lime juice: About 1 Tbsp - I used a little more than half the juice of a lime. Adjust the lemon:lime ratio to your taste palette and what you have on hand.
• Simple syrup: 2 oz = 4 Tbsp = 1/4 cup. You can use bottled or just make your own as I did for my Lemony Mojito. Next time I'd go lighter on the sugar. It wasn't overly sweet, but I could easily cut it and still enjoy the drink.
• White rum: 4 oz = 8 Tbsp = 1/2 cup. I used Bacardi in this case. I may have topped off each drink with a bit more rum.
• Ice

Directions:

1. Wash your strawberries and mint. Rip the mint into smaller pieces, hull and slice the strawberries, and add both to the cocktail shaker. Muddle until you get a fairly smooth and cohesive consistency similar to pureed strawberries.

2. Squeeze your lemons and limes to get the amount of juice you want from each. Add to the shaker.

3. Measure out the rum and simple syrup. Pour into the shaker.

4. Add some ice to cool it all down and shake together until the cocktail shaker becomes frigid and there's condensation on the outside (~15-30 seconds).

5. Pour into glasses (you can strain if you want to remove some of the pulp) and garnish with a strawberry.

6. Drink up and enjoy!