With all the wonderful winter citrus available, this is the perfect time of year to be thinking about citrus cocktails! And, since I’ve been in a Meyer lemon mood lately, it seemed natural to develop a cocktail for the mild and floral lemons. Five minutes, a couple of Meyer lemons, and few supplies from the liquor store, are all you need to make this sweet and sour, fruity and perfumed Meyer lemon drop martini!
Once I was done making Meyer lemon souffles, I still had a pile of lemons around so I needed to figure out what to do with them. So, I tested seafood dishes and some muffins and thought about desserts.
There are a lot of recipe testing dinners around here. And breakfasts. And snacks.
Which, oddly enough, is almost exactly how it was before I started this food blogging journey. I’ve been going through old cooking notes and I’ve never been one to make the same thing from one week to the next. I don’t expect anyone to make all the dishes I share here week after week, but something new all the time is exactly how I like to cook! The best thing this blog has done is to make me focus on each recipe so I can improve it and adjust it until I have it just right. Instead of trying something, chatting with my husband about making it better, and then forgetting what we said, I write it down and do it better the next time.
My husband’s favorite recipes to test and perfect are…cocktails. I know, shocking. So, of course, he suggested I make a Meyer lemon drop cocktail.
Basically, if you ask him what I should make, he thinks cocktails. (Or to add bacon. Those are his two main suggestions. It’s a good thing I’m around or it would be all bacon and cocktails around here without a vegetable in sight. Both are tasty, but balance is important! 🙂 )
While I do love vegetables and other healthier foods, I couldn’t argue since I did need to develop a January cocktail. And I have to admit that I prefer Meyer lemons in sweeter applications, where its milder tang and floral notes are a natural pairing.
With this lemon drop martini, I started with Meyer lemon juice, vodka, and limoncello. It seemed like a reasonable pairing – we drank them and they were fine.
Then I added some cranberry sauce, which I had in the fridge from the latest batch of Cranberry Margaritas. And that was better!
Next, I ditched the limoncello, since I decided it was overpowering the Meyer lemon juice (which, remember, is mild), and I knew I was onto something, but cranberry wasn’t where I wanted to be.
A glance into the liquor cabinet had me pulling out a bottle of Chambord. (A Christmas present from mom and dad. Thanks mom! And dad! *waves*) Once I switched out the cranberry for raspberry, I had it! A quick, balanced, yummy cocktail which highlighted the Meyer lemon juice! Fresh raspberries are optional, but a little twist of peel is the crowning touch which brings in the floral notes from the lemon zest.
– Happy Drinking, Annemarie
This blushing meyer lemon drop is a martini with a twist! Vodka is mixed with floral Meyer lemon juice and spiked with a bit of raspberry liqueur to make a great sweet and sour cocktail.
- 3 oz vodka
- 2 oz Meyer lemon juice, about 2 lemons
- 1 oz raspberry liqueur, such as Chambord
- 1/2 oz agave syrup, or sugar syrup
- 2 lemon twists
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Using a vegetable peeler, peel a strip of lemon zest from around the middle of one of the lemons. Slice two long, thin strips from the peel. Twirl each strip into a twist and set aside.
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Measure the vodka, lemon juice, raspberry liqueur, and syrup into a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake vigorously. Pour the cocktail into two martini glasses. Add a lemon twist to each glass and serve.
- I have tried this recipe with standard lemons and you cannot simply substitute standard lemons for the Meyer lemons since standard lemons are much more acidic.
- To make a sugar syrup, bring equal amounts of granulated sugar and water to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes to completely dissolve the sugar. Cool and store in the refrigerator in a covered container.
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