Christmas Margarita Recipe

This Christmas margarita is a cranberry margarita: 2 oz silver tequila, 1 oz orange liqueur, 1 oz fresh lime juice, 2 oz cranberry juice and ½ oz simple syrup, shaken with ice and strained into a salt or sugar rimmed glass. It takes 5 minutes and makes one drink.

It is tart first and only lightly sweet, and the deep red color does the decorating for you. A few cranberries, a lime wheel and a sprig of rosemary on top and it looks like December.

One Glass, in Ounces

• Silver tequila: 2 oz
• Orange liqueur: 1 oz, Cointreau or triple sec
• Fresh lime juice: 1 oz, plus a wedge for the rim
• Cranberry juice: 2 oz, 100% juice or cranberry juice cocktail
• Simple syrup: ½ oz, adjusted to your juice
• Rim: coarse salt or sugar, red and green sanding sugar if you like

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Silver Tequila, Cointreau and Fresh Lime

Silver (blanco) tequila keeps the drink clean and sharp. I have tried this with reposado and the oak muddied the cranberry and lime, so I stay with silver. Cointreau is smoother than most triple sec, and either one is what links the cranberry to the lime without making the drink sweet.

Squeeze the lime yourself. Bottled lime juice tastes cooked next to fresh, and it throws the balance off. For the simple syrup, warm equal parts sugar and water until the sugar dissolves, then cool it; it keeps in a jar in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

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100% Cranberry Juice or Cranberry Cocktail?

Both work, but they change how much syrup you need. Unsweetened 100% cranberry juice is very tart, so use the full ½ oz of simple syrup and taste. Cranberry juice cocktail is already sweetened, so start with half the syrup, about ¼ oz, and add more only if it needs it.

I often keep both and mix them, especially when my orange liqueur is on the sweet side. If you make your own homemade cranberry juice, treat it like the 100% kind and taste before adding syrup.

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Salt Rim or Sugar Rim

Salt pulls the drink toward a classic margarita and makes the lime taste brighter. Sugar softens the cranberry and makes it feel more like a holiday treat. For family I go sugar, for cocktail hour with friends I go salt, and half and half on one glass is a fair compromise.

Rub a cut lime around the rim, then roll only the outside edge in a flat plate of salt or sugar, so nothing falls into the drink. No egg white needed. Red and green sanding sugar looks pretty on Christmas Eve, but plain coarse sugar tastes the same. You can rim all the glasses before guests arrive and line them up on a tray.

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Shaking a Christmas Margarita

Fill the shaker with ice, then add the tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, cranberry juice and syrup. Shake hard for about 20 seconds, until the outside of the shaker is frosty and painfully cold in your hand.

Fill the rimmed glass with fresh ice and strain the drink over it. The ice in the shaker is cracked and melts fast, so leave it behind. Serve right away.

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A Pitcher for Eight

Multiply by eight: 2 cups silver tequila, 1 cup orange liqueur, 1 cup fresh lime juice (about 8 limes), 2 cups cranberry juice and ½ cup simple syrup. Then add about 1 cup of cold water. That stands in for the ice that melts while shaking; without it, a pitcher tastes much stronger and sharper than a shaken glass.

Chill the pitcher for at least an hour and pour over fresh ice in rimmed glasses. You can mix the base without the syrup up to 2 days ahead and keep it in the fridge, though the lime is brightest on the first day. Add the syrup when serving, after tasting.

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Garnish: Rosemary Yes, Holly No

Three fresh cranberries on a pick, a thin lime wheel and a sprig of rosemary are all it needs. Rosemary adds a light pine smell as you sip. Leave holly for the table: its berries and leaves are toxic and do not belong near a glass.

For sugared cranberries, roll fresh cranberries in a little simple syrup, then in granulated sugar, and let them dry on parchment for about an hour. They sparkle on the rim and stay crunchy.

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Before You Pour

How strong is this drink?

It holds 3 oz of spirits. With 40% tequila and Cointreau, that is about 1.2 oz of alcohol, roughly two standard US drinks, so one per guest goes a long way.

Can I make it without alcohol?

For guests who skip alcohol, my sparkling pomegranate mocktail has the same red holiday look.

What goes with it on a party table?

Salty bites like cheese-stuffed olives, and something tart and sweet like cranberry bliss bars. I often pour it next to a creamy sugar cookie martini, one fresh and one rich. For a second red drink, the pomegranate margarita uses the same build.