Raspberry Lemondrop Martini

To Make Lemonade:

1 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup hot water
3 cups cold water

Mix hot water and sugar together until dissolved. Mix in lemon juice and water. Refrigerate.


To Make Cocktail:

Fresh raspberries
1 shot Stoli Raz
1 shot Chambord, optional (if not using Chambord, use 2 shots vodka)
Ice
4 oz freshly-squeezed lemonade
Sugar

Shake lemonade and vodka in ice-filled cocktail mixer.

Press rim of martini glass onto plate of sugar.

Pour optional Chambord shot into martini glass.

Carefully pour lemonade mixture over Chambord.

Float 4-5 raspberries as in martini glass.

Garnish with lemon twist.

Ginger & Lemon Martini

So, I have been experimenting with my new, oh-so-cool lemon and ginger-infused vodka. I decided to combine a bunch of my favorite ingredients and see what happened. Dee-lish-us!

I played around with the quantities, and settled on this (adjust according to your preferences):

2 ounces ginger and lemon-infused vodka
4 ounces ginger beer
1 splash lemon juice
1 generous splash Angostina bitters
1 lemon wedge
Sugar
Ice

To be all sophisticated (remember, I am 26, a big girl now!) I used a large martini glass for this drink.

Pour vodka, lemon juice and bitters into cocktail shaker filled with crushed ice. Shake vigorously.

Run lemon wedge over martini glass's rim. Press rim into sugar on plate.

Pour contents of cocktail shaker into martini glass. Top with ginger beer and garnish with lemon wedge!

Blood Orange Martini

I'll admit...I am a little obsessed with blood oranges right now. And these are such a refreshing break from the traditional martinis!

To make 1 blood orange martini:
3 oz orange vodka
1/2 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz simple syrup
7 ounces blood orange puree or blood orange juice
Orange twist