Three Cheers for Cocktails!

by Meredith Antunez September 11, 2019

Who doesn't love a good night in? Relaxing with good friends in the comfort of your home, enjoying a few drinks without the inflated bar prices, eventually singing along to "Faithfully" at the top of your lungs until the neighbors complain...always a fun time. I've recently stumbled across a few cocktails that were so good, so fresh and so easy, I had to share them. Each one has 3 ingredients (or less!), comes together in minutes, and tastes like you're hiding a mixologist in the pantry. If you're looking to host a fun night with impressive cocktails, here are a few to start with!

Elderflower Martini: My friend Laura turned me on to this one, and despite sounding like an odd combination, it is heavenly- both floral and naturally sweet from the elderflower, bright from the grapefruit and botanical from the gin. The key to this cocktail is the freshly squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice. My husband tried to substitute store-bought, and it was garbage. One large grapefruit amounts to 2 cocktails and takes about 30 seconds to squeeze, so just do it.

Makes 2 cocktails:

6 oz. Freshly Squeezed Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice (1 large)

2 oz. Gin

2 oz. Elderflower Liqueur

Shake vigorously with ice, then strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a slice of grapefruit floating on top.

Passionfruit Margarita: I found a container of this juice in the international section of the grocery store, and since passionfruit has long been one of my favorite flavors in desserts, I decided to experiment. Pairing it with tequila made perfect sense to me, and a squeeze of lime is all that's needed to round out this delicious drink.

Makes 2 cocktails:

6 oz. Passionfruit juice

1 oz. Lime Juice

3 oz. Tequila

Mix together and pour over ice. Garnish with a slice of lime. Use either a sugared or salted rim for additional flavor.

Elderflower Sparkling Rose: This is a great drink to start with- bubbles are always festive and since sparkling water is one half of the ingredient list, it doesn't pack the alcohol punch of these other drinks. We found this soda at Trader Joe's and it was a hit- even the men were drinking pink and loving it!

2 oz. Elderflower Sparkling Water

2 oz. Sparkling Rose

Fill a champagne flute about halfway with rose sparkling wine. Top with elderflower sparkling water. Garnish with a twist of lemon, if desired.