The Cocktail Pantry Twists Series is made in partnership with Stonewall Kitchen. Recipe and ideas are my own.
Hello and welcome to my pantry. Yes, my actual pantry.
In these cold weather months, sometimes it’s hard to come across some fresh ingredients to make drinks with. Or the ones we find at the store are flying here from thousands of miles away and, well, come with a hefty price tag too. So to beat those winter blues, we’ve teamed up with Stonewall Kitchen, who have been gracing my shelves for years (Like almost two decades now. I. AM. OLD.), to add some great flavors to our drinks with their assortment of jams and condiments.
I’ll be taking over their Instagram Stories on Friday the 6th to share some how-to videos and be a talking head, but you all get the recipes here first! And there’s three this week! Also, I’ll be having a giveaway Friday as well on my IG page and you’ll have a chance to win ALL the products to make the recipes with. It’s like getting a holiday basket delivered to your door except better because you’ll be able to make cocktails with everything inside.
First up in the series of cocktail pantry twists is a Hot Pepper Cranberry Jelly Margarita made with Stonewall Kitchen’s Hot Pepper Cranberry Jelly. It’s holiday time and I love the sweet-tart cranberries that are a ubiquitous part of the season. And I love a Spicy Marg too. This cocktail mixes up blanco tequila with a sweet, spicy, and sour flavor profile. It’s bursting with delicious ingredients and I think it’s just the drink to kick up our taste buds when we are craving those juicy fruit flavors.
Now, since your grocery store may or may not have citrus (even though winter is when citrus is in season!), and we’re all hanging out together in my pantry, I’ve got a few substitutions for fresh lime juice below. Now some might seem a bit out there, but this is also keeping in mind that you’re using cranberries in this Margarita and they have their own sourness, so you can mellow the citrus out a bit and use something like orange juice.
No limes? Try these alternatives:
- Meyer Lemons
- Orange Juice
- Organic, all natural bottled lime juice
- Lemonade
Hot Pepper Cranberry Jelly Margarita
- 1-1/2 ounces blanco tequila
- 1 tablespoon Stonewall Kitchen Hot Pepper Cranberry Jelly
- 3/4 ounce orange liqueur
- 1/2 freshly squeezed lime juice (or a substitution from the list above)
- kosher salt for rim
First, take a lime wedge and wet the edge of a rocks glass, and then roll the outer edge of the glass in the salt. Set aside. In a shaker 2/3 filled with ice, pour in the tequila, the Hot Pepper Cranberry Jelly, orange liqueur, and the lime juice. Shake hard 20 seconds and then strain into the rocks glass. Garnish with a small spoon topped with additional Hot Pepper Cranberry Jelly. Enjoy!
See you tomorrow for the next recipe in our series!
This post is brought to you by Specialty Retailers, Inc. Recipes and ideas are my own.
Today I’m taking part in 
We still have two whole weeks until Christmas and who knows how many parties we’ll be going to or hosting up to then. If you’re in charge of drinks, Stages has all the accessories you need to make prepping and decorating easy! We did a quick shopping trip online to get all our gear for our virtual party including glasses, those cute gold foil holiday napkins, a caddy to hold the napkins and straws, a chalkboard sign to write out the name of our Signature Cocktail, the containers to store the rosemary sugar, a dipping tray for all the ingredients for the Cranberry Sauce Margaritas, as well as some festive decorations like this teeny tiny lights and the nutcracker. Even my holiday sweater came from there! SO MANY GREAT ENTERTAINING OPTIONS.
The recipe for the Cranberry Sauce Margaritas has just a touch of sweetness in it from the cranberry sauce and the Grand Marnier. You can adjust going up or down with either to your liking. I also think adding just a touch of the rosemary sugar into the drink doesn’t hurt either, just remember to shake it really well to combine it all! TIP: use the spent lime wedges from the cocktail recipe to help rim the glasses. Then you won’t need to waste additional lime wedges just for rimming. Also, when rimming your glass, use a shallow bowl or rimmed plate and push the sugar out towards the edges so that the sugar will evenly coat around the glass.
Cranberry Sauce Margaritas
Rosemary Sugar
This post was made in partnership with Master of Mixes. Recipes and ideas are my own.
Yes, I love the spooks and the change of season, but free candy always topped the list of reasons why October 31st was THE BEST. Now, as an adult, I can hop in my car, or rather, have Instacart deliver, all the candy my heart desires. At any time of year. But I’ve learned restraint and I don’t usually buy any until the week before Halloween when stores start having candy sales. And then again the day before Halloween because I’ve eaten it all the past week.
Lastly, Almond Joy bars in my opinion are far superior to a Mounds bar. Because… almonds!! When I think coconut cocktails, I think Piña Coladas, and Master of Mixes has a perfectly balanced 
So grab some extra candy this year, a couple of Master of Mixes bottles, and let’s plan a sweet Halloween party!
Have you guys ever tried quick infusions with dehydrated fruit?! A few weeks back I collaborated with a local bartender on a drink and she hyped me to this technique. I thought I had pretty much exhausted all the fast and furious ways you could get some flavor infused into drinks but I’d never thought of trying it with dehydrated foods. When you crush the dehydrated fruit into the drink, it sucks up the liquid and starts to seep its flavor out. Pretty neat huh?
So today I’m swizzling up tequila and dehydrated blueberries alongside creamy coconut milk and a little spice from a cinnamon syrup you can whip up in less than a half hour. For an extra kick, Angostura bitters is floated on top. We chose to work with 100% estate grown agaves Tres Agaves Tequila because of it’s slightly spicy flavor profile and subtle sweet and grassy aroma; it was the perfect match for our cocktail creation.
Hope you guys enjoy this over the (long) weekend! If you try it, let us know what you think!
1-1/2 ounces Tres Agaves Blanco Tequila
For more information on Tres Agaves Tequila, please visit their site at 
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