When we were dating, we took our first “together” trip together to Keystone, Colorado. My future husband (I was pretty certain that I had it in the bag by then) grew up skiing.
Me? I grew up in Texas.
In a classic – and somewhat predictable – display of grace and coordination, I ended up strapped to a backboard, wrapped in a tarp, and hauled away tied to the bumper of a ski mobile after only 1 trip down the kiddie practice slope.
Not. Embarrassing. At. All.
I spent the rest of that week limping around the resort on a bum knee, shopping and reading by a gigantic fireplace. I spent evenings hanging out at the bar, playing pool with the Texas Tech spring breakers, while waiting on Jason to finish up his night runs. Drinking margaritas.
You can probably guess that my vacation wasn’t ruined one single bit 🙂
After giving me two pretty terrible margaritas in a row (What? People don’t order those in Colorado in February?!), the bartender cried uncle and whipped me up a “frozen matador.” The drink was almost a pineapple margarita: pineapple juice, tequila, lime juice and a couple of frozen chunks of pineapple to keep the drink cold. It was the kind of drink that you sip when it’s 90 degrees outside, not 20.
But, like the trooper I am, I managed.
Last summer, we drank ourselves into a Pineapple Margarita circle. It was almost as fun as it sounds. And we got two delicious but very different margarita recipes out of it. For the classic on-the-rocks version, I started essentially with a modified Matador, tried to get away from the canned juice (margarita snob alert!) by using fresh fruit instead. But I was never totally happy so we switched to frozen… and then arrived back at the Matador-style cocktail.
One of the biggest problems is that fresh pineapple is deceptively sweet. I always seem to forget just how acidic it is until I’m near the bottom of Frozen Margarita #1 or after a couple of generous scoops of pineapple salsa. And then my tongue burns, my lips get all weird and peely, and the inside of my mouth feels like I’ve eaten 3 tubes of razor blade-covered Pringles.
Does this happen to you? Because it does to both of us. And it’s a little unpleasant. And nothing disguised as a margarita should ever inflict that kind of pain on anyone… before the next day.
The on-the-rocks version doesn’t do that – the canned pineapple juice is much less acidic than the fresh fruit. They’re refreshing, super smooth, and the perfect tropical-inspired cocktail for people who don’t really care for rum. Like me!
And if you do want to try a frozen version, swap out the mango for pineapple in this recipe. But maybe you keep some chapstick handy.
We’ll be sharing our other pineapple cocktail soon – stay tuned!
Pineapple Margaritas
Pineapple juice transforms the standard margarita into a tropical cocktail.
Ingredients
- For the homemade margarita mix:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (~8-12 limes)
- For the margarita:
- 3 oz tequila
- 2 oz orange liqueur
- 4 oz pineapple juice
- 3 oz margarita mix
- Salt or sugar, for rim (optional)
- Lime wedges, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Heat water and sugar in a small sauce pan until completely dissolved and the water is clear. Let cool.
- Pour into a pitcher with lime juice. Homemade margarita mix done! It will keep a couple of weeks covered in the fridge and also freezes nicely into ice cube trays.
- To make the margarita, add margarita mix, tequila, orange liqueur, and pineapple juice to a pitcher.
- Stir to mix well.
- Serve in salt- or sugar-rimmed glasses, over ice.
Notes
Yields: 2 drinks
Estimated time: 15 minutes