Cinco de Mayo is almost here and that holiday often ushers in the warm weather, so now is the perfect time to start upping your margarita game. With this recipe for layered strawberry-mango margaritas, you will be able to toast to warmer weather with a drink that looks like a gorgeous sunset in a glass.
And don’t worry: While the end result looks complicated, it’s actually pretty straightforward, meaning you can impress your Instagram followers without breaking a sweat. To make the layered strawberry-mango margaritas from this Eating Well recipe, you’ll need frozen mango and frozen strawberries, along with fresh lime juice, triple sec, simple syrup and your favorite tequila.
The trick to the layering is simple: Just make the strawberry portion (or the mango portion) first, then rinse out the blender and do the other frozen fruit concoction separately.
Then, alternate pouring the pretty pink strawberry margarita and the orange-hued mango margarita. You can do several layers, or just one of each, like Instagrammer @chelsea.swift:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFUrxg0DF9t/
The key to this recipe is the simple syrup. Made by boiling sugar and water on the stove, a simple syrup will give your cocktails sweetness without the cloying, chemical-like taste that can come from buying pre-packaged margarita mixes.
If you love playing bartender, you can make simple syrup ahead of time and keep it on hand for your craft cocktail recipes. Once prepared, it should last in the fridge for about 3-4 weeks.
You can also play with flavoring your simple syrup by adding lime, grapefruit, lemon or other citrus rinds.
Instagrammer @ashleydanidesign plays with different infusion ideas, including swapping out white sugar for other sweet alternatives like honey:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTh1-Cilruo/
Use simple syrup to prepare other unique margarita recipes, like spicy jalapeno margaritas (made with orange juice, lime juice and jalapeno-infused simple syrup) or Meyer lemon margaritas (made with fresh lemon juice and rosemary-infused simple syrup) or cilantro margaritas (made with simple syrup infused with cilantro, of course!).
Once you nail the art of making simple syrups and flavored simple syrups, you can use them as easy, homey gifts for your friends and family. Simply put the cooled syrup in elegant bottles and attach a small, handwritten note offering yummy cocktail recipe ideas.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
