I think this recipe’s title needs some explanation.
I am still working on only print recipes for inspiration, i.e. I am referring to my horde of cookbooks and my vast collection of magazines. Not only do I subscribe to a number of publications (mostly foodie ones), but I also have quite a few Gourmet magazines around (like a whole dresser full) that I refuse to get rid of. Some date back to the 90s.
I had seen a lot of cherry-inspired cocktails in the May, June, and July editions of some of my favorites. After all the work on our pergola, The Hubs sometimes needs a cocktail to “admire the job site.”
This recipe is based on Sour-Cherry Gin Smash from the June 2013 Country Living. I didn’t have sour cherries, but I did have fourteen pounds of dark sweet cherries in the freezer. (Yes, it is another blueberry type saga.)
Sorry, I am long-winded; I promised you an explanation for this recipe’s name. After making a cocktail for The Hubs, I asked him what he would call it. He took a sip and asked, “Did you muddle the cherries?”
“Yes, I did.”
“You finally used the muddler you bought at Williams-Sonoma how many years ago?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Then, I crown this cocktail ‘The Muddler.'”
(I think at this point I realized the tool was called a pestle, but that seemed like a moot point to make.)
The Muddler or Dark Sweet Cherry Smash (makes one cocktail)
Slightly adapted from Sour-Cherry Gin Smash
1 slice lime (plus one more for garnish)
6 frozen dark sweet cherries
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
2 oz. Tanqueray Rangpur gin
crushed ice
splash of ginger alePlace lime slice and cherries in a cocktail shaker and muddle. Add lime juice, gin and ice. Shake and pour into cocktail glasses. (Do not strain.) Add ginger ale to fill glass. Garnish with a very thin lime slice. Serve.
I have also made this for him using a good Kentucky bourbon. 🙂
This is easy to make into a mocktail.
The Virgin Muddler 🙂
1 slice lime (plus one more for garnish)
6 frozen dark sweet cherries
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
crushed ice
more than a splash of ginger alePlace lime slice and cherries in a cocktail shaker and muddle. Add lime juice and ice. Shake and pour into cocktail glasses. (Do not strain.) Add ginger ale to fill glass. Garnish with a very thin lime slice. Serve.
This is a very refreshing summer drink!
Abigail’s Flowers for Today
This drink looks very refreshing and I like the delicious flavours in it 😀
Cheers
CCU
It is delicious and refreshing. Perfect for summer. Thanks, Uru.
Your husband gets major points for being willing to try and name the drink. Mine would have just sat there like a lump…..drinking. 🙂 It looks really, really good.
“Like a lump….”?????? Lol
Love the name 🙂 Now I want one before the dinner too.
Kinda catchy, huh?
Hey I like the name–it got me to visit your blog. I was thinking maybe a hamburger recipe because the name reminded me of the Hamburglar. LOL! This sound soooo delicious, I envy your tired husband drinking it!
Ima thinkin’ that the cherry smash name is better—a bit more appetizing. 🙂
Looks refreshing and flavorful, I’m crazy for cherries!
Well, with those 14lbs, I can make a lot of beverages.
This looks very summery and refreshing. I used to bartend to my hubs is the guinea pig around here…lol! He seems to have no problem with that unless it’s too girlish…lol! When he mows the lawn is when I get to making up cocktails 🙂
*so my hubs is the guinea pig
I knew what you meant. Lol. 🙂
I would be trying this as a cocktail, no mocktail for me…. looks very delicious 🙂 I will be keeping this up my sleeve for summer.
I’m home from vaca and I need a drink or three. You’ve got me covered!
Now, that’s not good. You should not return from vacay needing a drink. 🙂
I’m up WAY early this morning trying to catch up on my blog reading and thinking about breakfast at the same time. Is it wrong to want one of these before 6AM??? Both the drinks look delicious!
Mock tail would be appropriate I think, lol
I actually do have a muddler. So of course I’ll have to make this – it looks terrific. I finally broke down a few years ago and discarded tons worth of Gourmet, Bon Appetit, and other food magazine dating back to the 1970s. Of course I cut out the recipes I really liked, but I realized how seldom I actually cooked from any of them – I used them more to generate ideas. My cookbooks, though, I’ll never get rid of! Good post – thanks.
I have started just tearing out recipes but now I just have a box full of recipes languishing about.
I buy a really thick local cherry cider that I add sparkling water to for a refreshing drink. I bet it would be great transformed into your muddler! Of course I wouldn’t need a muddler, because I’d be taking the easy way out, but I love the idea of the lime and gin thrown in. Great drink and the way you came up with the name was very clever. 🙂
Mmm….local cherry cider sounds wonderful.
I love my muddler–it has made many a cocktail/mocktail at my house. I am drooling over the cherry and lime combination here–very refreshing! 😉
Very adult cherry-limadeish. 🙂
Oh my gosh, this is utterly divine. I am such a cherry girl. It’s my fave fruit by far.
Thanks, Kim. Hope you can enjoy one.
You know it’s the lime that really makes it for me. Reminds me of a sonic cherry limeade, of course I totally dig the boozy versions. As far as I’m concerned if you use a wood stick to muddle, it’s a muddler!
Sonic? We heart Sonic! (Okie company, did ya’ know that?)
[…] recipe that fell into oblivion in the archives of EE. Christy recently highlighted “The Muddler” during March’s Blogger C.L.U.E. event. Thank you, Christy, for reminding me about […]