Amazing End-of-Summer Cocktails

Summer may be coming to end (yeah for school starting back for the kids, boo to shorter days), but there is no need to fret. I have created two wonderful cocktails to help savor the last days of summer. One is filled with fresh pureed watermelon, the other, cool cucumber. These will become your happy hour favorites. Bursting with flavor and gorgeous to look at, too—they're perfect to serve at any party!

[WATERMLEON MARGARITA] 

First up is the Watermelon Margarita. I had seen recipes for this floating around but never attempted it until a few weekends ago.

We had a bunch of watermelon left over from our weekend boat ride and I thought, "Hmmm... what should I use this for??" There was way too much to eat before it went bad so I juiced it. I then added the juice to my regular skinny margaritas—pure goodness, I tell you. If you don't have a juicer, you can juice the watermelon in a blender, however, you might strain it through a colander first, unless you want chunks of watermelon in your drink. 

Here is what you need for this tasty drink:

WATERMELON MARGARITAS

{makes 2 ritas}

- 4 shots tequila

- 2 limes, juiced

- 1 tablespoon agave nectar

- 4 shots watermelon juice

Pour all in a shaker over ice. Shake and pour into salted glasses.

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The original recipe at Chive Blossom called for gin but all of us ladies subbed vodka for gin. Is it just me or does gin taste like Christmas trees? I just can't drink it. Could also be the fact that in college my drink of choice was gin and tonic. I drank so many of those I will never touch it again. This cocktail is pretty simple—all you need is vodka, cucumber, limes, and a touch of simple syrup.

CUCUMBER GIMLET

- 1 peeled English cucumber, half finely diced, half sliced

- 6-7 limes

- 1/2 cup simple syrup (simmer 1/2 cup sugar in 1 cup of water on stove til sugar has melted)

- vodka

Take the diced cucumber and the juice of 6 limes and slightly puree in a blender with ice. You don't want it to be pure liquid just slightly pulsed. In glasses, add ice and a few pieces of the sliced cucumber. Pour about a shot glass worth of the pureed cucumber/lime mix over the ice in a glass and add in 2 shots of vodka and let it sit for a few minutes. It helps to let it sit to infuse the cucumber flavor in the vodka. After a few minutes add in simple syrup to your liking. We each added in about 2 teaspoons per drink. You can make as sweet as you want but we don't like our drinks too sweet. We also squeezed an additional half a lime over the top of each drink.

Enjoy!