Happy Hour: Sarah's Blended Faux-jitos

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted Aug 28th 2007 @ 6:11PM

I saw a recipe in my Williams-Sonoma Entertaining Cookbook for a Blended Mojito and thought it would be a fantastic way to say "Hasta luego!" to the summer (or "Bienvenidos!" to an Indian Summer). Blended with ice, it works as a refresher. However, it's a mojito.

For as long as I could, I tried to stay away from the mojito craze that swept bars and cocktail parties across the country for the last few years. Part of the reason is that I consider myself "allergic" to anything too trendy, and if you weren't drinking a mojito, who are you? Well, you should all know by now that mojitos are soooo 2006. In fact, if you're caught drinking a mojito, you'll be ridiculed for having been living under an overturned martini glass for the last two years. With the popularity of mojitos gone, I am now starting to enjoy the drink.

However, the other reason I stayed away from mojitos is that I don't do well with rum. It may just be psychosomatically induced from some previous episode wherein I spent a late night and early morning looking straight into a rum cocktail...in my toilet. (Don't worry, it was during college.) Regardless, I couldn't bear the thought of re-living that experiences, so I've always stuck with my poison of choice, vodka. Does it really count as a mojito if you make it with vodka?

Does it matter?

I made blended mojitos based on the recipe in my book, and they were, quite un-modestly, absolutely delicious. Mojitos are typically a summer drink since fresh mint is a summer herb, and particularly because the drink is blended with ice, so it seems out of season to be drinking it going into September. However, the refreshment is really nice in this late summer heat. I poured these into glasses, put on a white straw hat, and sat out on my balcony flipping through cookbooks with Bossa Nova playing in the background.

Here is the recipe I used, based on the one that was in my book. I call them Faux-jitos because, like I said, I have to use vodka instead of rum:

Sarah's Blended Faux-jitos
Serves 4, 2 if you're pouring generously, and 1 if you drink like I do.

Wash a bunch of mint leaves and about three limes.

Squeeze juice from enough limes to make 1/2 c. juice. I used about 4. Place the squozen limes with a handful (or half a bunch) or mint leaves in the bottom of a large glass container and muddle together to release "the essence." Add 1 c. vodka to the limes and mint, stir, cover, and let stand at room temperature for about an hour.

Strain the vodka (the leaves will be dark green) into a blender. Add 1/4 c. sugar (you can add more if you prefer your drinks sweeter), the lime juice, 1½ c. club soda, and enough ice to fill the blender.

Blend until slushy.

Pour into glasses, garnish with lime, and bottoms up!

Filed Under: Happy Hour, Ingredients, Drink Recipes
Tags: america, blended, cocktails, fruit, happy hour, lime, mint, mojito, mojitos, rum, spirits, sugar

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-29-2007 @2:32AM Darryl said... I could totally get behind a vodka-based Mojito if a) vodka weren't so damned boring and b) rum wasn't so crucial to the flavor of the drink. To me, it'd be like making a classic Daiquiri with vodka. Sure, it's refreshing and cold, but it's not much more than limeade. This is limemade with a bit of mint added. Also, the idea of soda in a blender just makes me nervous.
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8-29-2007 @8:48AM ericamklein said... I have that book, and I immediately latched onto the idea of making those drinks.... but since I got the book for Christmas I couldn't really do it then, and its since sort of fallen by the wayside. I may just have to pull out the blender this weekend - thanks for the reminder!
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8-29-2007 @9:34AM Jon said... Bonus points for use of the awesome semi-word "squozen".
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8-29-2007 @12:09PM Patrick said... While I like the idea of a blended mojito as opposed to a traditional one, I have to agree that the rum is extremely crucial to the flavor. I'd probably also miss the cathartic muddling of the mint leaves.

Also, what is up with treating food like fashion? Mojitos aren't hot pants. They're lime, mint, rum, sugar, and club soda. Combine them and you have a delicious drink. If you really have to think about it any more than that, your life must be awfully complicated.
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8-30-2007 @10:07AM jsmylie said... Putting soda in a blender doesn't lead to any complications, does it?

I think it'd be fun to make a few huge pitchers of this for an end-of-summer party.
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8-29-2007 @1:05PM Jocelyn said... Maybe the mojito was so popular because it is a delicious drink. I tend to think so, although many of the versions out there after the "craze" were sub-par. I will still take a carefully prepared mojito (with RUM) any day, and I don't care who sees me.
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9-02-2007 @9:11PM eric said... Ah, Jocelyn. A woman after my own heart.

It would be more embarrassing, to me, to give up on something wonderful solely because it's too trendy/not trendy anymore, than to be 'caught' enjoying said wonderful thing, once its popularity has waned.

Not that I'd ever be embarrassed drinking something as wondrous as a properly prepared mojito. Delicious drinks are delicious drinks.
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