Melon-tinis

Much like Scrubs' J.D. I prefer a good fruit-tini to beer most of the time.

I. Hate. Artificial. Fruit. Flavor.

So I learned to make my own home made fruit-tinis. The one seen above is made with cantelope, using vodka and the one seen below is mango with special delicious Don Julio 70.

Ingredients:

• Fruit of choice (fresh or frozen works here, but what ever is in season is always most delicious)
• Sweetner of choice (sugar, brown sugar, Xylitol, honey, Splenda, etc)
• Lemon juice -- try to use fresh for the love of God
• Fresh mint 
• Vodka, Tequila, or Rum of choice (personally I don't like Rum so let's not choose that--too sweet, blargh!)

Equipment:

• Cutting board & knife if using fresh fruit
• Medium saucepan
• Immersion blender (for easy clean-up) or regular blender
• Martini shaker
• Chilled martini glasses
• Shot glass or jigger for measuring

Now, let's get fancy.

1. Chop fruit and place in sauce pan with sweetner of choice on medium heat (If using frozen fruit, this give it time to come back to life)
2. Add lemon juice, and a bit--maybe 1/4 of a cup--of water and use immersion blender to reduce chunks into a fruity soup (if using blender dump into vessel once they look like they're all warmed up then blend and return to pan)
3. Let it thicken in pan on medium-low heat until syrupy consistency is achieved
4. While it cools, fill your martini glasses with ice and cold water and set aside to chill
5. Fill martini shaker half-way with ice and add two shots of cooled puree and and two shots of alcohol per person (max of two in shot glass).
6. Shake your heart out.
7. Empty your now-chilled martini glasses and rub a fresh mint leaf all the way around the rim, repeat with lemon wedge.
8. Pour your delicious fancy drinks and enjoy!