Recipe: Blood orange + Pear puree Margaritas

This is definitely my favorite margarita recipe ever! An experiment from my old bartending days, this was on our menu for a long time and sold quite a bit. There’s something about how the pear puree cuts right through the acidity of all the citrus, and adds a nice body to it (but it doesn’t actually taste like pear). It’s my best friend’s birthday today, so I’m very excited to treat her to such a colorful birthday drink. Enjoy the recipe!

Blood Orange and Pear Puree margaritas

• Makes 1 margarita
• 1/2 medium Blood Orange, juiced
• 3 ounces reposado tequila
• Homemade limeade (or the store-bought stuff plus 1/2 juiced lime)
• Dash of lemon juice if you’ve got it
• 1 teaspoon pear puree

For the pear puree, simple peel the peer (or a couple of pears, you can always freeze your leftovers!), remove the core/seeds, and puree in a blender or food processor. I used to add sugar to my purees out of habit, but you really don’t need the extra sweetness.

Combine tequila, lemon juice, and pear puree over ice in a shaker, and fill the rest up with limeade to about 1/2″ under the rim (I rarely measure my limeade, mostly because I make my margaritas one at a time and shaking a margarita is key).

Shake and pour into a glass with a salted rim – we used our clear tumbler glasses this time so we could admire the pretty color. You can add the blood orange juice to shaker and it will turn out great, but some times I slowly pour it on top of the margarita to make a nice “sunset” of color.

Some other goodies you can add: A half ounce of Cointreau or any other orange liquor, and/or garnish with a twist of the blood orange.

Tastes like summer!