A
Tequila Girl since my 20's, I have come to enjoy the pure, strong
flavors of Margarita... sans sugar. Hence, I personally loved these
shots with very little sugar (I used only 2 Tbs). My husband however,
found them too tart ("puckery" was his description!) for his tastes and
preferred his with about 4 Tbs of sugar. As such, be sure to taste the
liquid before chilling and adjust the amount of sugar to your tart/sweet
preference. I've seen other recipes using limeade concentrate. Again,
I prefer the fresh flavors of a good tart lime, however the concentrate
would most likely bring additional sweetness to the mix and I'm
guessing it would be a good substitute.
In addition, as the gelatin is flavorless, I would recommend using a good quality tequila as the margarita flavors in these cubes truly shine.
6 oz. good quality tequila (3/4 of a cup)
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
2 Tbs fresh squeezed lemon juice
2-4 (or more!) Tbs sugar
2 envelopes Knox Original Gelatin, Unflavored,
6 Tbs Water
1-2 Tbs Grand Marnier
pinch of salt
In a medium bowl add tequila and fresh squeezed juices. Sprinkle geletin over the top. Heat water in a microwave until boiling, add sugar and whisk a few times. Pour hot sugar water into the tequila and add Grand Marnier and a small pinch of salt.
Whisk the mixture until geletin dissolves (I whisked for about 3 minutes). If gelatin is not dissolving, heat briefly (start at 30 seconds) in the microwave, being careful not to allow mixture to boil and continue whisking. The sugar will also dissolve.
Pour into a prepared baking dish (I sprayed a glass 9x6 inch dish with cooking spray) and chill until set, at least 3 hours.
Remove from refrigerator and cut into desired shapes... we did simple squares, but diagonal cuts could create fancier diamonds or triangles. Or how about a cutter for circles?
Place on a serving dish, garnish as desired and serve with Lime Sugar.
Liv Life Note: While I used white granulated sugar in the shots this time, I'm somewhat curious to see how agave would work as a substitute and will give that a go next time. I will report back after our next version!
Liv Live Note 2: While we used a 9x6 inch dish, a smaller dish would create taller shots, etc. Experiment with your favorite shape!
Lime Sugar
The perfect foil to Margarita Lime Jello Shots, or wonderful used as a sprinkle on Citrus Cookies or in any baked good where lime flavors would be welcomed.
1/3 cup sugar
zest from one lime
Place sugar and zest of a lime into a small food processor or blender. Process for about 10 pulses, or until zest in very fine.
