Frozen Tart Cherrytini

Add some tart to your sugar rim and make an easy batch of Cherrytinis! 

Ingredients

12 frozen Montmorency tart cherries, pitted

2 1/2 cups Montmorency tart cherry juice, chilled

2 Meyer lemons (or regular lemons)

3 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 cups vodka (Grey Goose)

2 cups of ice cubes

Directions

1. Thread 3 Montmorency tart cherries onto (4-inch) cocktail picks or skewers and keep in the freezer until ready to serve.
2. Zest one Meyer lemon onto a shallow dish, mix with sugar and set aside.
3. Cut lemon in halves and “rub” cut-side of lemon against rims of 4 (10 ounces) martini glasses. Dip the rims of the glasses into the lemon-sugar.
4. With a vegetable peeler, peel remaining Meyer lemon. In a large pitcher, twist the lemon peels to extract the natural oil, and leave peels inside pitcher after twisting and squeezing. 
5. Squeeze the juice from both lemons into pitcher and add Montmorency tart cherry juice and vodka. 
6. Fill a cocktail shaker with 1 cup of ice. Pour 1/2 of the vodka mixture into the cocktail shaker and shake for at least 20 seconds.
7. Pour into 2 prepared glasses. Repeat with the remaining vodka mixture.
8. Place a cocktail pick with frozen Montmorency tart cherries onto each glass and serve.

Recipe courtesy of The Cherry Marketing Institute.