Friday Happy Hour: Lemon Drop Martinis

It's Friday again, and that means it's cocktail time!

I truly love martinis, perhaps a little too much (judging from some of my behavior after a few). But a martini at the usual bar is at least $10, more if you're at a ritzy place! A few of those plus tip, and there goes a nice chunk of your weekly paycheck. My solution (as always): make them at home. Today I decided to make Lemon Drop Martinis, because who doesn't LOVE lemonade? Especially the kind you get at the fair with all the sugar at the bottom. And a Lemon Drop is basically the grown up version of lemonade. It's delicious, and made with four ingredients. How easy is that?

Lemon Drop Martini
1 1/2 ounces citrus vodka
1/2 ounce triple sec
3/4 ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
Rim: lemon juice & sugar

First, a word on the superfine sugar. You really want to use superfine sugar. If not, the sugar won't dissolve, and you'll end up with sugar crystals at the bottom of your drink. When you make things at home, you want them to come as close as possible to the "real thing" you get out at a restaurant or bar, or else, it won't be as appealing to stay in. So, go to the sugar aisle at your grocery store and pick up a small contain of the superfine sugar. It'll set you back a couple bucks, but make a huge difference in the final product. This is the only kind I found at Publix today, but if you can't find "superfine" look for "extra fine".

By now, you know I'm big on the 'use whatever you have at home' bit, which is totally true 99.999% of the time. The sugar is one where you need to get the right thing. For the vodka, well, that's up to you. But I just want you guys to know that I REALLY care about you all, so I made and taste-tested two lemon drops: one with regular vodka and one with citrus vodka (I know, it's a real rough life I live, huh?). Turns out, the one made with the citrus vodka did taste more lemony, which I liked. So if you have it, use it, if not, no worries, but next time you're at the liquor store, pick up a little (or large) bottle of the citrus vodka just to have on hand. It'll come in handy, I promise. Citrus vodka makes cosmos and vodka-cranberries taste better too. :)

Break out your cute martini glasses again, and juice and sugar the rims. I find if you let them sit a few minutes after that to "dry" it makes things easier, and you don't have sugar dripping down your glass. Officially, you're supposed to use a lemon peel twist as a garnish, but for all the gadgets I have in my kitchen, I do not have one of those fancy tools (come to find out it's called a citrus zester) that creates the pretty peel twists. So, in lieu, I just cut a thin slice of lemon and put that in.

When you go to shake this bad boy up, I put all the liquid in first so I could shimmy around the sugar with the liquid to help get it dissolved first. Add the ice, and shake away! Pour into your rimmed martini glass, and enjoy.