Blood Orange Margaritas

If you read my first post, which was a how-to on making cinnamon-infused tequila, consider this part two of that post.

The cinnamon-infused tequila I made is great on its own on the rocks, but it's even better when whipped up into a margarita. And not just any margarita, a blood orange margarita. There's a specialty grocery store a few blocks down from me, and is where I typically go whenever I need an obscure ingredient. Luckily the store had a nice selection of plump specimens to choose from.

A little background on this citrus fruit: The blood orange is a variety of orange distinguished by its crimson, blood-toned flesh. Blood oranges originated from China and today are prominent in Italy. They're also grown in the United States (Texas and California). It's said that the maroon-ish color is due to a mutation that happened during the 17th century. The fruit gets its hue from anthocyanin, a pigment found in fruits like strawberries and cherries. But don't let their sinister name be a turnoff, they're just as sweet as the other oranges at the market. Besides, it's what's on the inside that counts, right?

 See how nice and "bloody" the flesh is? Bram Stoker would be proud.

Here's the recipe:

Blood Orange Margaritas
1/2 cup blood orange juice
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
3 tablespoons triple sec or cointreau, or more to taste
7 tablespoons cinnamon-infused tequila
Lime or blood orange slices for garnish

Mix. Fill two glasses with ice and divide between them. Garnish. Cheers!

How to Make Cinnamon-infused Tequila

There's a Mexican restaurant called Lobo down the street from my apartment in Brooklyn that infuses its own tequilas. My favorite is its cinnamon-infused tequila, which the barkeeps store in glass jugs behind the bar. I wanted to try replicating Lobo's recipe in my kitchen, so I bought a bottle of Espolon tequila, which is high quality but not overly expensive. I transferred the tequila into a glass jug and threw in 10 cinnamon sticks.

I used the fattest, curliest cinnamon sticks I could find, as they're more flavorful and aromatic than the typical ones you'll found at the grocery store.

Immediately after adding the handful of cinnamon sticks to the Espolon, the tequila started to darken. After four days, the tequila had taken on a beautiful amber color, but its scent was still largely tequila, with little cinnamon essence.

By day 10, the tequila had darkened significantly and the scent of cinnamon was starting to overtake the smell of tequila.

I opted to wait a few more days before decanting it back into its original Espolon bottle. By day 14, the smell of tequila was hardly recognizable, and the cinnamon was the dominant scent. I used a strainer to filter out any broken cinnamon stick bits.

I poured out a single finger's worth as a taste test--SUCCESS! It was good for sipping, but I knew it would be even better in a blood orange margarita.

Stay tuned for my next post on how to make cinnamon-infused blood orange margaritas!