Something Skinny and Spicy!
The amount of times I’ve heard that request from behind the bar doesn’t bear mentioning, but it's what people have wanted from their margarita making maestros for some time now - so we’d better get used to it! Anyway, we have Bethenny Frankel (inventor of the Skinnygirl empire) to thank for it, well the skinny part. So, how do we make our margarita skinny and spicy?
You can muddle in the spice using the back of a wooden spoon or a muddler, which is a pestle like tool made from wood or plastic that you would simply crush out the oils and flavors from whatever herb or spice you want in your cocktail. Or you can infuse the flavor into the liquid by setting it aside in a mason jar with the requisite ingredients and let nature do its thing. It rather depends on how thirsty you are.
Making it skinny without producing a drink so sour it turns your cheeks inside out requires a deft touch with some alternative sweeteners. You could use the natural sugars present in orange or pineapple juice or something like stevia or monk fruit sugars which are less glycemic and caloric. Our sense of taste is arbitrary after all - one person's cloying sweet cocktail could be someone else’s skinny delight or vice versa. The key is to make a balanced drink taking note of weights and measures along the way as we experiment with what we like.
Here’s the result of our Free Spirits experiment with The Spirit of Tequila infused with cucumber and jalapeño.
