Mexican Christmas Traditions

Frozen prickly pear margarita

27 · Sep 16, 2013 · 2 Comments

A prickly pear margarita is just the drink you need to punch up your cocktail hour!

Red prickly pear margarita in a glass rimmed with Tajin, sitting on a napkin on a green drink tray

Grocery stores are typically overflowing with prickly pears—known as tunas rojas in Spanish—in July, August and September. You can eat them plain, use them to make agua fresca de tuna roja, watermelon and prickly pear paletas, prickly pear sorbet or even margaritas! There are so many possibilities.

Read my helpful guide on how to peel and eat cactus fruit before you begin this recipe!

Prickly pears are full of pectin, which means they're ideal for making jelly and jam! The pectin produces a syrupy consistency that's also perfect for blending with ice to make a frozen margarita.

Frozen prickly pear margarita

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Author: Maura Wall Hernandez
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 2 minutes
Yield: 3 cups 1x
Category: Cocktails
Cuisine: Mexican

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Description

Red prickly pears are the star of this spin on a classic frozen margarita.

Ingredients

Scale

4 ounces (½ cup) tequila blanco

1 ounce Cointreau

3 large red prickly pears (tunas rojas)

Juice of ½ of a large lime

½ cup natural cane sugar, such as Zulka azúcar morena

3 cups ice

1 tablespoon of Tajín (to rim the glasses; optional)

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Instructions

Remove the skin from the prickly pears and chop roughly.

Add chopped prickly pears to a food processor or blender with tequila blanco, Cointreau, lime juice and sugar. Puree until smooth, then strain the puree to remove the prickly pear seeds.

In a clean blender or food processor cup, add the strained puree and 3 cups of ice and blend until the mixture becomes slushy.

Wet the rims of the glasses by rubbing with a lime wedge. Put the Tajín in a flat dish and dip the glass rims in it until they're coated all the way around.

Pour the margarita into the glasses and serve immediately.

For more on different varieties of prickly pears and how they're used in Mexico, Saveur has an excellent little guide you should check out.

Watermelon and red prickly pear paletas

10 · Sep 15, 2013 · 2 Comments

Watermelon and red prickly pears are one of my favorite fruit flavor pairings. This summer I've been making a combination agua fresca with both flavors, and I started modifying my agua fresca recipe to turn them into paletas (er... Zokuletas). While mixing them together and pouring straight into my Zoku Quick Pop Maker for a quick and tasty treat, I found that I enjoy them much more when they look pretty too. I love making these layered pops for a refreshing snack on a hot day.

If you don't have the Zoku Quick Pop Maker, you can also use a popsicle mold with 2-ounce pops (affiliate links to El Mercadito, The Other Side of The Tortilla's Amazon aStore); you'll just have to wait longer for the layers to freeze before you can add another layer....

Mango agua fresca

49 · Sep 2, 2013 · 3 Comments

Agua de mango is a popular agua fresca flavor in Mexico. Mangoes are high in fiber, packed with Vitamin A, C and E, have more than 25 kinds of carotenoids which help boost immunity, and can help lower cholesterol.

Ataulfo mangoes are best for this recipe because they are the sweetest variety and also least fibrous texture, which means you'll discard less pulp.

Close substitutes or other names for this kind of mango can include Manila mangoes, honey mangoes or champagne mangoes.

Ataulfo mangoes are in peak season between March and June, but can often be found in stores all the way through December depending on the part of the country where you live.

Leave the mangoes out on the counter at room temperature for a few days if they're firm at the time you buy them. You'll know they're ripe and ready to use when the skin gives a little when you press it and/or the skin starts to wrinkle slightly. If the skin is already wrinkled when you buy them, they're ready to use immediately.

This variety of mango is less fibrous than the Tommy Atkins (green with red blush) variety, and therefore is more ideal for making aguas frescas.

If you like this recipe, you may also like my agua de fresa y mango recipe (strawberry and mango).

Mango agua fresca

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Author: Maura Wall Hernandez
Prep Time: 20
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 5 cups 1x
Category: Drinks
Cuisine: Mexican

Print Recipe

Description

Ataulfo mangoes are best for this agua fresca recipe because they are the sweetest variety and also least fibrous texture, which means you'll discard less pulp.

Ingredients

Scale

2 Ataulfo or Manila mangoes
3 ½ cups cold water
3 tablespoons natural cane sugar (such as Zulka azúcar morena)

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Instructions

Peel the mangoes and remove all the flesh from the pit. Put the flesh directly into a blender or food processor. Squeeze the juice out of any remaining flesh on the pit that is too difficult or rough to cut away from the pit.
Add 3 tablespoons of cane sugar and 3 ½ cups of cold water to the blender or food processor and puree until completely smooth.
Place a fine-mesh strainer or sieve over a pitcher and pour the contents of the blender through the sieve. You should only end up discarding about 2 tablespoons or so of the fibrous pulp left behind from the mango flesh.
Serve over ice if serving immediately, or refrigerate. Will last about 4-5 days in the refrigerator.

Notes

Serve over ice. If you don't consume it all, you can refrigerate the rest of the pitcher for up to four days. Remember to stir the agua fresca well because the mango puree will separate slightly when at rest.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 cup

Try more of my aguas frescas recipes:

Try more of my mango recipes:

Mangonada paletas | Mango and peach paletas | Paletas de mango con chile | Guacamole with mango and pomegranate seeds

Mangonada paletas with a Zoku Quick Pop Maker

10 · Aug 31, 2013 · 3 Comments

Paletas are a serious weakness of mine. All summer, I've been testing dozens of flavors and the hardest part is always waiting for them to freeze. That's why when several friends were telling me about the Zoku Quick Pop Maker, I knew I had to get one. Make single-serve popsicles with three different flavors at once? A dream. Do it in 7-10 minutes? Even better! I've been playing with it all summer and I'm finally ready to start sharing some of my tasty creations using this fun kitchen tool.

This post includes affiliate links to all the products used to make this recipe, which are available in El Mercadito, my Amazon aStore.

I've been experimenting with so many flavors, that I wanted to try something very classic and simple, similar to my mango con chile paletas recipe that I shared here a few summers ago. I can't seem to eat enough mango this year, and I brought back a bottle of chamoy from Mexico when we visited earlier this summer. This recipe is similar to a mangonada or chamoyada, just blended together and frozen in paleta-form—but you'll definitely recognize this classic Mexican flavor combination. I've started calling my Mexi popsicles made in my Zoku machine "Zokuletas" (insert cheesy grin here). Let's see if we can make it catch on!...

Mango and peach paletas

14 · Aug 21, 2013 · 10 Comments

I've been absolutely obsessed with testing paleta flavors all summer, partially because of my access to such a wide variety of fresh fruits in Southern California for months on end, and partially just because I have an inner-kid who still remembers the excitement I felt from hearing the jingle of the bell on the paletero's cart. This mango-peach paleta recipe has been a mega-hit both in my household and with my office mates who got to taste them when I brought them to work for an afternoon snack to share last week.

mango peach paletas ...