Rebecca Nielsen's Recipe

Spicy Watermelon Lime Cocktail

Category: Cocktails

Serves/Makes: 4
Difficulty: 2
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Inactive Fridge Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh watermelon (cubed)
2 ounces Super Lime Simple Syrup*
zest of 1 lime
juice of one lime
8 ounces white rum
16 ounces real limeade (recommend Simply Limeade) very chilled
1 large jalapeno (seeded, de-veined, and cut into 4 length wise pieces)

Preparation:

Put watermelon, simple syrup, zest and juice of lime in a food processor and process until totally smooth. This should yield around a cup.

In a large pitcher combine watermelon mixture, rum and limeade. Stir well and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

When ready to serve, fill 4 16 ounce tumblers 2/3 full with ice. Fill with cocktail. Take 1 piece of the jalapeno and stir the mixture with it. Leave in glass as a garnish and serve.

*For the Super Lime Simple Syrup - combine 1 1/2 cups white sugar, 2/3 cup fresh squeezed lime juice and 1/4 cup water. Over med-low heat, stir until sugar is dissolved and mixture is not cloudy. Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours (mixture will resemble consistency of maple syrup).

Refrigerate in an airtight container (I use squeezy bottles) for use with all your drinks.

Cooks Notes: You will be so surprised how having the jalapeno slice in the drink for only a minute or two gives the drink a really cool kick. If you like things spicier, add the jalapeno's to the drink mixture while it is refrigerating.

When I thought of adding a kick to this drink, I was thinking of adding some jalapeno juice from canned jalapeno's. I didn't have any and actually tried to juice a jalapeno (not my brightest moment). So I stirred it in the first one and left it for about 15 minutes. When I tasted it my lips went numb. The next one I adjusted the time for my taste and it was awesome.

You can also make this a non-alcoholic drink by omitting the rum (and jalapeno's if you are serving it to kids). Just add more limeade.