When life hands you lemons, grab some vodka and make yourself some lemonade.
Add some puréed watermelon and it gets even better.
I can only partially take credit for this idea, because this recipe is the product of the second week of Project Pastry Queen. Which means we have not only Rebecca Rather of Pastry Queen fame to thank, but also Ashley of Delish for choosing this week’s recipe.
The reason I say I can take partial credit, is that I made some pretty substantial changes to the recipe. Read: I forgot to bring the one thing I needed when we left to spend this weekend with the fam. The cookbook.
It happens.
Like I said, you make lemonade. In this case, lemonade with puréed watermelon. And vodka.
The original recipe used a little more sugar, and much more water. I don’t like my drinks too sweet, so I may have done the same thing even if I had the recipe in front of me. Using less water made it extra tart, but I liked it this way because we were using vodka.
So basically, we replaced the extra water in the recipe with vodka. Do you see any harm in that? Me neither.
The other major change is that I puréed the watermelon, while the original recipe left the fruit diced in the pitcher. I loved the purée in the drink. I think that if I were to make it again, I’d add even more. I do love this drink because the diced fruit makes it almost like a fruity-vodka sangria. Tequila would be another great match for this.
If you’d like to see the recipe in its original form, be sure to check out Ashley’s post.
Watermelon Lemonade
Adapted from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather
- 2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice {for me, this was 8 lemons}
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice {7 limes}
- 2 1/2 cups diced watermelon
- Mixed diced fruit of your choice {I used one apple, one pear, and handfuls of sliced strawberries and blueberries}
- 1 orange, preferably organic, sliced into rounds
- 1 lemon, preferably organic, sliced into rounds
- 1 lime, preferably organic, sliced into rounds
- About 2 cups good vodka – or, to taste
For the sugar syrup:
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Turn the heat to medium-high and boil until dissolved. Make sure to allow it to cool before making the rest of the drink.
Juice your lemons and limes. Add to blender with watermelon sugar syrup and purée. Place your citrus rounds and diced fruit into a glass pitcher. Pour puréed mixture from the blender into the pitcher over the fruit. Stir well and chill until icy cold.
