By Jessica Wilson
Spring is the time when the mint begins to emerge, and there’s not much I like more than a bit of minty goodness, unless it has lime in it as well. Nothing brings on the mint and lime better than a refreshing mojito. Mojitos are the perfect combination of a little sweet and a little sour, and I’ve upped the ante by turning the classic mojito into a float. Be warned, these things are tasty!
Ingredients
1 bunch fresh mint plus more for garnish
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
Small saucepan
Wooden spoon
Glass measuring cup
1 liter seltzer or club soda
12 key limes
Knife
Small glass measure
1/2 -1 cup clear rum
Vanilla or mint ice cream, 2-3 scoops per glass
Highball glasses or other tall glasses
Straws and spoons, optional
Green food coloring, optional
Makes 4 Floats
Directions
Step 1: The first thing you will want to do is make your simple syrup. A traditional mojito is made by muddling your mint, lime juice, and cane sugar before adding rum and seltzer. I like my mojitos to be smooth and sweet without the added texture of the sugar granules that don’t dissolve, so I make up a simple mint syrup. To do this you will need to combine one cup of sugar and one cup of water in a small saucepan.
Step 2: Grab a handful of washed mint with most of the stalks removed. Crush it in your fist first before dropping it into your saucepan full of sugar water. I used plain old mint. Spearmint would be good for this as well, or maybe even chocolate mint.
Step 3: Muddle the mixture a bit by using your wooden spoon to crush the mint even more, releasing the oils into the sugar mixture. Place on the stove top over medium heat and stir it up until the sugar dissolves and the mixture appears clear. It will be slightly green from the mint.
Step 4: Strain your simple syrup through a fine mesh sieve to gather up stray mint bits. You will have about a cup’s worth of minty green simple syrup. Set aside to cool at room temp.
Step 5: To make your own dyed sugar to rim each glass, add one or two drops of food color to a quarter cup of white sugar and stir with a fork until coated. There may be small clumps; you can snack on those if you wish. You can also use cake decorating sugar if you like, or rimming sugar, which has a larger granule.
Step 6: To assemble the floats, slice a lime into quarters and run a piece around the rim of each glass (I used double highballs from here). Dip glass into a small dish of cupcake sugar or your own dyed sugar to coat the rim.
Step 7: Slice up limes and add the juice of three key limes to each glass. If using larger limes, one should be fine. It all depends on your preference. I like my floats extra limey and minty. You will want about one ounce of lime juice each.
Step 8: Add one ounce each of the simple syrup and the rum. One ounce may not seem like a lot, but it does give you a boozy taste. Clear rum tastes best, but Malibu Rum, with its happy coconut vibe, is also tasty. Give each glass a swirl to mix up all the flavors, or use a spoon to do the honors. You can also omit the rum for those who don’t drink – the minty goodness and lime still shine through.
Step 9: Add two to three scoops of vanilla or mint ice cream to each glass. If you’re using mint chocolate chip ice cream, be warned that the chocolate will free itself from the ice cream and drown at the bottom of the glass.
Step 10: Add club soda until the froth from the ice cream threatens to spill over. Top with a sprig of mint, a happy straw, and a spoon, if you wish.
Step 11: Drink them up as fast as you can, and slurpity, slurp, slurp all the good slush out of the bottom. Don’t forget the sugar on the rim of the glass. It melts pretty fast, making your glass all sticky. Enjoy, go back for seconds (you will have plenty of simple syrup left over – store in a jar in your fridge for up to two weeks), and put your feet up for a while. Watch a movie, have a dance party, or play Bananagrams. Happy floating!
About the Author:
Jessica Wilson is most happily known as ‘jek in the box’ and spends most of her time crafting it up and taking pictures. She can often be found standing on benches over on Flickr and creating all sorts of kiddie crafts on her blog scrumdilly-do! She lives a life of scrumdillydilly and loves to share.
ADVERTISEMENT
