Blood Orange Cosmo

This blood orange cosmo is an easy cocktail to prepare! This drink is a pleasing combination of sweet and sour with a tiny bit of bitterness from a hit of 100% cranberry juice. Make this throughout the winter when blood oranges are in their peak season!

This post was made in collaboration with Graton Resort and Casino

A Graton Resort & Casino Special

Jessica Christensen - mixologist from Graton Resort & Casino - has created this very special holiday and winter drink that takes advantage of the flavors of delicious seasonal blood oranges. This blood orange cosmo is classy, looks beautiful in the glass, and is a pleasing mix of refreshing sweet and sour citrus. A bit of muddled cranberry and pure cranberry juice add a teensy bit of bitterness and holiday flair.

Graton Resort & Casino is located in Rohnert Park, California just north of San Francisco. It is a AAA® Four Diamond rated resort with 200 rooms, luxury amenities, and plenty of entertainment. The resort features a number of dining establishments, bars and lounges, live entertainment, a casino, spa, and salon.

Let's learn how to make this delicious beverage!

What Do Blood Oranges Taste Like?

Blood oranges are known for their bright orange exteriors and gorgeous deep maroon or bloody red (hence their name) interior. The fruit has an intensely sweet flavor with notes of cherry and raspberry. Blood oranges tend to have less seeds than other varieties. They are delicious eaten as is, though because of their unique flavor and beautiful appearance, they are used in many different ways for both flavoring and presentation.

Watch It Being Made

View the video below to see Jessica Christensen make her wonderful blood orange cosmo.

What Ingredients Do I Need?

You'll need a few specialized ingredients to make Jessica Christensen's blood orange cosmo, though if you want to give it a try without buying products you don't already have in your liquor cabinet, I'll help with a few substitutions.

• Blood Orange Liqueur - while this cocktail is reproduced most authentically by using a liqueur made especially with blood oranges, I realize this isn't an ingredient that most keep handy in their cabinets. In a pinch, try muddling some blood orange slices in with the cranberries at the beginning of the recipe directions, and use a more mainstream orange liqueur such as Triple Sec or Cointreau.
• Grey Goose Orange Vodka - or use your favorite!
• Lime Juice - fresh squeezed is best, and keep an extra lime around for slicing up as a garnish.
• Cranberry Juice - just a bit for a pleasant tartness and bitterness. Make sure you're using 100% no sugar added cranberry juice and not sweetened cranberry juice cocktails.
• Fresh Cranberries - just a few to muddle in the bottom of the cocktail shaker.

What If I Don't Have A Cocktail Shaker?

If you make cocktails on the regular, I recommend going ahead and purchasing a shaker as they are quite inexpensive and will make chilling and straining cocktails a cinch. I like this set which includes extras such as a jigger and bar spoon.

But if you don't have a shaker? Use a mason jar instead. Just add your ice and ingredients, screw the lid on, and shake. Use the lid as a guard when straining the blood orange cosmo into the glass, or you can pour the liquid through a fine mesh strainer.

If you don't have a shaker, you might not have a muddler either, but that's okay! You can use the handle of a thick wooden spoon, a fondant roller or end of a French rolling pin, or a mortar and pestle.

If you're looking to add a muddler to your bar tools, try this one!

The Proper Way To Muddle

Muddling is the act of crushing fruit, sugar, or herbs to draw out flavors to infuse them into the shaken cocktail. It may seem like a simple technique, but there's a couple of pitfalls to avoid.

When muddling the cranberries (and blood orange slices, if using), you want to use light pressure and a twisting motion to gently press the oils out of the fruit. You don't want to pound or smash the fruit into oblivion, as doing so can add unwanted bitterness to your cocktail.

What Type of Glass To Use

Cosmopolitan cocktails are most often served in a martini glass, and it's not just for looks. The stem on the glass prevents your hands from warming the chilled beverage too much. The inverted cone shape and large surface area causes a softening of flavor from the escape of alcohol vapors and fragrance components across the surface. In short, a martini glass makes this blood orange cosmo way too easy to drink, heh heh.

As you can see from the pictures, I served this beverage using coupe glasses. I did this mainly because I found a mismatched set in a thrift store months ago and wanted an excuse to use them, but the coup glass features similar elements to the martini glass such as the stem and large surface area. The shape of the bowl allows for a sweetening of the drink and helps cocktails taste more blended.

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