A couple of weeks ago Megan and I tried to plan a happy hour with our girl friends, but to our dismay everyone was busy. It then proceeded to hail golf ball sized pieces of ice in Houston, so the two of us decided to have a night in with cocktails and the HBO Go movie selection. The only problem was that we hadn’t necessarily planned for making cocktails, so every site we tried for “make a cocktail out of what you have in the house” resulted in needing to go to the store. We’re crafty and adventurous (obviously, noting the crazy Friday night we had planned), so we decided to wing it.

Good thing we did, since it resulted in my new favorite cocktail: the Clementine Sunshine. Not overly sweet, but packed with intense flavor, this sparkling citrus drink is fruity and refreshing. Clementines have a much stronger flavor than oranges do, so this drink tastes more concentrated than an OJ cocktail normally would. This was the base to the drink. From there I added lime, since limes make the best cocktails, and vodka and triple sec, since vodka is generally unobtrusive to the flavor of the drink and triple sec adds a nice sweetness and enhances the citrus flavor. A little simple syrup was added for sweetening (though not completely necessary) to our taste, and finished off with sparkling water.

I always have lime juice and San Pellegrino in the fridge, simple syrup, triple sec, and vodka at the bar, and the clementines were leftover from my lunch fixin’s earlier in the week! Though Megan and I served them up at night, I tried them out as a breakfast bevvy this past weekend with Kyle and we decided they were a great alternative to a mimosa. I’ve listed out the recipe to make two Clementine Sunshine’s, since you should be sharing them with a friend. Break out the champagne flutes, and let’s get this party started.