Spicy Prickly Pear Mock Margarita(Aye! Mockarita) for Mocktail Monday

Spicy Prickly Pear Mock Margarita in a rocks glass on top of a white counter, garnished with a lime wedge and salted rim.

Since I just finished cleaning and juicing a bunch of prickly pears yesterday, I figured I might as well put them to good use for Mocktail Monday, and a non-alcoholic margarita riff just felt right.

Recipe: Spicy Prickly Pear Mock Margarita (Aye! Mockarita!)

Ingredients:

• 2–3 fresh jalapeño slices, adjusted based on your spice preference and the heat of the jalapeños

• 1.5 oz fresh lime juice

• 0.75 oz prickly pear syrup (recipe below)

• 0.75 oz non-alcoholic triple sec

• 2 oz room temperature water

Build:

1. Add jalapeño slices to a shaker tin and muddle lightly.

2. Add lime juice, prickly pear syrup, non-alcoholic triple sec, water, and ice to the shaker tin, and shake well.

3. Since we muddled the jalapeños, strain into a salt(or Tajín) rimmed glass over fresh ice so you don't have little bits of jalapeño in the finished drink. I prefer a rocks glass with a large cube, just because it melts slower.

4. Garnish with a lime wedge and enjoy!

Recipe: Prickly Pear Syrup

Ingredients:

• 8 oz (1 cup) prickly pear juice

• 6 oz (3/4 cup) white granulated sugar

Build:

1. Add juice and sugar to a squeeze bottle and shake until the sugar is fully dissolved. Store in the fridge for about a week.

Note: I prefer 4:3 juice to sugar ratio for this one, to account for the sweetness in the prickly pear juice, itself, so that this comes out closer to a 1:1 simple syrup in terms of sweetness.