After a little bit of quiet around here on the HGGH blog, I’m returning to posting with a fabulous frozen creation I experimented with over the weekend. We hosted friends for dinner and my stash of pickled fruit—mainly the remaining pint of these left over from my BookPeople Austin book launch and pickled blackberries from classes/demos in May—combined with the heat inspired this supremely delicious, easy and why-haven’t-I-thought-of-this-sooner frozen cocktail creation. The texture is like a frozen margarita, but it’s a shrub!

The ingredients:

I happen to have heavy-duty Vitamixing technology, but a simple blender will work just great. You can also switch up the spirits to match your bar inventory/personal preference.

Frozen shrub cocktails

makes approximately two 8-oz glasses

1. Combine and puree the following in your blender:

8-oz jar of sweet pickled fruit and brine

1/2-tray of ice cubes

2-oz gin

a couple sprigs of fresh mint or other herb (optional)

2. Drink up and cheers!