Is it really Monday again? Already?! We hope all of your weekends were amazing, dear readers, and welcome back to The Woman At The Bar for our favorite day: Monday Funday!

This is a very special week for us here, as we are celebrating the countdown to Coachella! The annual music festival starts this Friday out in the California desert, and because we are both so excited and so generous, we will be kicking off the week with not one, not two, but THREE Woman At The Bar original recipes–all desert inspired–so even if you can’t be there you can drink like you are. First up: The Mojave!

The Mojave desert is the largest desert in America, covering nearly 48,000 square miles, and in the summer can reach temperatures as high as 130 degrees–so any drink needs to be a major thirst quencher. It also needs to include one essential desert ingredient: cactus! For the Mojave, you will need:

• 2 oz traditional rum (barrel aged)
• 2 oz fresh squeezed blood orange juice (see note below)
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1/4 oz cinnamon syrup
• 3/4 oz prickly pear puree (or syrup)

Gather all of your ingredients plus your jiggers, bar glass, bar spoon, and tall serving glass.

First off, prep your juice. You will need about 1 whole blood orange (medium sized) to get 2 ounces of juice. Note: if you cannot find blood oranges, you can use regular varieties but the taste will be slightly different. We used our fancy juice press to squeeze out every bit of juice possible, but you can just use a hand or electric juicer to get the job done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

now pour your lemon and lime juices into your shaker glass.

Follow that with the 1/4 oz cinnamon syrup. Make sure you do not go over that, the other fruit juices will sweeten this drink up enough.

Now add your 3/4 oz Prickly Pear puree!

Prickly Pears are fruit found on the Opuntia cactus in the Mojave desert. The juice is delicious, but can be tough to find. Most traditional Mexican supermarkets carry them, but you can also purchase the puree here, or find syrups at large liquor chains like BevMo. The puree is far superior to the syrup, so we recommend ordering that.

 

Now add your 2 ounces of rum! We recommend using Myers.

 

With all of your ingredients in the shaker glass, use your bar spoon to give everything a good stir. Add ice to your serving glass, and pour that sweet nectar straight in. Ta-Da! The next time you are stuck in a desert, this drink will be your perfect oasis. Enjoy! And go check out our two other new recipes from today!