More Fun With Frozen Drinks: Amaretto Sours

There was a time when I was young.
I know, hard to believe, even for me these days, but I totally was.

I used to go out with friends, stay out late, take impromptu road trips...lol those days are gone my friends.  I took my 10 year-old to her first concert the other night, didn't get home until almost midnight, and was soooo ready to crash by the time I got home after my late night.

Times have changed.

Anyway, back in the days of fun nights out with friends the Amaretto Sour was definitely my go-to beverage.  I'm not really sure why...I think somewhere in the back of my head it stuck that my mom- which is hard to believe, as she simply doesn't drink at all- is rumored to have enjoyed them at some point in time.  When I turned 21 it just sort of became my default drink order when I would go out.

These days sweet drinks have been replaced with dry red wines as my go-to beverage- in fact, I don't think I realized how long ago my early 20's were until, during a rare weekend away last year in Asheville, NC,  I ordered an Amaretto Sour on a whim while waiting for our table at a restaurant.

My husband stared at me in shock asking, "Who ARE you??".

Apparently I've been a wine person for longer than I thought if my Amaretto Sour days ended before  our relationship began!

While I don't drink them often anymore, the Amaretto Sour really is a lovely drink.  Smooth, sweet, tart....and the perfect way to use up that bottle of amaretto I've had hanging around.

Remember that post on The Ultimate Cheesecake?  The one with ground almonds in the crust and amaretto in the cake?

It's seriously one of my favorite things in the world- but how often does one really need to bake a massive, decadent cheesecake?  For most of us, not often.  Which means that I'm left with a bottle of amaretto that just sits...and sits...and sits.  Not the good stuff that I might be tempted to sip either- I'm totally ok baking with cheap amaretto.

Anyway, so I had this mostly-full bottle of amaretto that had been hanging around since the last time I made a cheesecake and I had this great new blender that I've been playing with.  I knew what I needed to do- come up with a recipe for FROZEN Amaretto Sours!

Because why not?

When I make frozen drinks I like freezing as many of the ingredients as possible rather than diluting the flavor with regular ice that will just melt and water things down.  The day before I planned on making these I took some extra ice cube trays and made ice cubes of sweet and sour mix and of lemon lime soda.  When we made these for our visiting family the next day I just tossed the ice cubes in the blender with the amaretto.

I also added maraschino cherries, which is why these have a pink hue.  I know that's not a traditional color for an Amaretto Sour but maraschino cherries are a pretty traditional garnish for these drinks and I decided that tossing them into the mix couldn't hurt!

Ohmygoodness.  These were such a lovely change from wine on a warm summer afternoon with family!  Everyone really enjoyed them in their frozen form and I'm beginning to think that everything is better after blenderizing.  :-)

Frozen Amaretto Sour
Click to see the recipe on Allrecipes.com

2 C Sweet and sour mix
4 C Lemon lime soda
1 1/3 C Amaretto
10 oz jar Maraschino cherries, drained

1. Pour sweet and sour mix into empty ice cube trays and freeze until solid.  Pour lemon lime soda into empty ice cube trays and freeze until solid.

2. Place frozen sweet and sour mix, frozen lemon lime soda, amaretto, and maraschino cherries into blender and blend on high until smooth.