Cinco de Mayo Margarita Recipes for a Backyard Fiesta

CORAL GABLES, FL — Cinco de Mayo celebrations can be found all around the United States but sometimes you just want to keep your fiesta in your own backyard. Patch brings you four classic margarita recipes courtesy of Cointreau to get your party rolling. All of them require Cointreau, tequila and fresh lime juice.

There are differing accounts of who invented the margarita, but Cointreau subscribes to the notion that the popular cocktail was created in 1948 by Dallas socialite Margarita Sames. She is said to have based her creation on the same three ingredients found in our recipes. (Sign up for our free Daily Newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for the Coral Gables-Coconut Grove Patch.)

The history of Cinco de Mayo is much less open to interpretation. But don't go wishing your Mexican friends a happy independence day. The holiday commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle of Puebla in 1862, according to MexicoOnine, which describes Cinco de Mayo as primarily a regional holiday celebrated in the Mexican state of Puebla. The holiday has only limited recognition in other parts of Mexico. For the curious, Mexico's Independence Day is celebrated on Sept. 16.

Like the Coral Gables-Coconut Grove Patch on Facebook

Here are four margarita recipes sure to make you cry mas:

Original Margarita
1 ounce Cointreau
2 ounces blanco tequila
1 ounce fresh lime juice
lime wheel for garnish

Directions

• Rub the rim of a cocktail glass with lime.
• Place rim of glass in coarse salt and rotate until salt rings the glass.
• To a shaker, add ice, Cointreau, tequila and lime juice.
• Shake all ingredients.
• Into the chilled glass, pour the cocktail through a strainer
• Garnish with a lime wheel and serve.

Margarita Mule

1 ounce Cointreau
2 ounces blanco tequila
1 ounce fresh lime juice
ginger beer
candied ginger

Directions

• Rub the rim of a rocks glass with lime.
• Place rim of glass in coarse salt and rotate until salt rings the glass.
• To a shaker, add ice, Cointreau, tequila and lime juice.
• Shake all ingredients.
• Into the glass, add ice. Pour cocktail through a strainer
• Top with ginger beer
• Garnish with candied ginger and serve.

Matcha Margarita
1 ounce Cointreau
2 ounces blanco tequila
¾ ounce fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon Matcha green tea powder
lime wheel for garnish

Directions

• To a shaker, add ice, Cointreau, tequila and lime juice.
• Shake all ingredients
• Into a rocks glass, add ice. Pour cocktail through a strainer
• Garnish with lime wheel and serve.

Spiced Strawberry Margarita
1 ounce Cointreau
2 ounces blanco tequila
1 ounce fresh lime juice
2 strawberries
3 dashes Angostura bitters
cinnamon sugar for garnish
1 strawberry for garnish

Directions

• Rub the rim of a rocks glass with lime.
• Place rim of glass in cinnamon sugar and rotate until sugar rings the glass.
• To a shaker, add 2 strawberries and muddle
• Add ice, Cointreau, tequila, lime juice and bitters.
• Shake all ingredients.
• Into a rocks glass, add ice. Pour cocktail through a strainer
• Garnish with remaining strawberry and serve

Original Margarita image courtesy Cointreau