MANGO + COCONUT COINTREAU FIZZ

I had so much fun recreating the strawberry and mint Cointreau Fizz back in April, so when Cointreau asked if I'd like to try a fresh summer update on their signature serve I jumped at the chance. I thought they were just going to send me a bottle of Cointreau to play around with, but a huge box arrived at my door, filled to the brim with everything I needed to make a summer-ready mango and coconut version.

I decided to make this tasty mango and coconut cocktail two ways - as a regular cocktail and as a frozen slushee.

To make one litre
150ml Cointreau
150ml fresh lime juice
100ml mango puree (I used funkin')
50ml coconut syrup (I used Monin)
100ml champagne*
450ml sparkling water

You can substitute the champagne for prossecco or cava or even another 100ml of sparkling water. I tried both and it doesn't make too much of a difference.

In a jug, mix together the Cointreau, lime juice (freshly squeezed - Darren took over because apparently I was doing it wrong...), mango puree and sparkling water. You can add the champagne at this stage too, but I like topping the glasses up with it at the end as the fizz has a bit more impact if you're serving it straight away.

For an extra fancy cocktail, rub a wedge of lime around the rim of the glass and then dip in salt or desiccated coconut.

Fill the glass with ice, pour over the champagne - if you haven't already added it - and serve immediately.

This version is really nice to have with dinner and Darren and I had a lot of fun making them together. We've been trying to save money lately, so to make something like this at home that I would be happy to pay for at a bar makes staying in that little bit sweeter.

The slushee version is really fun to serve at a party. I had a couple of friends over on a sunny afternoon, we put some reggae tunes on in the background and had a good old catch-up with a big (re-fillable!) jug and plenty of snacks.

To make the slushee, half fill a blender with crushed ice, pour in all the ingredients and blend on high speed for 30 seconds. If you don't have a blender, but you still want a nice thick cocktail, blend the cocktail ingredients with a fresh mango for a thicker, smoothie texture, and then top with crushed ice.

I've been loving experimenting with drinks on the blog lately - cucumber + elderflower coolers, peach sangria, coco mary's (virgin mary's with coconut water!) - and thought it would be fun to make a hashtag. Follow me as @catherinesprunt on twitter and instagram and if you make one of my drinks, tag me and include the hashtag #spruntingdrinks so I can see what you're up to :)