Classic frozen margarita (approximate quantities):   

This was one of the two most useful things I learned from my year in South Texas (the other was hot sauce!).   Put 200 ml tequila (eg, Cuervo / Sauza gold) + 75 ml Cointreau or Grand Marnier + 500 ml still, fresh lemonade (M&S) + the juice of 3 or 4 ripe limes (a basic glass citrus juicer helps here) + 100-200 ml water + a few shakes of Angostura orange bitters, if you wish.  (Don’t even think of using a commercial margarita mix – they are truly horrible).  Put the mixture in a blender jug in the freezer for 8+ hours; if your freezer isn’t big enough for the jug, use a large plastic food box.  The anti-freeze effect of the alcohol should stop it going rock solid – but if it does get too hard, keep at room temperature for a bit and break up before blending to create a smooth,  slush / sorbet (don’t try blending if it’s frozen hard because you’ll burn out the electric motor!).  Store in the freezer in a food box if there’s any left over.  

Tim

Frozen strawberry daiquiri (approximate quantities):

Blend 500 g ripe strawberries with 200 ml dark rum (eg, Lamb’s) + 75 ml Cointreau or Grand Marnier + 500 ml still, fresh lemonade (M&S) + juice of 3 ripe limes (a glass citrus juicer helps) + 100 ml water + a few shakes of Angostura aromatic bitters (essential); strain out seeds if you wish.  Put in the freezer for 8+ hours (leave it in the blender jug if your freezer is big enough; otherwise, decant into a large plastic food box).   The anti-freeze effect of the alcohol should stop it going rock solid – but if it does get too hard, keep at room temperature for a bit and break up before blending again to create a smooth, bright pink  slush / sorbet (don’t try blending if it’s frozen hard because you’ll burn out the electric motor).  Store in freezer in food box if you don’t down it all in one go.  A lot of R&D went into this one, too.  It’s practically healthy…

The basic Kenwood blender  (here) should work really well for these drinks.  The BL335 model looks identical to the one I’ve been using for 20 years!   The Kitchen Aid Diamond blender shown above is also good but costs five times more, and the glass jug is very heavy. A basic tri-blade hand blender, egKenwood HDP300WH can also be used.