Champagne Cosmopolitan, Proud Mary

I've made a couple of new drinks lately that are pretty good. The first is simply my standard bloody mary recipe (see recipe in previous post for 20th Hole Bloody Mary), but simply reducing the amount of Red Eye bloody mary mix to just a couple of ounces, essentially making a smaller but stronger drink (ratio of vodka to mix is higher). I call it the "Proud Mary". A couple of those will certainly get you "rollin' on a river"!

The second drink is a new one that I really like, and plan to make for the next party I host. It's simply a mixture of a standard cosmopolitan and Champagne or sparkling wine. I thought about calling it a "Cham Wow", but I think that violates a copyright of something else! 8^) I think I'll stick with a Champagne Cosmo.

Note that real Champagne is from the Champagne region of France. While there are a few brands of real Champagne you can sometimes find for < $20, most real Champagne is > $40 a bottle and probably a little too nice to use for a mixed drink. So you can certainly use a good-tasting California sparkling wine or Italian Prosecco for this.

20th Hole Champagne Cosmopolitan (makes 2 drinks)
-- 4 oz vodka [I like Stolichnaya Citro (citrus-flavored vodka) for this, but any other good-quality unflavored vodka will also work well]
-- 2 oz Cointreau or Paula's Texas Orange
-- juice of 1 large lime, freeshly squeezed
-- Champagne, sparkling wine, or Italian Prosecco
-- 1-2 oz cranberry (or cran-raspberry) juice cocktail
-- 1-2 tbsp simple syrup, to taste
-- shaker filled with crushed ice
-- 2 large chilled martini glasses or champagne flutes

Add vodka, orange liqueur, lime juice, syrup, cranberry juice, and ice to shaker. Shake thoroughly to mix and chill. Strain into martini glasses or flutes, filling glass about halfway. Pour into glass the Champagne / sparkling wine to fill glass (you want about 1:1 ratio of cosmo to sparkling wine). Garnish with orange or lemon peel if desired.