Cherry Slurpee

Photo: flickr user Bludgeoner86

Ingredients

From 7-Eleven

Preparation

It's gettin' hot, baby! Time to cool off and put on a big red smile with this special summer recipe. Now you can make your own version of the popular convenience store slush we know from the excruciating brain freeze that follows a big 'ol gulp. You must have a blender to make this clone of 7-Eleven's Slurpee, and enough room to stick that blender into your freezer to get it nice and thick.

This recipe gets close to the original with Kool-Aid mix and a little help from cherry extract, but you can make this drink with any flavor Kool-Aid mix (if you decide to make some variations, don't worry about adding extract).

This recipe makes enough to fill one of those giant-size (32-ounce) cups you find at the convenience store. Now if we could just figure out how to make those funky spoon-straws.

2 cups cold club soda1/2 cup sugar1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon Cherry flavored unsweetened Kool-Aid Mix 1/2 teaspoon cherry extract2 1/2 cups crushed ice

Pour 1 cup of the club soda into a blender. Add the sugar, Kool-Aid mix, and cherry extract. Blend this until all of the sugar is dissolved.

Add the crushed ice and blend on high speed until the drink is a slushy, smooth consistency, with no remaining chunks of ice.

Add the remaining club soda and blend briefly until mixed. You may have to stop the blender and use a long spoon to stir up the contents.

If necessary, put the blender into your freezer for 1/2-hour. This will help thicken it up. After 1/2-hour remove blender from freezer and, again, blend briefly to mix.

Makes (32-ounce)s