Cointreau

With Lidia by your side, this showstopping dessert is foolproof. You'll need to start preparing the dough and filling at least one day ahead.

Who cares what is in this cocktail? The name sold me when I read it in Harry Craddock's The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930). This is one of many variations.

This mildly spiked dessert is so easy to put together, it will quickly become one of your summer-entertaining standbys.

This tasty pineapple rum cocktail is everything a tropical drink should be: sweet, fruity, and icy cold.

This drink was featured as a Cocktail of the Month. Adapted from the original, our recipe spares you some unpleasant puckering, because we've scaled back the lime juice. Click here to learn more about the Mike Romanoff.

This drink was featured as a Cocktail of the Month.

Fill a glass pitcher or punch bowl with this fun, fruity wine-based aperitif.

Enid P. Saldana of San Juan, Puerto Rico, writes: "I would love to get the recipe for the lychee Martini they serve at Kittichai, in New York City." This summer, enjoy a vodka Martini with a real twist — lychee. The exotic sweetness of the fruit brightens the citrus flavors in this truly refreshing drink.

Somebody had the bright idea to make a tequila Sidecar, using lime juice instead of the lemon and a glass rimmed with salt instead of sugar (tequila popularly being administered with a lick of salt and a slice of lime). The first notice of this practice comes in 1937, from London of all places, where the bartenders at the Café Royal somehow got their hands on a bottle of tequila and did some experimenting. But they called their version the Picador, not the Margarita, and didn't use the salt rim. It's entirely possible that the Margarita was born — in Texas, California, or Mexico — without prior knowledge of the Picador.

When selecting the Champagne for this cocktail, we wanted something moderately dry but with a hint of sweetness. Demi-sec (a French term meaning "half dry") Champagnes and sparkling wines provide the perfect balance.

We thought we would update the popular Cosmopolitan by substituting Champagne for the usual lemon vodka. We garnished the drinks with skewers of sugar-coated fresh cranberries (thawed frozen ones will work just fine, too).