Apple Cider Mimosas
Embrace fall—and apple-picking season!—with this celebratory drink. Making it is as easy as, well, apple pie.
Ingredients
1 cup apple cider
1 bottle champagne
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
On a small plate, gently combine the sugar and cinnamon. Dip the rim of each champagne flute with water, then dip the wet rim in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Fill the champagne flutes 1/4 full with apple cider, then top off with champagne. Cheers!
Cinnamon-Honeycrisp Old Fashioned
This “boozy-citrus-sweet combination is perfection,” according to Cuisine & Cocktails, taking advantage of delicious honeycrisp apples for the tragically short window they’re in season.
Ingredients
1 ounce honeycrisp-cinnamon syrup (2 diced honeycrisp apples, ½ cup water, ½ cup sugar, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon)
2 ounces bourbon
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce fresh orange juice
2-3 splashes orange bitters
Ground cinnamon, apple slices for garnish
Instructions
Add apples and water to a small saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat.
Stir until apples are tender.
Transfer to a food processor and pulse until smooth.
Push through a mesh sieve to yield about ½-cup liquid.
Return to saucepan and add ½ sugar and cinnamon.
Stir over medium heat until dissolved.
Remove from heat and allow to fully cool.
In a rocks glass, add a whiskey ball (or ice).
Add bourbon/whiskey, lemon/orange juice, bitters and honeycrisp-cinnamon syrup.
Stir. Garnish with cinnamon and apple slices, and serve.
Candy Corn Martini
This festive, layered martini recipe–perfect for Halloween parties–is just as sweet as it looks. (Please note this one takes some advance preparation. But it’s oh-so-worth it.)
Ingredients
6 ounces cake vodka
1/4 cup candy corn
3/4 cup pineapple juice
3/4 cup heavy cream
Optional Garnishment
Sprinkles for the rim
Corn syrup
Instructions
Add the candy corn to the vodka in a covered jar or container and let the vodka sit for 6 hours or overnight. Pour corn syrup in a single layer on a shallow plate. Add the sprinkles to another shallow plate. Dip the rim of a martini glass into the corn syrup and then into the sprinkles to coat the rim. Strain the vodka, discarding the candy corn. Pour the vodka into two martini glasses, dividing evenly. Divide the pineapple juice in half, then pour the juice carefully over the back of a small spoon on top of the vodka layer in each glass. Divide the cream in half and use the same spoon technique to add the cream on the top layer of each martini. Alternately, you can shake the vodka, pineapple juice and cream together in a shaker and pour into two martini glasses if you don’t want to layer the martinis.
Maple Manhattan
A slight twist on the traditional Manhattan, this cocktail calls for a bit of maple syrup to sweeten the mix of rye whiskey and dry vermouth.
Ingredients
1 ounce dry vermouth
1 ounce rye whiskey
2 teaspoons pure maple syrup
Dash of angostura bitters
Lemon twist and bourbon-soaked cherry (for garnish)
Instructions
Fill a shaker with ice, then add vermouth, whiskey, maple syrup and bitters. Shake vigorously for about 30 seconds, until frosty on the outside. Strain over ice; make it look pretty with lemon twist and cherry, then serve.
Pecans are an under-appreciated autumn staple.
Pecan Pie Martini
Although pumpkins tend to get all the love, pecan pie deserves more of our attention–especially in cocktail form.
Ingredients
1 ounce pecan-flavored vodka
1 ounce Irish cream liquer
½ ounce vanilla-flavored vodka
1 ounces heavy cream
Optional Garnishment
1 tablespoon maple syrup
¼ cup pecans
1/1 cup brown sugar
Instructions
Add a handful of ice to a cocktail shaker. Then measure out your ingredients, and pour them into the shaker and gently mix the drink. Pour the pecan pie martini into a glass and serve.
Optional Garnishment Instructions
Combine the pecans and brown sugar in a food processor.
Pulse the ingredients and put them in a bowl.
Then pour the maple syrup into a saucer and dip the top of the martini glass in the syrup.
Further rim the top of the martini glass by dipping it into the brown sugar mixture and giving it a small twist.
Cranberry Champagne Cocktail
This easy drink recipe combines champagne with sweetened cranberry juice and lime wedges for a refreshingly fruity fall sipper.
Ingredients
1 ounce cranberry juice (sweetened)
1 wedge lime
Champagne or sparkling wine
Cranberries (frozen)
Instructions
Pour cranberry juice and a squeeze of lime into a chilled champagne flute.
Top off the glass with champagne.
Garnish with 3 or 4 cranberries–and voilà! A glass full of fall-inspired fizz.
Hot Buttered Rum
Can’t go wrong with this classic hot cocktail to help keep you warm and comforted as you cuddle up with a good book.
Ingredients
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Pinch salt 3/4 cup spiced rum
2 cups boiling water
4 sticks cinnamon, for garnish
Instructions
Bring water, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, honey, nutmeg, cloves, and salt to a boil in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan over moderately high heat.
Reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in rum.
Garnish with the cinnamon sticks and serve hot.
Pumpkin Beer Cocktail
Hardcore beer enthusiasts are probably raising an eyebrow upon reading this, but we have three words for them: boozy pumpkin pie. Yes, this unusual-yet-simple mixture, courtesy of Jelly Toast, is actually reminiscent of boozy pumpkin pie, adding a yummy kick to the fall beer staple.
Ingredients
1 ounce whipped cream-flavored vodka (or vanilla vodka)
1/2 ounce cinnamon schnapps
1 bottle pumpkin beer, chilled
Instructions
Add vodka, schnapps and pumpkin beer to a tall glass.
Stir to combine. Enjoy!
Pumpkin Spice Margarita
If apple cider is not your thing, then consider this unusual marriage of pumpkin spice and tequila. The key to making this seasonal spin on the margarita work is using the proper tequila—that is, reposado tequila instead of a clean and clear blanco. This richer, aged tequila’s earthiness helps maintain the warm spices, yet it’s still light enough to not overpower the orange liqueur.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 ounces reposado tequila
1 ounce orange liqueur
2 teaspoons pumpkin puree
Cinnamon for rimming (optional)
Instructions
Shake all ingredients vigorously with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass rimmed with cinnamon.
Kentucky Mulled Cider
Hot mulled cider is a popular beverage in the cooler months, with the cider heated to a temperature just below boiling and then infused with various spices and bourbon. Of course, bourbon and apples are a great fit in many drinks, and this spiked cider is certainly no exception.
Ingredients
4 cups apple cider
2 cinnamon sticks
4 cloves
1 cup bourbon
Instructions
In a saucepan, add the apple cider, cinnamon sticks and cloves, then heat until warmed. Remove from heat and pour in the bourbon. Serve.