My husband discovered a fabulous cocktail that is perfect for this time of the year: Apple Pie. We had these the day after Thanksgiving while we were decorating our freshly cut Christmas tree. These are so good you'll want to share them with a house full of friends and family this winter.
Apple Pie Cocktail
Rim a low ball glass in a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon. Pour 1 shot of Fireball whiskey and 1 shot of vanilla vodka over ice in the rimmed glass. Fill the rest of the way with apple cider.
These taste so good that you just want to keep sipping them for hours, but beware that these drinks are potent, and the liquor kind of sneaks up on you, so pace yourself.
While the adults enjoyed the apple pies, I had a large crockpot going with warmed cranberry apple cider for the kiddos. This was a huge hit, and it made our kitchen smell quite festive while the tree trimming occurred.
There are a number of these recipes out there, but I used this one that I adapted from The recipe Rebel:
Warmed Cranberry Apple Cider
Pour a little more than 4 cups of apple cider, slightly more than 4 cups of cranberry juice, and 2 cups of orange juice in a crockpot or slow cooker. Add 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of whole cloves, and 3 whole cinnamon sticks. Stir and let cook for several hours. I ended up doubling this recipe to make enough for refills for 5 children. They absolutely loved it.
After sampling the non-alcoholic cranberry apple cider and drinking a few apple pie cocktails, we adults concurred that the ultimate holiday drink would be to combine these two. Spiking the slow cooker cranberry apple cider with the Fireball whiskey and vanilla vodka would create a warm version of the cocktail and would be even better for a party. It would also eliminate having to create each drink individually; although, you would still need to rim each glass first.
These will be making future appearances at our mountain farmhouse this season.
