Salted Caramel Apple Cocktail
Enjoy the cooler weather with this delicious autumn cocktail recipe made with fresh apple, apple cider, salted caramel vodka and sweet apple peppers.
Happy Thirsty Thirteenth again everyone. It’s Patty coming at you again with a fun Fall cocktail recipe. The temps are dropping, which means it’s not only Fall, but that lovely-weird time of year where it can be beautiful and warm one day and windy and cool the next. You have to check the weather daily before venturing out of the house. Obviously depending on where you live in the world, this varies, but even if that time of year is not right now for you, you still know what I’m talking about. Unless you are super lucky to live in some amazing tropical place that has perfect 80 degree weather every day of the year (jealous!). To me, this time of year is when you can’t decide if it’s boot weather or you can still get away with sandals.
So, I wanted to make sure I brought you an apple drink since it’s Apple season where we live. Since it’s definitely not all that cold yet, I didn’t want to serve a mulled crockpot type of drink we all think of around the holidays. Instead, I did quite a bit of experimenting because apple flavors mix with so many different ingredients. There was a lot of taste testing and taste testers to make sure we came up with something simple yet unique.
I knew I wanted to infuse a chili pepper into the cider, because, um hello, this is Chili Pepper Madness. Plus I don’t think it’s fair to give you a cocktail recipe that is just simply pouring two liquids into a glass. I mean, anyone can do that.
When deciding which pepper, I looked at my garden, and it hit me. Hard, smack right in the face. We grew Sweet Apple Peppers!!
Learn more about the Sweet Apple Pepper here.
The reason these are called Sweet Apple peppers is because of their shape and look. They really do look like apples and are very cute. Plus, the other huge reason is I wanted a sweetness because the final choice for the cocktail mix was Salted Caramel Vodka, so the sweetness is added to the mixture. When I cooked the peppers with the cider, it added some sweetness but also smoothed out the flavor of the cider. I added a bay leaf and cinnamon stick to the infusion as well for a little extra flavor.
Ultimately, I wanted to give you a recipe for a chilled cocktail with a lot of fall flavors, both salty and sweet. I hope you enjoy. I know I sure did and can’t wait to serve this at my next party.
Mike’s Perspective: Recipes like these are a big reason we love to grow so many different types of chili peppers each year. This drink exudes fall and has a rich, sweet apple flavor. It would be good served warm or chilled.
- 10 ounces apple cider
- 6 ounces salted caramel vodka
- 1 red or golden apple
- ½ sweet apple pepper chopped (or another red sweet pepper)
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 1 bay leaf optional
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon powder
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Pour apple cider into a pot and add the apple pepper, bay leaf and one cinnamon stick.
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Slice the apple through for a few large, thin slices and add a slice into the pot.
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Heat and simmer for 5 minutes to infuse the flavors.
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Remove from heat and cool.
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Strain the cider liquid to remove the solids.
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Mix salt and cinnamon powder on a small plate.
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Wet the edge of two cocktail glasses and rim with the salt, cinnamon mixture.
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Fill the cocktail glasses with ice.
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Pour 3 ounces salted caramel vodka and 5 ounces apple cider mixture into each glass and stir.
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Place an apple slice and cinnamon stick into each glass for garnish.
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Serve.
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