Apple bourbon cocktail

Day two of the Twelve days of Christmas – the drunk version – APPLE BOURBON COCKTAIL is here (see day one here). Bust out your bourbon folks or run out and buy some, cause you don’t want to miss this drink.

Bourbon – meh. I would leave it almost every time. It is one of those liquors that in my mind equals alcoholism, and not necessarily the fun kind we wanna be. But that was before I found this recipe. Half Baked Harvest’s apple butter old fashioned. I tried this as-is, and then tweaked it a bit with a few of my favorite things – vanilla beans and Luxardo cherry syrup (and the cherries).

Apple butter in a drink is awesome.

I made apple butter this fall with the 1000 pounds of apples my kids’ picked at the orchard, but you can and should use store bought apple butter for this recipe (making your own at this point is dumb and not what this blog post is about). It thickens the cocktail and gives a concentrated apple and spice flavor – and a little goes a long way.

Wtf is Luxardo cherry syrup?

So you know maraschino cherries? In all their ridiculous neon red glory? Yeah, these are NOT those. These are cherries you actually want to eat and they come in the most luxurious thick and sweet syrup ever. Here is the thing though…they are kinda expensive. So if you are not rich do not f’ing worry, cause Trader Joe’s makes Amarena cherries, and they are just as delicious. And truth be told, I use these for everyday drinking and bust out the Luxardo cherries for fancy parties. My husband and myself (for that matter) have never noticed the difference. And neither will you.

Throw in some apple cider, scrape a vanilla bean for additional fragrance (or use vanilla bean paste). Shake the f–k out of it, pour over ice and you’ve got an Apple Bourbon Cocktail. And get drinking, my friends.

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Apple Bourbon Cocktail

Ingredients

• 1/2  cup  apple cider
• juice from 1/2 a lemon
• dash of Angostura bitters or any orange bitters
• 2  tablespoon  apple butter
• 1/2 cup bourbon
• 1 tablespoon of Luxardo or Amarena Cherry syrup
• Half a vanilla bean scraped or 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste
• cherries sliced apples and cinnamon, for garnish

Instructions

1. In a cocktail shaker combine the cider, lemon juice, Angostura bitters, apple butter, bourbon, vanila bean and cherry syrup. Shake well until totally combined.
2. Pour into cocktail glasses over ice and garnish with cherries, apple slices and cinnamon stick