The weather is starting to get chilly and the leaves are falling. It’s apple season and you all know how much I love cider!
I wanted to come up with a drink that would be warm, spicy, and have a little kick to it with some bourbon.
Of course there are hot toddys and hot buttered rum drinks, so making something along those lines with bourbon seemed reasonable.
We had some lovely Kentucky small batch bourbon gifted to us by Lori (foodie friends rock!) so I busted that out for this warm drink.
Andrea’s Hot Buttered Bourbon and Cider
4C Cider1/2 tsp Cinnamon or 2 Cinnamon Sticks
1/2tsp Ground Ginger or 1/2 inch of Fresh Ginger
1/4 tsp Ground Clove or 5 Whole Cloves
2tsp Vanilla Extract or 1 Vanilla Bean split
4oz of Bourbon split into 2 oz portions
2 TBSP Butter split into 1 TBSP portions
In a medium sized sauce pan add the cider, spices, and vanilla. Stir and bring up to a gentle simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
In two mugs, put 2 oz of bourbon in each mug and 1 TBSP of butter.
Remove the cider from the heat and if you used whole spices be sure to remove or strain those out first before serving.
Fill each mug with 10 oz of cider mixture, pour right on top of the bourbon and butter. Gently stir just to mix in the bourbon.
Serve warm and enjoy!
Serves two.
Scott and I loved this drink! So much that I immediately made another batch that night so we could have another mug of it. I highly recommend making extra because you’re definitely going to go back for seconds.
If you’re having a party, this recipe can be easily adjusted to accomodate more people. You’ll just need more cider and to increase the spices a bit. Each mug still gets 2 oz of bourbon and a TBSP of butter.
Though if you ask me, I would go ahead and up the butter amount to 1.5 TBSP. You won’t be sorry.
Fresh and local cider is best if you can find it. If you’re in Fort Collins, Ela Family Farms has great cider that you can get at the market on Saturday.