Apple Pie á la Mode Martini

There isn’t anything much better than warm apple pie and a scoop of French vanilla ice cream…that was my inspiration for this cocktail.

There are a few ways to make this cocktail depending on how much time you want to invest into the prep and how you want the final product to be. I like my cocktails (and food) to have a kick of flavor and really present each flavor profile that goes into it.
I also use apple pie moonshine in this recipe because I really enjoy the flavor profile that the moonshine adds. There is just something about the fruity notes that I have really come to love from it. It is so interesting how yeast can produce so many different flavors based on which type it is!
You notice this in beers (craft of course), spirits, and wine – you can drink alcohol from the same fruits, sugars, etc. being made with the same recipe and just the yeast changing or how the yeast reacts in that batch can produce a completely different flavor profile. It is fascinating!

Emily was busy working on the essential oil hot mulled apple cider when I was thinking of my fall cocktail and after sampling her delicious drink – definitely go check it out – I decided that it would be the base of my cocktail. Since I had just done a series of juice-based cocktails I decided to make this into a cream martini, to add another aspect of yum! The creaminess of this drink adds that comforting mouthfeel that should be present in a nice fall drink – gone are the days of thin, watery drinks; until we get to spiked wassail of course!

The other reason for the cream is because it was an easy connection with apple pie…there is no other way to have it than a la mode. (Am I right?) Adding the cream to the martini took it from plain apple pie to a heavenly, decadent dessert.
With my first rendition I did just the apple pie moonshine, cider, cream, and essential oils; but, there was a flavor missing. I added a half ounce of triple sec and the orange liqueur really balanced out the drink and helped the flavors come together.
If you wanted you could also swap out another liqueur and experiment a bit with the flavor profile. I would speculate that a cinnamon liqueur like Fireball or potentially a licorice-flavored liqueur like Jägermeister could be fun too. Try it out and let me know how it turns out in the comments below!

To finish the drink I added a cinnamon sugar rim to the glass. This not only makes it look nice but also adds that last little kick of flavor and sweetness to really rounds off the drink. For my garnish I chose the cinnamon stick and wedge of apple on the glass, this works well in the large glass, but may not work as well in the smaller party glasses. Another option for the garnish would be a pie crust curl, this ties in the ‘pie’ from the rest of the drink and is actually edible so there isn’t waste.
I hope that you enjoy this drink as much as I did – it sure didn’t last long after the photo shoot!