A Tale of a Cocktail…or Two or Three.

A few weeks ago, as I sat on the living room floor trying to make sense of 3 weeks worth of homeschooling work, I got a Facebook notice from our San Diego Moms Blog page where one of our contributors was asking if anyone wanted to try a coffee spiked cocktail they had found randomly on the internet, (you all know how that is, Pinterest can be our best friend at 11am) and write about it.

Insert my happy smile 🙂

Knowing very well that my hubby and son were heading out of town for the next few weeks and that I would be a bit lonely during the weekend, I rose to the occasion and volunteered to make said cocktail and report my findings back to the group (and you). Except why stop at one or even two drinks? NO! My dedication to this research was fierce.

Naturally this lead to a lovely trip to BevMo later that evening. I was like a kid lost in a candy store. So many options!

After a short conversation with the store manager and a few suggestions, I perused the store and stocked up on key ingredients.

The next step was finding an accomplice. Someone who would be impartial and let me know how much they liked my concoctions. Insert BFF; can we say Girls Night! She suggested that we also try a caramel apple sangria. It sounded delicious to me, so naturally I scoped Pinterest for recipes. Let’s just say there’s plenty of recipes out there for you to look at, however I made my own and I loved it!

First up: Caramel Apple Sangria

1 Red apple of your choice. I picked a gala apple.

1 Green apple for contrast and because I love granny smith apples.

1 Cup of apple juice.

1 cup of caramel vodka.

1 750ml bottle of white wine.

1 750ml of sparkling apple cider.

Cut apples into slices, sticks, cubes, it doesn’t really matter just cut them and throw them into the pitcher. Add apple juice, vodka, and wine, stir a couple of times and refrigerate over night. Now I know what you are thinking, yes you must let all this goodness sit together over night. When you are ready to drink, pour the sparkling apple cider and serve over ice. This drink was one of our favorites. It was sweet and refreshing, perfect for our San Diego fall weather.

Quick tip: Eat those apples they were full of flavor!

Next up: Iced vanilla Irish cream coffee, Iced caramel Irish cream coffee, and Iced cinnamon Irish cream coffee.

First brew a cup or two of your favorite coffee and pour into ice cube trays. Let them freeze; patience ladies. Some of these drinks take a bit of time to plan, but believe me they pay off.

3-4 coffee ice cubes

3 oz of Irish cream (any brand will do, however there’s a holiday one out during this time of the year, stay tuned).

3/4 oz vanilla vodka, or caramel vodka.

Pour everything into a glass, stir and drink up. These were delicious! Think iced caramel coffee from Starbucks.

But wait! I ran across a Pumpkin Spice Irish cream. Can you even imagine the possibilities right now? “Iced PSL coffee” spiked, YUM!

Iced cinnamon spiked latte

However we’ve come to my personal favorite cocktail of the night. Just substitute the vodka with a 1/2 oz of Fireball whiskey and rim your cup with cinnamon sugar. BOOM! (mic drop)

Lastly: Caramel Moscow Mule

Confession time, the last time I had a Moscow Mule was at Starlight on India St. and all I remember was that they were delicious. Plus I’ve never really made one, and while I did a bit of research online, again I drew inspiration and created my own.

Lime wedges

1 1/2 oz caramel vodka

3 oz ginger beer (non-alcoholic)

Splash of club soda

Put ice into a Moscow mule cup add vodka, ginger beer and club soda. Stir and squeeze one or two lime wedges on top and leave them in the drink. While both my BFF and I appreciated this drink, it was our least favorite of the night. Mind you, by this time we had already tasted a few solid tasty cocktails. This drink was refreshing and not as sweet as the others, I think this would be a good drink to have with the hubby once he comes back from his hunting trip. Besides what else will I be using caramel vodka for? If you have any ideas let me know.

This was the end of our journey as we explored not 1 or 2 but 5 fall inspired cocktails. All in the name of science, friendship, and mommyhood. Take a moment for ME time and explore some or all of these, come up with your own, and let us know how much you liked them.