Spiced Honey Apple Spritz
No matter what you’re planning for Thanksgiving Day—be it a sit-down dinner with roast turkey and all the trimmings or a cocktail party featuring festive small plates—cocktails complete the celebration. And since apples are synonymous with autumn, this apple-inspired cocktail is perfect for the holiday. It’s made with bourbon and a dash of bitters, then topped off with sparkling apple cider for bubbly fun. To give the drink a hint of sweetness, we add a little honey syrup spiced with fresh ginger, cinnamon and thyme. The recipe yields one cocktail, so scale it up as needed to serve all your holiday guests.
Ingredients:
- For the spiced honey syrup:
- 1 cup (8 fl. oz./250 ml) water
- 1 cup (12 oz./375 g) honey
- 5-inch (13-cm) piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 2 orange peel strips, each 2 inches (5 cm) long
- 5 fresh thyme sprigs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Ice cubes
- 1 oz. (30 ml) spiced honey syrup
- 1 oz. (30 ml) fresh lemon juice
- 2 oz. (60 ml) bourbon
- Dash of bitters
- 1/2 cup (4 fl. oz./125 ml) sparkling apple cider
- Fresh or dried apple slice for garnish
- Fresh thyme sprigs for garnish
Directions:
To make the spiced honey syrup, in a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the water, honey, ginger, cinnamon sticks and orange peel strips and bring to a rolling boil, watching carefully because the mixture will foam. Immediately reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the syrup has reduced by about half and is slightly thickened, 5 to 8 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the thyme sprigs and vanilla. Cover the pan and let the syrup cool completely, about 2 hours, then uncover and let stand for 1 hour. Strain the syrup through a fine-mesh sieve into an airtight glass container, pushing on the ginger slices to extract all the juice. You will have about 1 1/4 cups (10 fl. oz./310 ml) syrup. It can be covered and refrigerated for up to 1 week.
Fill a spritz glass half full with ice.
In a mixing glass, stir together the spiced honey syrup, lemon juice, bourbon and bitters. Strain into the glass and top with the sparkling apple cider. Garnish with an apple slice and thyme sprigs and serve immediately. Serves 1.
Williams Sonoma Test Kitchen
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