Here’s something you should know about me – I enjoy good food, great cocktails, and wine. I don’t cook as often as I would like to these days. I hope to get back to that. Until I do, I figured I’d share some of my favorite cocktails.

Apple cider margaritas are a favorite this time of year. Here’s something else you should know about me – I am not a big sweets person. Even with cocktails, I’d go more with a refreshing, dry, or citrus flavored drink over something super sweet. But combining apple cider with bourbon or tequila is a favorite in spite of my not-so-sweet tooth. Another thing? I love orange-flavored anything – especially this time of year. Orange & cranberry, orange & chocolate in desserts, orange, orange, and more orange.

I like the way the orange cuts into some of the sweetness of the cider, versus one that is straight apple cider.

Don’t worry, I won’t make you scroll through some long story 😉 for ingredients, directions, or substitutions.

Ingredients:
1.5-2 oz of gold tequila {or your fav silver – I rarely buy gold anymore}
1 oz of your favorite triple sec. I prefer this one.
1 orange
Your favorite apple cider
Sugar for rimming your glass
Cinnamon sticks
Your fav margarita glass
Cocktail shaker & jigger
Hand-held grater

Directions:
– Wash your orange & then add some orange zest to the cocktail shaker, with your grater.
– Quarter your orange. Use one quarter to add fresh orange juice to the shaker. Use the spent orange quarter to rim your glass. Set your orange aside.
– Rim your glass with sugar. I don’t use white granulated sugar. I use either demura sugar or pure cane sugar. It looks better with this drink than white & I rarely have white sugar in my house.
– Pour tequila, triple sec, and apple cider into shaker. Add some ice & shake!
– Use a peeler to peel a nice curly q or two from the orange.
– Pour your margarita into your marg glass and add your orange peel slices to the top. Cut a thin slice of orange as a garnish. Enjoy!
– I also added a cinnamon stick as a garnish yesterday – just for the heck of it. I used it to stir my drink. 🙂

Substitutions or Variations:
– Mix ground cinnamon in your sugar to rim the glass.
– Use bitters. I am out of my fav bitters {womp, womp} but used a dash of Angostura.
– Gold tequila is probably more traditional for a drink like this. I just don’t buy it very often. If you aren’t a big tequila drinker and want recommendations, let me know! In general, I highly recommend Camarena. It’s a good moderately priced tequila.
– Add a 1/2 to 1 oz of Fireball whisky {instead of triple sec & orange} for an extra cinnamony punch.

What’s your favorite go-to cocktail in the fall & winter?

¡Salud!