Salty Maple Hot Buttered Whiskey Cider

Oh my, this is a surefire way to warm up any cold evening. It is also a perfect cocktail to serve as a warm up before a big meal. It is easy to prepare ahead of time and have the cider warming on the stove, ready to serve as your guests arrive.  The salt is a delicious surprise and the little bit of butter, vanilla and maple make this a decadent alternative to a traditional hot buttered rum.

(Makes 8 servings)

Cider Mix

4 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons butter
The seeds of 1 whole vanilla bean 
Fine zest from the rind of 1 lemon
4 cups apple cider (unpasteurized)

Cocktail

8 ounces of Fremont Mischief Whiskey ( 2 ounces per serving)

Garnish

Lemon for rimming glass
Mixture of 1/2 course or kosher salt 1/2 turbinado or raw sugar for rim
Mini oranges
Whole cloves

For the cider mix, put the butter, maple syrup in sauce pan. Melt butter slightly, then add apple cider. To scrape out the vanilla bean, cut the bean down length to splay bean open, then you can use a knife to scrape out all the tiny little seeds into the pot. With a fine grater, zest the outside of a lemon to add just the a very fine bit of the lemon peal. You can warm this on the stove for as long as you like, but don’t get it up to a simmer, just warm is great.

To prepare the cups, slice the lemon and run it liberally around the rim of the glass. Then put some course salt and course sugar on a small plate and dip the tea cups into the sugar/salt mix.

To make a fun garnish, use a toothpick or ice pick to poke some holes in a mini orange and insert whole cloves into the orange, then carefully cut it into quarters. Pull away a bit of the peel at the bottom and slide the orange onto the rim of the glass.

When you are ready to serve place 2 ounces of Fremont Mischief Whiskey in the prepared cup, then pour hot maple buttered deliciousness in and be ready to enjoy.