Cocktails

Six of the Best Thanksgiving Cocktails: Everyone Will Thank You!

November 25, 2024 No Comments Cocktails

Be the reason your friends and family are thankful this Thanksgiving get-together by bringing one of these delicious Thanksgiving cocktails to share. Each of these beverages are simple with limited numbers of ingredients (making them great to bring to an event) but they have also been tried and enjoyed by many groups of friends who all gave their thumbs up reviews! Utilize some of the best flavors of fall— pear, apple, cranberry, and spice— to create cocktails for Thanksgiving this year!

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Fall-Flavored Drink Recipes Perfect for Thanksgiving Cocktails!

Spiced Pear Cocktail featuring Wild Roots Vodka - A Well Crafted Party

Spiced Pear Thanksgiving Cocktail

Pears are often overlooked. They are the subtle and most delicious fruit of the Fall in my opinion! This spiced pear cocktail is similar. It is sweet, but not overly so. It is spicy, but again, not overly so.. making it just right for your Thanksgiving cocktail this year! Serve it in a martini glass* and garnish with a slice of pear! Click on the image above to access the full recipe!

Apple Cider Margarita

Apple Cider is a classic flavor profile for Fall and for your Thanksgiving drink. Make it a party by adding the classic citrus elements of a margarita! Due to the sweetness of apple cider this Apple Cider Margarita is made without Sour Mix. This drink is best served in a rocks glass*, don’t forget to rim it in brown sugar and cinnamon! Click on the image above to access the full recipe!

Bourbon Sparkling Apple Cider Thanksgiving Cocktails

Yes, I obviously love apple cider during the Fall season… but, let me tell you, bourbon and apple cider BELONG TOGETHER! This fall Bourbon Sparkling Apple Cider Cocktail is extra refreshing with the addition of sparkling wine making it a great opening cocktail for your Thanksgiving festivities! While you can make this cocktail with an apple brandy of your choice, I love the Wild Roots Apple & Cinnamon Vodka for the natural flavors and kick of spice! Click the image for full recipe.

Spiced Apple Cocktail

I know, I know… the apple is a theme. This one though is NOT an Apple Cider cocktail! Though I do enjoy a good apple cider cocktail, this Spiced Apple Cocktail brings the spice and flavor without being overly sweet. The cinnamon flavor is EXCELLENT in this cocktail. The secret to this cocktail is a spiced simple syrup that really comes together with a day in the fridge, so get started on this one a bit early! These beautiful belle coupe glasses* are available on Amazon! They are some of my favorite cocktail glasses! Click the image above for the full recipe!

Pear and Apple Cider Sangria // A Well Crafted Party

Pear and Apple Sangria

We’re mixing these two fall fruits together for this Thanksgiving cocktail! Sangrias are such a great beverage for a crowd. This drink is no exception. Mix together the wonderful flavors of pear and apple then fortify it with bourbon for this Pear and Apple Sangria! The soaked fruit then become a treat at the end! Click the image above for the full recipe!

Spicy Cranberry Cocktail | A Well Crafted Party

Chipotle Cranberry Cocktail

While I originally created this cocktail for Christmas (the red color is fantastic, isn’t it?) the flavor of cranberry is very much a Thanksgiving staple. This slightly spicy Chipotle Cranberry Cocktail will be exceptional paired with turkey and the heavier dishes from the traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Filled with the best flavors of Fall, any of these drinks will be great Thanksgiving cocktails! May your Thanksgiving be filled with merriment and fun. Drink safely, of course, and monitor your dear Uncle who will inevitably bring up politics after one or two of these tasty drinks. Happy Thanksgiving from me and my family to yours!

A Well Crafted Pantry

Grocery Store Hacks: Surprise Your Friends with a Restaurant-Quality Fall Menu!

September 30, 2024 No Comments A Well Crafted Pantry

After a busy summer the routines of Fall always make me want to host friends. Enjoying drinks around the firepit on a crisp evening, sitting with friends around a table filled with my favorite Autumn dishes, and chatting the night away with glasses of port. However, despite the routines, Fall is just as busy if not moreso! So, that is where I pull out my Fall Dinner Party Hacks. Turn grocery store purchases into restaurant-quality dishes.

The below hacks were featured on KATU’s Afternoon Live, watch below to see the video!

Three Fall Dinner Party Menu Hacks

There is no shame in grabbing favorite pre-made items from a grocery store, deli, or restaurant to make your evening a touch easier when entertaining. While I enjoy cooking for others and crafting recipes from scratch, I also know my time is limited and will take necessary shortcuts when they don’t decrease the overall quality of my meal. If the day is busy and you want to have friends over in the evening, go to the grocery store and grab a few of the below items to create a Fall-themed dinner that will look and taste like you spent the day in the kitchen.

Mac & Cheese Stuffed Acorn Squash

What do you need from the grocery store for this beautiful Fall side or main course dish? Grab enough acorn squash for 1/2 squash per person (if serving as a side) and approximately 1 squash per person (if serving for main) and your favorite boxed mac and cheese (use the published servings to make sure you have enough to serve the guests that you have on hand). Make it extra special by topping it with a garnish that will go with the dish, but give it color and flavor. For example, I did shaved aged Gouda on this Gouda mac & cheese along with some smoked paprika.

Squash Soup (or dress up your favorite soup!)

Dress up your favorite Fall store-bought (or homemade) soup with a few garnishes right before you serve them. Not only will this add extra flavor to your dish, but it will make it look stunning and special. Add some pesto and heavy cream with pepita seeds and paprika to really make the squash soup sing!

Tip: To make sure the heavy cream doesn’t just sink to the bottom, whip the cream to nearly soft peak state. Add into a squeeze bottle to drizzle onto the soup or spoon it into the soup for a nice dollop.

Apple Cake Parfaits

Parfaits are one of my go-to easy, yet impressive desserts to serve. These are simple to create. You need pound cake or a good spiced cake cut into small bite sized cubes, apple pie filling, and homemade (or your favorite store bought) whipped cream. layer each ingredient in a clear glass bowl or glass for two layers. Start with cake, apple pie filling, then whipped cream and repeat. Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon and garnish with an apple slice and cinnamon stick.

These simple grocery store hacks make for easy, but tasty Fall treats.

A Well Crafted Pantry

The Peach Plunge: A Peach Twist on the Lemon Drop Cocktail

August 27, 2024 No Comments A Well Crafted Pantry

The kids are back to school and it is Mom’s Night! Gather your mom friends together that you haven’t seen over the long, busy Summer season and enjoy catching up with a Ladies Night complete with the perfect end of Summer appetizer and signature cocktail, the Peach Plunge!

My favorite Ladies Night drink is one that I rarely get unless out for a Ladies Night—the Lemon Drop. The sweet and sour combo is always one that makes me feel like cutting it up with friends. I wanted to create a drink with that same feeling, that also helped celebrated the best flavors of the end of Summer and early Fall. This Peach-variation of the Lemon Drop was dubbed the Peach Plunge by my husband upon first taste! He included some cheesy tagline about plunging you into the flavors of Summer. It was perfect!

The Peach Plunge Cocktail Recipe

This end-of-summer sipper is sweet and sour and has the spices you’ll recognize from your favorite peach cobbler desserts. It all starts off with a homemade Spiced Peach Simple Syrup. Simple Syrup is easy to make and a cocktail staple. A traditional simple syrup is simply 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water heated over medium heat until the sugar has completely dissolved into the mixture. It can be stored, sealed, in the fridge for up to 7 days.

Similarly, the Spiced Peach Simple Syrup will include sugar and water, but this mixture has a bit more to it than the traditional simple syrup. Call this a slightly more complicated, but equally easy syrup.

Spiced Peach Simple Syrup

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
1 cup frozen peaches
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick
Supplies: small heavy-bottomed saucepan, sieve, and heat resistant jar with airtight lid

Directions:

Add all ingredients to the saucepan and heat on a stovetop at medium to medium-high heat. Stir occasionally, you do not want the sugar to burn.
Bring ingredients to a low boil for 5 minutes, or until peaches are very soft and all sugar is incorporated into mixture.
Turn off the heat and let the mixture sit for 30 minutes to cool and let flavors meld.
Pour the mixture through a sieve reserving the liquid. Use a fork to squeeze all liquid from the peaches. Discard the peach/spice mixture. The liquid, once cooled, is your Spiced Peach Syrup!

Now, on to the cocktail! This recipe makes 1 cocktail.

Peach Plunge Cocktail Ingredients:

Supplies: 1 shaker, ice, martini glass
2 oz Vodka
1 oz Peach Vodka (or peach schnapps)
1 oz Spiced Peach Simple Syrup
1/2 oz of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Garnish: Slice of Peach and Sugared Rim

The Peach Plunge: A Peach Vodka Cocktail Twist on the Lemon Drop – Directions:

Add the vodka, peach vodka (or peach schnapps), lemon juice, and spiced peach simple syrup in a shaker over ice and shake or stir until thoroughly chilled.
Take a lemon slice around the edge of a martini glass and dip the edge of the glass into granulated sugar to rim the glass.
Strain the chilled cocktail mixture into the sugar rimmed martini glass, top with a slice of peach.
Enjoy!