Episode 047 Apple Cider Margaritas

Intro: Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of Let’s Make Dinner, your audio library of amazing dinner recipes and cocktails that you can get in your mouth any night of the week. 

Susie Weinrich: I’m your host, Susie Weinrich. We have a little bonus episode for you today. That’s why I said we can get those cocktails in your mouth. So we are making an apple cider margarita today, you guys. I love this recipe so much. Because number one, I’m super excited about the colder weather, which is not typical of me. Normally I am hanging on to every last warm day that the summer has to give. This year, I’m kind of pumped for a little bit of cold weather. I’m ready for some apple cider. I’m ready for all the soups and stews, and this apple cider margarita is definitely going to be on the menu. 

Tips and Tricks: So let’s get into a couple of tips with this recipe. Number one, let’s talk about apple cider. If you have, like here in the Midwest, I live in the Kansas City area. We have a lot of apple orchards, like local apple orchards around that sell their apple cider in the grocery stores. So we have one called Louisburg Cider Mill. They have excellent apple cider, and it’s what I usually buy. If I can’t get that, then I’ll just buy what’s on the shelf, or I’ll go to Trader Joe’s. They have a great apple cider in the fall. Any of those will work. 

What you don’t want to get is a hard apple cider, which is going to be carbonated and usually has some kind of alcoholic content. That’s not what you’re looking for in these margaritas. Also, your apple cider should be kind of opaque. It shouldn’t be translucent like apple juice. That’s not going to give you the same flavor that you want with cider.

Okay. Let’s also talk about tequila. I am a huge tequila fan. So if you love tequila, you’re super duper going to love this apple cider cocktail. I recommend using the warmer tequilas in this cocktail since it is kind of a fall-flavored drink. You want to use either a reposado or an añejo. I just say añejo, I’m sure it’s not right, tequila because they have that warmer flavor. So reposado tequila is going to be kind of a light brown caramel color. What it is, it’s a blend of the aged Anejo tequila and the baby Silver Blanco tequila.

The other one, the añejo tequila is an aged tequila. It’s aged one to three years in oak barrels, so it has a very dark caramel color, and it will have a super pronounced flavor of caramel and vanilla. It’s excellent alcohol to drink on the rocks. I love Anejo on the rocks in the winter. Mm-hmm. So delicious. So those are all my tips. Let’s get on to making your apple cider margaritas.

Apple Cider Margaritas Recipe: As with any margarita, you’re going to want to rim your glass with that classic salt or sugar rim. What we’re going to use is actually a sugar-salt cinnamon combo. So on a flat plate, you want to mix one teaspoon of sugar, a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon, and then a pretty decent pinch or two of kosher salt. Mix that all together, stir it all together so it’s really well combined, and that’s going to be your rim. What you’ll want to do is take the glass that you plan to make your margarita in. So you’re going to want to have an eight to 10-ounce glass rub an orange slice around the rim of your glass, and then dip it in that cinnamon sugar salt combo, and it should stick right to your glass. Then you want to turn to make your cocktail. You can do this in a cocktail shaker, or you can make it right in your prepared glass. So you’ll want to fill that glass with ice. Pour in one ounce, up to one and a half ounces, depending on how strong you want your cocktail. One to one and a half ounces of either reposado or añejo tequila. Then add half an ounce of triple sec, and this can be like Grand Marnier. It could be a Quantro or just triple sec, whatever you like. Whatever you have. Then three ounces of your Apple cider. You’ll give it a really good stir. Or if you made it in a cocktail shaker, give it a really good shake and then strain it into your glass.

You can garnish it with apple slices, orange slices, cinnamon sticks, or star anise is another fun little garnish. That’s your whole cocktail. It’s so good. It is perfectly paired with fall people. You’re going to love it. 

So that does it for today’s episode of Let’s Make Dinner and cocktails. If you’re enjoying these episodes, I would love to have you subscribe or follow your preferred podcast player. It will just make it easier for you to find all of our future episodes right in your podcast feed. 

Outro: Until next time, I hope this cocktail recipe makes your cocktail time a little sweeter.