As some of you may remember, last fall I might have had a slight obsession with Pinnacle Pumpkin Pie vodka. I made a Caramel Pumpkin Pietini, a Kahlua Pumpkin Cheesecake Martini, a Pumpkin Pie Frappuccino, a Pumpkin Mudslide AND a Cran-Pumpkin Pop. I was just a teensy bit out of control, but come on – pumpkin pie flavored vodka? How could you not have tons of fun with that?
And now, Pinnacle has done it again with their new flavor – Caramel Apple. I stalked the hell out of this stuff. I checked the online product locator, I called all the local liquor stores to see if they had it, I’d casually “drop by” Total Wine & More every week hoping to run into it in the vodka aisle. Then finally last week, there it was.
Two bottles sat on the shelf. I bought one. I should have bought them both.
I had this recipe planned out in my mind as soon as the new Caramel Apple flavor was announced and just as I suspected the vodka, RumChata and apple cider all blend perfectly in this quintessentially Fall cocktail. In a case of finding exactly what you need when you didn’t even know you needed it, I happened across a bag of Kraft Jet Puffed Caramel & Vanilla SwirlMallows on a toilet paper run to Dollar General. I couldn’t have found a better garnish for this drink if I had been looking for one.
This is some seriously good stuff. It doesn’t even taste like there is alcohol in it. It tastes like liquid caramel apple pie with a little bit of vanilla ice cream mixed in. Is there an award for Cocktail of the Year? Cause this should win it.
Caramel Apple Pie Cocktail
Ingredients
1 cup apple cider*
1 oz Pinnacle Caramel Apple vodka
1 oz RumChata
ice
* Since there is dairy in RumChata, it can curdle if combined with a liquid that has a high citric acid content. Try to get apple cider that does not have citric acid listed as an ingredient.
Directions
Combine cider, vodka and RumChata with a few ice cubes in a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously for about 30 seconds and strain into a glass. If you wish, garnish with Caramel & Vanilla SwirlMallows. You could also rim the glass with caramel, cinnamon sugar, or both!
The cider does start to separate if you let the drink sit too long, so you might want to have a cocktail stirrer handy. However, this cocktail is so absolutely delicious that it sitting too long really shouldn’t be an issue. 🙂
If you give this one a try (and believe me, you should!) stop back to let me know what you think! And don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and all that other good stuff! The links are at the top right of my page!
Cheers!
~ Angela
Shake Bake and Party 
Well, now, this….is dangerously delicious now isn’t it?! My goodness Angela what are you trying to do to me – I could drink these all day! 😀
It would be VERY easy to drink these all day! Maybe you could throw some oats in there and turn it into one of your fabulous smoothies!!
😀
This sounds REALLY good lol.
It is awesome!! 😀
Oh yum. Sounds like dessert! Thanks for sharing on Saturday Night Fever! I love your blog! See you again this Saturday!
Thank you so much Jen! Dessert, dinner, brunch… it has apple cider in it, so it counts as an anytime fruit serving! 🙂
It does sound good – can’t wait to try it. I have one piece of advice in the event you can’t find Pinnacle’s Caramel Apple vodka. Like you, I was STALKING the Caramel Apple vodka after I saw it on Pinnacle’s FB page. However, I went all over town and couldn’t find it ANYWHERE, not even at Total Wine & More. So, I bought caramel vodka and apple vodka (different brands – I think the ones I got were both Smirnoff).
Anyway, I made a lovely drink inspired by the one posted by Pinnacle. Since I didn’t have the Caramel Apple vodka, I used the following: 1 shot of apple vodka, 1 shot of caramel vodka, 2 shots of apple juice & 3 shots of lemon-lime soda. It was delicious. When I finally found the Caramel Apple vodka (about a month later), I made the same drink…and ironically, it was better with the separate vodkas. So, when Caramel Apple vodka disappears from the shelves, and you’re left with that craving, substitute apple & caramel vodkas instead.
With that being said – I really must go find some RumChata because I’m dying to try your concoction! And who knew that Kraft made vanilla caramel marshmallows. Another must have: Plush Puffs gourmet marshmallows. They are so yummy and worth the price: http://www.plushpuffs.com/
Plush Puffs! I love the name and I see that they have COCONUT marshmallows! I’m definitely getting some of those!
I will keep those substitutions in mind – it seems like the Pinnacle Caramel Apple is pretty hard to come by. I think I got lucky finding it. If you like cinnamon you will love the Rumchata! It’s like the milk leftover after a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch! : ) Thanks for commenting!
Good Lord, woman. This just became my new favorite Autumn drink. I didn’t have carmel apple vodka, so I just used a shot of Caramel Baileys and a shot of Green Apple Vodka. Quite Tasty.
Nice substitutions! I love Caramel Baileys! Glad you liked it – I’ve been thinking about warming it up on the stove once it gets colder out! Thanks for stopping by! : )
Has anyone tried this hot? Would it work in a crockpot? That being said I had the cold version and it was amazing. Maybe freezing the cider and blending frozen would help it stay together longer?? I didn’t have a problem with it separating it didn’t last that long 🙂
Hi Michelle! I want to try it hot, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I bet it would work wonderfully in the crock pot! So glad to hear you enjoyed it! : ) Thanks for the comment!
Made this last night. Wow, so good! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
So glad you liked it Laurie! 🙂
im so disappointed! It looked so good. But I made it in both hot and cold cider. It was chunky both times. I’m not talking mild separation after 20 minutes. I’m talking instantly looked like spoiled milk. 😔 I tried drinking it, and it was tasty. But it was very hard to get over that chunky texture.
Hi Lyndsey! I’ve made this drink a bunch of times and I’ve never had that happen. Did you mix it in a cocktail shaker? I always shake it for a good 30-40 seconds. Sorry you had that problem!
We are having happy hour at home, and these drinks are delicious. I’ve never had Rum chata until today. Sooo good.
I am so glad you are enjoying the drinks! The Rumchata goes well with a lot of things! : )
I’m looking for drinks to serve in a drink dispenser on thanksgiving and stumbled upon this from pinterest. Thank you for sharing (and taking the time to answer comments!) I’m not a drinker, so i’m really naive when it comes to simple things–but could this drink be served and kept in a dispenser or would it have to be shaken and poured individually? thanks!
Hi Nicole! I don’t think this would work well in a dispenser unfortunately. It needs to be shaken really well immediately before serving and it does start to separate after a while.
I think your best bet for a beverage dispenser would be a sangria or punch recipe. Those types of drinks usually stay mixed pretty well. There are a lot of amazing autumn/fall sangria recipes on Pinterest these days. There are few on my “Fall” board. 🙂
Thanks, i’ll take a look!
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Judy@ http://www.bakeatmidnite.com
Delicious! I don’t have a shaker so I’ll need to get one to get the blended effect. But so great. Glad I found this on Pinterest!
What did we ever do without Pinterest?! 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by – glad you enjoyed the drink!
Hey! I can’t find this anywhere! Probably because everyone wants to make this awesome desert in a drink cocktail! Can I just use caramel vodka!? Will it still be tasty!?
Thank you
Hi Sarah! You can absolutely use caramel vodka! it might even be slightly more tasty! Enjoy! 🙂
Very good. Apparently my apple cider was acidic so it curdled. 😦
Sorry to hear! It doesn’t look pretty, but at least it doesn’t ruin the taste! The brand even references this on their FAQ page now. Apparently the same thing happens with certain brands of soda.