Hot Cider Buttered Rum
November 11, 2018 by Nicole Collins
I'm back!
Did you miss me? I surely missed you!
I'm so sorry I didn't check in with you the second I got back! But, I've been having a little bit of a hard time adjusting back to real life. I don't think I've detoxed yet from all of the pasta and wine.
If you guys followed along on Instagram, you got to see some of the incredibly delicious things I got to eat. My brain is on overdrive right now, because I've got a million recipes I want to test/recreate from my Italian travels, but I've also got a whole list of Thanksgiving recipes I want to start banging out too. When in the world did Thanksgiving become less than 2 weeks away?!?!
I've still got soooooooo much to tell you about the trip and lots of pics that I want to show you. But for now, I'm going to keep it simple and tell you I had an absolutely amazing time. And, I really miss Italy more than I thought I would.
I might need to start saving my pennies to buy that villa on the Tuscan countryside...
Anyways...before I left, I told you I've been on an apple kick lately and there were more apple recipes to come. Well, here's the next one on the list!
Today, we're making Hot Cider Buttered Rum!
Hot Buttered Rum is a classic holiday season drink, and if you'll recall; I told you I was turning my house over to Christmas the day after I return from my trip. I haven't put the tree up yet, but I did wrap gifts last night. I'm thinking the rest of the decorations will be up by the end of the week. So, a holiday drink to keep us warm in this awful cold is more than fitting!
Traditionally, Hot Buttered Rum starts with a butter mixture of cinnamon and sugar, and sometimes other warm spices like nutmeg, allspice, or cloves. Some recipes call for a butter batter which includes some kind of dairy, like melted ice cream. I'm taking a short cut on our butter mix and using apple pie spice, since it's already got all of those warm holiday spices mixed in one jar! Plus, we've already got some on standby from the Apple Cider Milkshakes and Apple Cider Cupcakes we made last month.
Really, I'm just being efficient!
Next, the traditional version of the drink calls for boiling water to be poured over the butter mix in the glass, then topped with dark rum. Once it all gets mixed together, you've got a smooth, rich, creamy drink.
But, I wanted to really turn up that apple spice flavor, so I made some switches to the ingredients. First off, we're going to used spiced rum instead of dark rum. I mean, the reason is in the name...spiced. Next, we swap out the boiling water for boiling apple cider. Both ingredients bring a whole other layer of appley flavor, and it really turns up that holiday feeling.
This drink is so very simple, and it goes down REALLY smooth. You can barely taste the rum, and those kind of drinks are equally the best and the most dangerous. So, I don't have to remind you to please drink responsibly.
But I will. Actually, I just did.
Warm apple cider is probably one of the best things ever anyway, but when you mix it with a little spiced rum to really help warm you up AND with some spiced butter to make things all frothy and creamy, you've really got a home run. And of course, a cinnamon stick for garnish just brings the whole thing home.
You could easily convert this in to a drink for a crowd by keeping the cider hot in the slow cooker so guests can assemble their beverage as they're ready to drink it. You do have to serve this one hot. There's really no way around that. Otherwise, you'd be drinking cold cider with a blob of butter at the bottom.
And, that would be weird. Not weird at all when it's hot!
Alright guys, hopefully I can catch up to life back in the U.S. and find some kind of order in my brain.
But for now, enjoy! And, let's drink!
Hot Cider Buttered Rum
Serves: 4 Print
Ingredients:
½ stick unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp apple pie spice
2 tbsp brown sugar
¾ cup spiced rum
2 cups boiling apple cider
Directions:
In a small bowl, add butter, apple pie spice, and brown sugar. Stir well to combine.
Place 1 tbsp butter mix in the bottom of each glass. Top with 1 shot (1.5oz) rum and ½ cup boiling apple cider. Stir well to melt butter in to the drink. Enjoy!
Recipe notes:
*This drink is nice and rich, so the serving size is small. Feel free to double!
*You could serve this as a party drink by keeping the apple cider warm in a slow cooker.
*Apple cider and apple juice are not the same. Make sure you use apple cider for this recipe. Apple cider has a more concentrated apple flavor which we need in this drink.
*Please drink responsibly!
