Holiday/seasonal Drinks

My best friend always has a teapot of hot apple cider on her stove. She buys store bought cider and throws in candy redhots. They give it a cinnamon kick when dissolved. Makes the whole house smell great. It's really good with or without alcohol. I have put whiskey, rum, and brandy in it and all were good.
I like coffee drinks this time of year too. I keep bottles of Irish Cream, and Kahlua to mix in my coffee on cold Sunday afternooons.

I LOVE the Fall too!! :)
My favorite winter drink is hot cocoa and peppermint schnapps :):):)

Have a fabulous weekend!

I don't have any drinks I make, but they had pumpkin spice at Starbucks and I had to get one!! I too, LOVE fall/winter and the seasons and Christmas, so I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one! I'm psyched to go to the pumpkin patch etc. Yay for holidays and the turn of the season!

Hot chocolate with Bailey's or peppermint schnapps. Tea (black, but any flavor) with amaretto (liqueur or coffee flavoring). Ditto the wassail all by itself or make it adult. Oooh ooh~ Tom and Jerry's, gosh I miss America sometimes! I guess, if I wasn't so lazy, I could find a recipe!!! Oh, I almost forgot hot buttered rum, with or without the rum. Who am I kidding, with Captain Morgan of course x)

I'm sure you've already received these responses, but I had to weigh in b/c I love your post. I'm LOVING this fall weather. This is THE BEST time of year...I've been listening to Christmas music for the last month in hopes of bringing it on! ;) Anyway, my favs are apple cider, hot cocoa or a nice cup of tea. The cider, I just buy a bottle/ jug of spiced apple cider from a local cider mill and it's wonderful!

Actually, I just saw you're from the same area. Try the Louisburg Cider Mill's cider...it's sold in most stores around the KC area.

My favorite drink on a cold crisp morning is called Champurrado. I have had 2 different plavors-chocolate and guava and they are both awesome when made correctly. We buy it though so I could not say how to make it. There is an other Mexican drink that I do know how to make using tamarindo pods, brown sugar cones, masa and something else. It has been a long time. It is called Atole and is so good on a cold day. But I am definitely making it as soon as the baby comes. Everything seems to cause heartburn right now. I am trying to find out how to make a drink my inlaws would make for Christmas and has fruit like guava, sugar cane (actual cane pieces) and other stuff. I got a recipe for it and it was more like a cider that the actual drink. These all do take work but so worth it.

Hot Apple Cider, Wassail or Homemade Hot Chocolate are my faves. I did my sister's baby shower in December 2009 and she requested she didn't want a punch so I found a recipe for a homemade Peppermint Hot Chocolate and we poured into the cups and hung a miniature candy cane on the edge of the cup...BIG HIT! There was none left!

Fresh apple cider is wonderful cold, but it's just as good warm, too.
You can add other juices to it for different flavors, and/or a little cinnamon is good.
Over the holidays I'll have my crock pot simmering a batch of wassail the whole time and it makes the whole house smell wonderful.

OK, I make 1/2 apple juice (or cider) and 1/2 cranberry and keep it in a crock pot or on the stove with a few cinammon sticks in it! It is so good!!

I also make my own Potpouri...sliced oranges, whole cloves, cinamon sticks, bay leaves...put in a small crock put and let it warm all day! Heavenly...

make regular hot choc and then add one of those peppermint/chocolate Andes mints (or something similar) YUM!
or
Apple cider with rum - warm!

Hot apple cider, caramel apple cider, spiced teas, peppermint hot chocolate, wassail.

http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/drinks/wassail-4/

Fall is my favorite. Always has been! :)
I don't know how to make my own apple cider but I buy it from a little shop on the side of the road that sells homemade ciders (strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, muscadine, apple, peach, etc), pies, jams, and all kinds of canned vegetable concoctions. I have a wonderful wassail recipe but it's packed up with the Christmas stuff (holiday recipe box)...but I just got it online when I was doing a traditional Christmas feast for my husband, back before marriage and kids.
I love warm apple cider on it's own, or get a cinnamon stick too. Or you can do a cranberry-orance cider: 1 C cranberries, 6 C apple cider, 2 C cranberry juice, 1/2 C packed brown sugar, 4 cloves, some allspice (about as much as you use of cloves), 2 cinnamon sticks, 4 orange slices, 3 lemon slices, 3 lime slices (and some extra orange/lemon/lime slices for garnish). Coarsely chop the cranberries, then place everything in a dutch oven and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce to low, simmer partially covered 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 30 minutes. Strain it and toss out the bits. Keep the cider warm and garnish as you like.
Another way we make a nice hot mlled apple cider: 40 oz apple cider, 1.25 C brown sugar, 1.25 C sweet unsalted butter, softened, 1.25 tsp ground nutmeg, 1.25 C ground allspice, and some dark rum is optional: in a slow cooker, put cider with sugar for 20 minutes until steaming hot. In a small bowl, combine butter, nutmeg, and allspice. Mix well, pour cider into mugs and top with a teaspoon of spiced butter and a shot of dark rum if you'd like. (I like the idea of having it in the cooker without alcohol and just adding a shot for the adults, but having plenty on hand for children and non-drinkers too).
My favorite drink is Ghiradelli hot chocolate, make with the milk as directions say....then add a shot of Godiva liqueur and a shot of peppermint schnapps. The best ever!
Peppermint Kiss: 1.5oz Godiva liqueur, .5oz peppermint schnapps, served on the rocks with a sprig of mint---that's nice for a party drink.
Polar Bear: 1 part white chocolate Godiva liqueur, 1 part peppermint schnapps, on the rocks.
Something else we like that has no name that I know of: 1oz Godiva, 1/2 oz Raspberry, 3/4 oz vodka...........OR 1 Godiva, 1 Kahlua (both of those drinks on ice are good). Those drinks are drinks I liked serving after dinner or if we were just having appetizers at parties.
Something my mom used to do which sounds stupid but smelled the house up SO GOOD: one of those large cans of pineapple juice (the tall ones, like 20+ oz), a 14.5 oz can of jellied cranberry sauce, and a little allspice, all in the crockpot. It sounds gross but she'd cook it for holidays and the whole house smelled awesome, and it was actually a sweet/tart drink that was really nice and soothing, with NO effort. Just let it cook down, the cranberry sauce melts into the juice, and you just stir it here and there while it cooks on low.

We love White Russians! Not a warm drink, but it is our fall/winter drink. My husband makes the best with vanilla vodka, kaluha, milk and cream. MMMMMM!

We always have hot apple cider with some Hot Damn (red cinnamon schnapps) thrown in :) Yum

I like Kleinpeter egg nog in my coffee.

well my SIL makes a great cider. She uses apple cider, apple juice, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon red hots, and boils it on low for a really long time, then when it starts cooling, time to drink up!! I'm sure she puts other things in it too, but I can't remember. I like to put cinnamon schnapps in it sometimes too. It is great in the crockpot too, when you have a gathering.

Wassail and coffee w/Bailey's are both high on my list of cold weather favorites.

I love mulled cider! Hallmark (of all places) has the best powdered mulling spices that you can add to any cider and it's delicious!!! You can do it by the cup or pot, I usually make a pot! I use Louisburg Cider b/c it's so yummy and it's local and I just don't have the energy to make my own!

If I'm going store bought, I can't beat a Starbuck's pumpkin spice latte or a London Fog, which is earl grey tea, vanilla syrup, and milk or cream...yummy!