Drink Detour: Maple Hot Buttered Bourbon Cocktail

Here's what you need to know:

This is a new discovery of mine, and it became a fast favorite. I first saw the recipe on The G&M Kitchen's blog, then used the recipe posted by Bourbon Dose to determine the portions I wanted for my drink.

The recipe will make at least four drinks. Combining brown sugar, maple syrup, butter, and spices will make a batter with several drinks' worth of servings in it. I sealed mine in a mason jar and kept it in the fridge for about a week, but if you'd rather not do that, I'd caution you to make a smaller batch (or as small of one as you can).

This drink pairs well with chilly Sunday evenings, a sherpa blanket, and pre-season holiday lighting. You should be sleepy but not tired, and you should be ready to sink into the gap between your loveseat's cushions with your hands wrapped around your favorite ceramic mug. When you take your first sip, you're signing away your Sunday Scaries and letting time stretch out before you. Bonus points if you're sipping one of these when you've just come in from the snow, living in that infinite moment when it doesn't matter what day it is - it only matters that it's winter, and your home is warm, and it's filled with the people you love.

You should probably use:

1/4 c. of butter - softened

1/8 c. (1 oz) of brown sugar

2 TBS of maple syrup

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 tsp of ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp of ground clove

1/4 tsp of nutmeg

1/4 tsp of allspice

6 oz. of hot water

1 oz. of bourbon

1 cinnamon stick (optional)

Whipped cream (optional)

my two cents on ingredients: I confess: the spice measurements aren't exact. Actually, they're probably very wrong. I used between 2 and 3 tsp of pumpkin pie spice, which includes cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. When you make yours, I'd recommend that you a) measure the spices with your heart, but b) don't go too overboard. This isn't the sort of mixture you strain, so using too many spices could affect the texture you get on your final drink. For my version, I also halved the bourbon. I have a pretty low alcohol tolerance anything and really prefer to drink this when I want something warm and cozy, so it made sense to me to only include "just enough" bourbon. I can also see this drink being made as a mocktail, but the rich flavor of the bourbon does really add something that would be missing otherwise. You may want to substitute NA bourbon rather than just omitting it entirely.

Instructions:

1. Combine the butter and the sugar. Use a mixing tool or a fork to cream them together, then add in the spices and the maple syrup.

2. Separate 2 TBS of the batter into a mug. Store the rest in an air-tight container, refrigerated.

3. Add 1 oz. of bourbon to the mug with the batter.

4. Boil 6 oz. of hot water, then pour it over the bourbon and batter mixture.

5. Stir until all of the butter and sugar have dissolved.

6. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and/or whipped cream (highly recommended)!