Winter Candy Apple

 The winter candy apple cocktail is inspired by this Bath and Body Works fragrance:

About the fragrance

I first purchased the body cream pictured in 2021. I ordered it online based on a review that said it was similar to Winterberry Wonder, which I liked. The scent is currently unavailable online, but it will hopefully be back next holiday season. There is a Winter Candy Apple candle in stock currently, but the fragrance notes are different than they are in the body cream so I didn't provide a link.

The scent notes listed for this fragrance are:

Candy red apple

Winter rose petals

Candied orange

Maple leaf

Fresh cinnamon

Designing the cocktail

I used an Octorock hard apple cider from Starcut Ciders as the mixer since I already had it on hand. Any hard apple cider would work, and if you prefer your cocktails less sweet you could try a dry cider. Octorock is ranked as semi-sweet on the Starcut Ciders sweetness scale. I used rose petals (they're edible) from Mountain Rose Herbs. I used Grand Marnier (any orange liqueur would work) and cinnamon vodka for the orange and cinnamon notes. I also added orange simple syrup for sweetness since the note is listed as candied orange. I used real maple syrup for the maple flavor and rimmed the glass in cinnamon. I added less orange liqueur and cinnamon vodka than I would have otherwise since the hard cider already contains alcohol.

Recipe

1 oz Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur

½ oz cinnamon vodka

1 oz orange simple syrup

½ oz maple syrup

1 can Octorock or other hard apple cider

Cinnamon

Rose petals

Combine orange liqueur, cinnamon vodka, orange simple syrup, maple syrup, and cider in a regular glass or cocktail shaker. Rim three cocktail glasses with cinnamon. Transfer mixture to cocktail glasses. Sprinkle rose petals on top. For a non-alcoholic version, use a non-alcoholic apple cider and omit the orange liqueur and cinnamon vodka.

The finished cocktail

I enjoyed this cocktail. It was sweet, but not so sweet to be considered a dessert cocktail. Apple and cinnamon were the strongest flavors. The orange and maple were harder to detect. The rose petals provided an interesting contrast to the apple flavor, and they were much less bitter than the peony petals used in my Forever Red cocktail. I would recommend this cocktail to any hard cider lover.