Apple cider mojitos will be your new favorite fall cocktail

Fall food and drinks are the best. From apple pie to pumpkin spice, the harvest-inspired tastes and hot beverages of the season bring cozy blankets and warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg to mind. And while you might associate mojitos — featuring a heady mix of lime, mint, sweetener, rum and maybe some soda for carbonation— with summer nights, you can make a version that’s perfect for cooler days.

It’s called an Apple Cider Mojito, and it’s very similar to a regular mojito except you replace the lemon with lime and the soda or seltzer with apple cider, turning it into the perfect fall cocktail.

This cocktail mixes a few things you may not think go together all that well. But keep an open mind — you might be surprised at how the lemon juice freshens the flavor of the apple cider while rendering it slightly less sweet. Cinnamon and apple pair surprisingly well with a mint garnish.

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This recipe from Delish is also super easy and requires just six ingredients and just five minutes to create. All you need is a lemon, apple cider, apple slices, gold rum, and some mint and cinnamon sticks for garnish. Simply add and mix!

A real mojito requires muddling the ingredients to bring out the flavors of the citrus fruit, but we think you can probably get away without doing that here, since the cider is really the star of the show as far as flavors go. However, other recipes online do include a muddling step for the mint and the citrus (either lime or lemon).

Some recipes also require white rum, which is more refreshing and light both in flavor and color, instead of gold, which is an aged version with a smoother profile. White rum is more commonly used in mojitos, but many people like the richer, more complex flavors of gold rum better. That’s something you’ll have to decide for yourself.

Mojitos not your thing? This cozy twist on sangria sounds perfect for warming up in the fall and winter months. Speaking of winter, this sangria recipe with cranberry sounds like a festive holiday cocktail to serve up come December!

Cheers!

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