I admit that I’ve tried a few “apple-tinis.”
You know, those unnaturally green cocktails made with artificially flavored sour apple schnapps and vodka, garnished with a maraschino cherry?  Any time I’ve tried one, I’ve always thought, “why am I not just eating a sour apple Jolly Rancher candy instead?”  I didn’t set out to make a better, more natural version of this cocktail, but I think I ended up doing so.

When the weather turns chilly in late September/early October, I start to crave certain flavors.  Pumpkin.  Winter squash.  Cranberries.  Brussels sprouts.  Apples.  I usually manage to make an apple-picking trip every year, which usually coincides with a purchase of a bottle of applejack from the liquor store.  For those of you who have not tried this lovely potable, it tastes like a home-grown version of Calvados.  In short, it is potent, apple-y, and delicious – the love child of bourbon and apple cider.  Somehow, it is also infinitely mixable, as in the Jack Rose cocktail, which is one of the staple drinks of the golden age of booze; I’ll post about that one, if anyone is interested (just let me know in the comments section).

At any rate, I wanted to make a cocktail using non-alcoholic, sweet apple cider, but didn’t want drink it hot, spiked with rum, as I’ve done before.  What we wanted was an icy apple cocktail, served up.  What to do?  Well, this was a mere experiment, but uh…this is pretty damn delicious:

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.  Add:
2 parts applejack or calvados
1 part pressed apple cider
1/2 part sweet (red) vermouth
1/2 part lime juice (half of one lime for two cocktails)

Shake vigorously until the shaker is too cold to hold and then strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with a sliver of apple coated in cinnamon sugar. Serve immediately; try not to guzzle.