Butternut Squash Soup is one of my all-time favorite soups. I make it all of the time during the fall months. I love my classic recipe, but sometimes it is fun to mix it up. I love making this Roasted Butternut Squash Pear Ginger Soup because the flavo…
Butternut Squash Soup is one of my all-time favorite soups. I make it all of the time during the fall months. I love my classic recipe, but sometimes it is fun to mix it up. I love making this Roasted Butternut Squash Pear Ginger Soup because the flavors are phenomenal. This soup recipe reminds me…
I love making pumpkin recipes during the fall months. I usually go sweet instead of savory because I have so many favorites like pumpkin chocolate chip bread, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin bundt cake. But I also love using pumpkin in savory dishes. This…
I love making pumpkin recipes during the fall months. I usually go sweet instead of savory because I have so many favorites like pumpkin chocolate chip bread, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin bundt cake. But I also love using pumpkin in savory dishes. This Pumpkin Pasta recipe is a fall favorite and easy to make. The…
It’s Halloween week, meaning anyone who’s throwing a party for the holiday (or wanting something festive to sip on as they wait for trick-or-treaters) might be scrambling to decide which cocktails to make. To help, we’ve rounded up 12 of our favorite d…
It's Halloween week, meaning anyone who's throwing a party for the holiday (or wanting something festive to sip on as they wait for trick-or-treaters) might be scrambling to decide which cocktails to make. To help, we've rounded up 12 of our favorite drinks with flavors that play well the cold weather and the spices of the season.
Whether you want something mulled, shaken, or stirred, we've got you covered. Keep reading for inspiration on what to drink now that we're fully settled into fall.
This Halloween Sangria recipe is a spooky drink that’s ideal for parties! Whip up a pitcher to impress everyone.
Looking for a spooky drink to impress? Try this Halloween Sangria! We are all about scary Halloween cocktails, and this one is a new favorite. Pair red wine with cinnamon sugar, fruit and sparkling cider for a tasty drink that everyone will love! The best part? Rim the glasses with DIY colored sugar and top with fun cocktail picks. The flavor is pure, bold, and lightly cinnamon spiced: and we’ve got two variations for a sweeter or more dry drink!
What you need for Halloween sangria
Sangría is a traditional wine punch that originates from Spain. The classic version is made with red wine and chopped fruit, and often orange juice or brandy. Many American spins add loads of sugar to this drink, which is traditionally quite dry and nuanced. This Halloween sangria is in the style of the traditional Spanish drink, but we’ve got a variation that is a little sweeter for those who like sweeter drinks. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
Apple
Blood oranges
Granulated sugar
Cinnamon
Dry red wine, such as Rioja
Sparkling cider (dry variation) or ginger ale (sweet variation)
This Halloween sangria method is inspired by our favorite Spanish chef, Jose Andres. Chef Andres is from Spain and started many successful restaurants here in the US. Per Chef Andres, the “Spanish” way to make this wine punch this:
Macerate fruit for 20 minutes: Mix the sangria fruit with sugar and let it macerate or stand at room temperature and break down. This helps the fruit flavors permeate the wine even more.
Add liquids: Add the red wine.
Refrigerate for 1 to 4 hours. This allows the flavors to meld and develop.
Serve with bubbles. Traditional Spanish sangria uses soda water, but here you’ll add sparkling cider or ginger ale to the glass when serving!
Ways to customize the sweetness
Our addition to the Spanish sangria formula? When serving, mix the red wine mixture with sparkling apple cider or ginger ale. This sweetens the drink and adds bubbles! The sparkling apple cider makes for a dry flavor, whereas the ginger ale makes for a sweeter drink.
Another way to customize the sweetness? Use a fruity sweet red wine instead of a dry red wine.
Halloween sangria drink garnishes
The best part of this Halloween sangria? The drink garnishes! You can use the ones we’ve used here, or get creative with some of your own ideas. Here’s what we did:
Make DIY colored sugar. A colored sugar rim makes the look! Use purchased sugar or go to our DIY colored sugar tutorial for instructions. We made both orange and purple for a festive look!
Use an orange slice and festive cocktail picks. These Halloween cocktail picks (aka cupcake toppers) really set the tone! We used a blood orange slice to fasten our cocktail picks. If you can’t find them, a regular orange works just as well!
This Halloween sangria is perfect for parties because it makes a big pitcher to share. Try it out, or try a Halloween margarita pitcher if you’re a tequila lover!
More Halloween drinks
Want more ideas for spooky drinks? Here are a few Halloween cocktails we love:
Thinly slice the apple and orange. Place them into a medium bowl and stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Transfer to a large pitcher. Allow to stand for 20 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.
Pour in the red wine. Stir and refrigerate for 1 hour, or as long as 4 hours. (Don’t go beyond 4 hours or the fruit texture starts to degrade.)
If desired, place colored sugar on a plate, wet the rims of the glasses, and dip them into the sugar (DIY or purchased; we made orange and purple).
To serve, fill a glass with ice. Fill halfway with sparkling apple cider, then halfway with red wine mixture (or you can pour them both together in a pitcher). Or, add the wine mixture to a glass and top off with ginger ale.
Garnish with blood orange slices and Halloween cocktail picks. When you’ve polished off the sangria, you can snack on the sweetened fruit.
Perhaps you bought tons of Halloween candy for all of those trick-or-treaters that will definitely hike up the five flights of stairs to your apartment door (five bags seems reasonable, right?). Perhaps you’re always amazed to find that almost all of t…
Perhaps you bought tons of Halloween candy for all of those trick-or-treaters that will definitely hike up the five flights of stairs to your apartment door (five bags seems reasonable, right?). Perhaps you’re always amazed to find that almost all of the candy is still there come November 1st, even when you and a friend ate two bags on your own. Or maybe you have kids who collected more candy than they can possibly eat without giving themselves sugar-related meltdowns. Either way, you will have lot of extra fun-sized bars and candy corn and not a lot to do with them.
So, what can one do with bags and bags of leftover Halloween candy? Eating it plain is obviously a great option, but even if you have the biggest sweet tooth, things can start to get boring when you’re on your 100th bite-sized Kit Kat. Before you start pawning your candy off on hungry coworkers, consider giving it a new life instead.
Candy Corn is essential to Halloween! I’ve infused vodka with classic orange … Read more
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Candy Corn is essential to Halloween! I’ve infused vodka with classic orange ... Read more
This butterbeer recipe is an easy and delicious way to recreate the classic Harry Potter drink! Perfect for parties, Halloween, or anytime.
Want to recreate the classic Harry Potter drink! Try this Butterbeer recipe! Our son has become obsessed with Hogwarts and this recipe is an easy way to recreate the series drink. It’s so tasty, bubbly with a butterscotch flavor and a frothy top! Many recipes are extremely sugary but our take is toned back so it lets all the flavors shine through (and you or the children you’re making it for won’t be bouncing off the walls). It’s perfect for parties, Halloween, and any occasion where you need a little magic!
What is butterbeer?
Butterbeer is a fictional drink in the Harry Potter series that’s beloved by wizards. It is first mentioned in the book Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and has a level of alcohol doesn’t affect witches and wizards. The concept is based on an actual drink called buttered beer that originated in England in the 1500’s. That drink was made with beer, sugar, eggs, nutmeg, cloves and butter (similar to something like buttered rum).
Author J.K. Rowling reportedly told Bon Appetit magazine that the taste of butterbeer should be like a “less sickly butterscotch.” In April 2010 Universal Studios announced a non-alcoholic butterbeer drink sold at their Harry Potter World, which was tasted and approved by Rowling herself!
Ingredients in butterbeer
No one knows the exact ingredients in the official Universal Studios butterbeer recipe (except this guy). However, the flavor of butterbeer is reminiscent of cream soda. Most copycat recipes include cream soda, butterscotch syrup and cream or ice cream for a frothy topping.
This butterbeer recipe is unique because it’s got all those classic flavors but a little less sugar to let them all shine! It’s built like an Italian soda, with soda water, flavored syrup, and cream. Here’s what you’ll need:
This butterbeer recipe is like an butterscotch-flavored Italian soda, a drink made of club soda and flavored syrup, often served with cream on top. The concept was invented by an Italian American couple who introduced Italian soda in San Francisco in 1925. It took off and has been popular ever since! Here are a few tips for making and serving butterbeer:
Whisk 2 tablespoons heavy cream until slightly thickened. Reserve this for the topping.
Mix a splash of soda water with 2 tablespoons butterscotch syrup in a small beer mug or glass. Add 3 drops yellow and 1 small drop brown food coloring to simulates the beer coloring (which is the main coloring agent in cream soda).
Add 1 cup soda water. Do this right before serving to preserve the bubbles.
Top with the cream to simulate the frothy top of a beer. Enjoy!
Harry Potter themed mugs and glasses
The best way to serve butterbeer is in a small beer mug! We like these small glass beer mugs. You can also serve it in Harry Potter themed glasses. We like this set of Hogwarts crest glasses that have the crest of each of the houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Our son especially loves drinking anything out of these!
Of course if you’re serving butterbeer for a party, you can use disposable glasses or cups of your choice. Keep in mind the finished drink has about 1 ¼ cups volume with about 1-inch extra room needed for the foam.
Spiked variation
Want to make a spiked butterbeer? This butterbeer recipe works beautifully with rum. Add 1 oz añejo rum to each serving of butterbeer, which adds notes of vanilla and oak. We think it’s best with rum, but you could also try something like vanilla vodka if desired.
More fun homemade drinks
This butterbeer drink is a fun and easy homemade drink that kids and adults alike love! It’s fun for parties, as a Halloween drink, or anytime you need a fun cooking project with kids. Here are a few more homemade drinks to add to your arsenal:
2 tablespoons (1 oz) heavy cream, whisked until slightly thick
Instructions
In a mug or glass, stir together the butterscotch syrup, vanilla extract, food coloring and a splash of soda water. (Spiked variation: Add 1 oz añejo rum.)
Top with the remaining soda water. Carefully pour cream across top and serve.
Whenever we need an EASY treat, we often make Rice Krispie Treats. They only take 10 minutes to make and are always a crowd pleaser. We love classic Rice Krisipie Treats, peanut butter, Oreo, s’mores, Biscoff, and more! We also LOVE these Chocola…
Whenever we need an EASY treat, we often make Rice Krispie Treats. They only take 10 minutes to make and are always a crowd pleaser. We love classic Rice Krisipie Treats, peanut butter, Oreo, s’mores, Biscoff, and more! We also LOVE these Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats. They are filled with chocolate flavor thanks to the…
It’s that time of the year again. We’re rapidly approaching the final week of October and there are things that need to be discussed. I’m not talking about how to plan your Thanksgiving menu or decorate your home for the holidays. I’m not here to share…
It's that time of the year again. We're rapidly approaching the final week of October and there are things that need to be discussed. I'm not talking about how to plan your Thanksgiving menu or decorate your home for the holidays. I'm not here to share advice on how to make the best sugar cookie or pour the perfect espresso martini. I'm here to discuss far more serious matters: Halloween candy.
Sure, my trick-or-treat days may be long behind me, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy my share of holiday candy every October. Once the Duane Reade and Rite Aid in my neighborhood fill their shelves with bags of assorted candies, I can't help but grab one or two. After all, that's a perk of being an adult. You don't have to wait and see which treats the neighborhood elders drop in your pumpkin-shaped bucket—you can simply walk down the block and buy what you want.
Monster Cookies are one of my all-time favorite cookies (I also love monster cookie bars and monster cookie energy balls). The classic monster cookies are packed with peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips, and M&M’s. So much goodness in one co…
Monster Cookies are one of my all-time favorite cookies (I also love monster cookie bars and monster cookie energy balls). The classic monster cookies are packed with peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips, and M&M’s. So much goodness in one cookie. Well, I decided to take the classic and add cocoa to the mix to create…
Butternut Squash Soup is one of my all-time favorite soups. I make it all of the time during the fall months. I love my classic recipe, but sometimes it is fun to mix it up. I love making this Roasted Butternut Squash Pear Ginger Soup because the flavors are phenomenal. This soup recipe reminds me… 
I love making pumpkin recipes during the fall months. I usually go sweet instead of savory because I have so many favorites like pumpkin chocolate chip bread, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin bundt cake. But I also love using pumpkin in savory dishes. This Pumpkin Pasta recipe is a fall favorite and easy to make. The… 
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Whenever we need an EASY treat, we often make Rice Krispie Treats. They only take 10 minutes to make and are always a crowd pleaser. We love classic Rice Krisipie Treats, peanut butter, Oreo, s’mores, Biscoff, and more! We also LOVE these Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats. They are filled with chocolate flavor thanks to the… 
Monster Cookies are one of my all-time favorite cookies (I also love monster cookie bars and monster cookie energy balls). The classic monster cookies are packed with peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips, and M&M’s. So much goodness in one cookie. Well, I decided to take the classic and add cocoa to the mix to create…