Pecan Pie Martini

I’m participating this year in a Holiday Cocktail Party Blog Hop with over 40 wonderful bloggers. We’re posting all sorts of holiday appetizers, cocktails (and mocktails) and desserts. Be sure to check them out at the bottom of this post. And stay tuned, later this month I’ll have a round up with all the links for the recipes from this online party.

For my contribution I created this Pecan Pie Martini. If you’re looking for a festive signature cocktail to serve up this holiday season you might just enjoy this one! It even has a delicious chocolate pecan rim that’s sure to please!

One of my favorite Thanksgiving pies is a pecan pie. Double points if it’s chocolate pecan pie. Last year I made some really good Pecan Bars with Chocolate & Bourbon that were so good so I thought it would be fun to try to reproduce that flavor in a cocktail for the holidays. I knew there’s hazelnut liqueur and almond liqueur, certainly there must be pecan liqueur, right? Mix a little vodka (or perhaps bourbon) with some pecan liqueur and whatever else I come up with, it had to be good. Unfortunately, both liquor stores I went to did not have any pecan liqueur in stock. Bummer.

However, I did find some pecan pie flavored vodka from Pinnacle so I went with that. To my surprise it was actually quite good and certainly solved my problem of not having any pecan liqueur. I prefer a little simple syrup in my flavored martinis to take the edge off the bite of the alcohol so I made a pecan simple syrup to bump up the pecan goodness. To smooth it out and give this martini some creaminess I added almond milk (adds a bit more nuttiness). You could certainly add a little cream or half & half instead if you want. And for good measure I added a pinch of cinnamon. I know that’s not really in pecan pie but I thought I’d try it and I liked it. For the chocolate, I first tried a bit of cream de cacao, which was really good but seemed to overwhelm the pecan flavor a bit too much. Instead, I settled on rimming the glass with chocolate syrup and crushed pecans and that was perfect!

So, does this Pecan Pie Martini taste exactly like a pecan pie? Well, no, not exactly to be perfectly honest. But it is REALLY tasty and provides a hint of pecan and chocolate so it’s a winner in my book and worthy of sharing with you! Looking for some other martinis to try this Fall or serve for the holidays? Be sure to check out these 5 Fall Favorite Martinis – I’m sure you’ll find one or two (or more!) that you’ll love. And be sure to check out the awesome bloggers participating in this Holiday Cocktail Party Blog Hop. Lot’s of yummy recipes!!!

Pecan Pie Martini

A cocktail inspired by chocolate pecan pie. Perfect for the holiday season!

Ingredients

For the Martini:

2 shots pecan pie flavored vodka (I used Pinnacle)
½ shot pecan simple syrup
1 shot unsweetened almond milk
pinch of cinnamon

For the Pecan Simple Syrup:

2 C. water
1 C. brown sugar
1 C. white sugar
2 C. chopped pecans

For the rim:

Chocolate syrup
crushed pecans

Instructions

Pecan Simple Syrup:

Combine water, sugars and pecans in saucepan. Bring to boil, stir to combine and melt sugar. Simmer 10 minutes. Set aside to cool. Once cool, strain mixture and toss out the solids. Save syrup in refrigerator.

To make a martini:

Put some chocolate syrup on plate. On a separate place put some crushed pecans. Dip martini glass in chocolate, then pecans. Set aside.
Combine vodka, simple syrup, almond milk and cinnamon in cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into chocolate/pecan rimmed martini glass.