Cupcake loves the Fall and one of the true flavors of Fall is the pumpkin. So to honor that much beloved gourd, Cupcake has settled on PumkinPalooza. This week long celebration seeks to give you lots of recipes to use through the Fall and over the upcoming holidays. As Cupcake has things pretty tightly wrapped up on the cooking end, I’ve tried my hand on the boozing end (I’m sure that shocks you all). What I’ve got here is a Cupcake tested and approved pumpkin cocktail. This little guy packs quite a wallop, so I’ve decided to call it the Smashed Pumpkin. If anyone else has a better name, feel free to let me know and perhaps we will rename it for you.

All measurements in parts (using 2 cls as 1 part in this recipe fills one of our martini glasses):

1.5 pumpkin puree (you know, the stuff you use for pumpkin pie filling)
1.5 soda water
1.0 Domaine de Canton
1.5 Tuaca
1.5 Laird’s applejack
Cinnamon-Sugar for the glass rim

Step 1: Prepare your glassware

On a flat plate, spread out the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Wet the rim of your glass (including the inside). Some people like to run a wet cloth, but I find just using the faucet works best. Once you’ve wet the rim, place it in the cinnamon-sugar to coat the entire rim. NOTE: This step is really important. It really pulls the drink together.

Step 2: Prepare the drink

Put all the ingredients but the soda water in a shaker and shake. This will let you mix in the pumpkin sufficiently without fizzing up the soda too much. Then add the soda water and ice and shake again. Strain into the cinnamon-sugar rimmed glass. NOTE: depending upon personal preference you may want to strain the mixture through a fine strainer before serving to remove some pumpkin “debris.” So far everyone has preferred the pumpkin debris, but people are different.

Step 3: Serve and enjoy!

Hand people their drinks.