Fall is a special time. Summer’s oppressive heat slowly—if sometimes stubbornly—recedes, and an enchanted air of cool-weather festivity begins taking hold. From fall festivals to high school football, Halloween and Thanksgiving, fall brings not only crisper weather, but also the magical anticipation of year’s-end. Winter, Christmas and New Year’s are just around the corner, and a spirit of celebration and camaraderie begins building.
Every year, of course, food and drink are a critical part of fall merriment—nothing enhances good company like good food and drink. With that in mind, we’ve searched the web for fun fall drink recipes that make us think of this colorful season and all the merriment and togetherness that go with it. We found these recipes at various spots around the internet and have made note of their sources. Hopefully, one or more of these tasty, non-alcoholic fun fall drink recipes will help enhance the autumn spirit among your family and friends the next time you spend quality time together.
Apple Cider Slushie
For many people, no list of fun fall drink recipes would be complete without at least a few hot beverages, and we agree. That said, we also think that nothing complements chilly fall weather like a sweet pick-me-up served on ice. As such, our first drink is an icy creation courtesy of acouplecooks.com.
In addition to a blender and ice trays, you’ll also need the following ingredients for this recipe:
- 4 cups apple cider
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- Extra ½ cup apple cider
- Thinly sliced apple wedges (optional).
Pour the 4 cups of apple cider into a pitcher, and mix in the cinnamon and cloves. Next, pour this mixture into ice trays and freeze about 3 to 4 hours or until solid. Place the resulting ice cubes into a blender, along with the extra ½ cup apple cider, and blend. Pour into glasses, and garnish with apple slices if desired. Drink immediately. Makes about 4 servings.
Crock Pot® Caramel Apple Cider
Next up, is the first hot drink on our list of fun fall drink recipes. This is another apple-cider beverage that adds an ingredient that goes with apples and fall as perfectly as peanut butter goes with jelly: caramel.
For this drink, which is courtesy of domesticsuperhero.com, you’ll need a slow cooker and the following ingredients:
- 64 oz apple cider or apple juice
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup caramel sauce or topping
- Whipped cream, caramel sauce and/or apple slices (all optional)
Pour the apple cider into a slow cooker with the ground cinnamon and caramel, and mix well using a whisk. Cover, and cook on low for 3 to 5 hours. Serve in coffee cups, Mason jars or any other cup suitable for a hot drink. If desired, top with whip cream, drizzle with caramel and garnish with slices of apple.
Holiday Punch Iced Tea
This next fruity drink on our list of fun fall drink recipes gets sweetness from fruit and fruit juices. It delivers a slight dose of caffeine, too, for a little extra pep in your autumn festivities. It, too, comes courtesy of acouplecooks.com.
- 8 cups unsweet tea (you can brew yourself or buy prepackaged at a grocery store)
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 2 Tbsp. lime juice
- 1 cup pomegranate juice
- 1/2 orange
- 1 lime
- 2 rosemary branches (optional)
- 1 cup pomegranate seeds (you can purchase these from a grocery store or deseed a pomegranate yourself)
- 1 750 ml bottle sparkling apple cider
- Ice
In a large bowl, mix the unsweet tea with the orange juice, lime juice and pomegranate juice. Next, cut the orange and the lime into thin slices, and place into a pitcher with the rosemary branches and pomegranate seeds. Pour in the tea mixture. Add the sparkling cider just before serving. Pour over ice and serve. You can also chill the tea mixture and apple cider in the fridge before pouring over the other ingredients, but be sure to wait to add the apple cider until just before serving. Makes about 8 servings.
Pumpkin Pie Milkshake
What could be better than fresh-baked pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving? How about those same scrumptious flavors blended into a milkshake? Ok, it might not be quite as good as fresh pumpkin pie (what is?), but this recipe from acozykitchen.com offers a fresh twist on a fall classic that’s likely to have everyone asking for seconds.
- 5-6 scoops vanilla ice cream, slightly softened (if you can find pumpkin or pumpkin pie flavored ice cream, either will work even better)
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/8 to 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/16 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 4-5 pieces of pumpkin pie crust, baked and cooled.
- Whipped cream (optional)
Put all ingredients into a blender, and mix on low or medium 5-20 seconds. Top with whipped cream and/or crumbled pie crust pieces. Pour into glasses and enjoy. Makes 2 servings.
Pumpkin Spice Iced Latte
If the caffeine content of the iced tea punch isn’t quite high enough, allow us to suggest this coffee recipe from addapinch.com.
You will need the following ingredients:
- 1/4 cup cold brew coffee or chilled espresso
- 2-3 Tbsp. half and half heavy cream or milk
- 1 Tbsp. pumpkin puree
- 1/2 tsp. pumpkin spice
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar (optional)
- Ice
- Whipped cream (optional)
- A few extra pinches of pumpkin spice for garnish (optional)
Pour the coffee and half and half/milk into a blender. Add the pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, vanilla exact and sugar, and blend on high until a froth forms. Pour over ice, and top with whipped cream, sprinkling extra pumpkin spice over top as a garnish. Enjoy. Makes 1 serving.
Hot Chocolate
It should come as no surprise that we’re including this one on our list of fun fall drink recipes. We can’t think of a drink that’s cozier or more rooted in fall traditions than hot chocolate. This one’s courtesy of halfbakedharvest.com.
You will need the following ingredients for this recipe:
- 4 1/2 cups whole milk
- 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 6 oz. semi-sweet or dark chocolate chopped
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp. almond extract
- Whipped cream, marshmallows, sugar cookies or coarse sugar (all optional)
In a large pot, mix the milk, sweetened condensed milk, cocoa powder, chocolate, vanilla and almond extract. Place the pot over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until the milk is just about to boil (scalding). Do not allow to boil. Remove from heat, and pour into mugs. If desired, add whipped cream or marshmallows sprinkled with crumbled sugar cookies and/or course sugar. Enjoy. Makes about 4 servings.
Thanksgiving Punch
This quick, easy drink is a great way for giving Thanksgiving guests something to enjoy while waiting for dinner to finish. It comes courtesy of modern-glam.com.
You’ll need the following ingredients for this recipe:
- 3 cups pear nectar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 cups ginger beer (despite the name, ginger “beer” is non-alcoholic)
- Ice
- Rosemary, cranberries, apple or pear slices, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg (all optional)
Mix the pear nectar and lemon juice, then stir in the ginger beer. Add any of the optional ingredients as a garnish. Serve over ice. Makes 6-8 servings.
Pioneer Village’s Wassail
With the end of fall serving as a lead-in to Christmas, we thought it appropriate to include this local favorite on our list of fun fall drink recipes. Wassail may well be the oldest of all traditional holiday drinks. Some stories even claim history’s first “toast” was made over cups of wassail. This recipe was featured in the December 2017 edition of The GVEC Review and is courtesy of Paul and Vicki Frenzel of Gonzales. Cheers!
- 1 gallon apple cider
- 1 64 oz. container cranberry juice cocktail
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 5 sticks cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp. whole cloves
Pour the cider and cranberry juice into a coffee pot. Add the remaining ingredients into the coffee pot basket. Heat until juices percolate. Serve and enjoy.
