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Kicking off a month of “spooky” cocktails with this Poison Apple Martini. Apple cider, vodka, and a little dry ice, all combined together to make the perfect easy martini for this year’s Halloween party. Bonus? There’s no weird food dyes or extra ingredients needed for this Halloween cocktail. It’s fun, spooky, and completely delicious!
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Hey, hi and welcome to the first “spooky” cocktail Saturday of the Halloween season! I know that it’s not quite October yet, but I couldn’t contain my excitement. I’m so ready to start talking all things Halloween, all things spooky, and all things pumpkin.
It’s funny, some years I’m more into Halloween than others. This year I am all in! My only problem, I wish I had more time to create fun content for you guys! It’s killing me that I can’t spend my day setting up more recipes like this fun poison apple cocktail, but I’m trying my best to do as much as possible.
Today’s poison apple martini marks the start of all the holiday cocktails to come. Every Saturday from now through Christmas I’ll be sharing a new drink recipe with you guys. October is focused on Halloween drinks, November is all about Thanksgiving, and December…yep, all things Christmas (my favorite!). So many good sips to come, and it all starts with my first martini recipe here on HBH.
The spooky details.
This martini recipe is super easy, but it’s not really like any other apple martini. It’s different, and in my opinion, better.
The base of the recipe is made up of four ingredients, apple cider, pomegranate juice, lemon juice, and vodka. The drink itself is a blood-red color, but I turned half of my cocktail black by using activated charcoal. I first used activated charcoal last year for my Death Eater Negroni and have loved using it to dye food ever since.
If you don’t know what activated charcoal is, it’s a supplement in powder form, that can be used to rid the body of toxins and dangerous chemicals. People will often add it to their water and smoothies. Activated charcoal can also be used to make homemade shampoos, tooth paste (it actually helps to whiten teeth), and other household items. It’s kind of an odd, somewhat controversial (about its actual benefits), ingredient. But a healthier alternative to using black food dye. And you don’t taste it at all. All that said, you can use the activated charcoal or simply leave your drink the blood-red color it is. Either way it’s going to be great.
I used black lava salt to rim my martini glass. And to add a final touch of eeriness…I used dry ice, which you all know is my favorite prop this time of year.
Fun right? Promise you guys will love this martini. It’s all things Halloween and I could not love it more. Enjoy, and see you tomorrow for another Favorites post!
If you make this poison apple martini, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Poison Apple Martini
Ingredients
- Black lava salt, or coarse black sugar, for rim , (optional)
- 1/2 cup apple cider
- 2 tablespoons pomegranate juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 ounces vodka or apple vodka
- 1/8 teaspoon activated charcoal for coloring (could also use black food dye), (optional)
- Dry ice, (optional)
Instructions
- 1. If desired, rim your martini glass with black lava salt or coarse black sugar.2. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the cider, pomegranate juice, lemon, vodka, and activated charcoal, if using. Shake to combine.3. Strain into prepared martini glass. Add a very, very small amount of dry ice, if desired and be sure to wait until the ice fully dissolves to drink or serve as dry ice can be dangerous if it has yet to melt.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
Hi where do you get the dry ice from ?
Science educator here… dry ice actually sublimates, or turns directly from solid to gas without a liquid phase in between. And, you definitely want to wait for it to all sublimate before drinking the martini! Frostbite or burns occur if dry ice touches bare skin. https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/frozen-carbon-dioxide-dry-ice-sublimates-directly-a-vapor
Thanks so much for sharing Marisa!!
Hi, where do you buy activated charcoal?
Hi Cathy,
Here are some links for the charcoal:
https://rstyle.me/n/c9mgn2b9wzf
https://rstyle.me/n/c9mgn2b9wzf
Please let me know if you have any other questions! Cheers!
You can actually buy black vodka this time of year. Skip a step and use in other Halloween creations 🙂
Thanks for the tip Kristin!! xTieghan
Hi! Looks great! For the apple cider, did you use hard sparkling cider or spiced apple juice?
Hey Kelsey,
I use spiced apple cider. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
She’s amazing
Thank you Toni! xTieghan
Hi! Is it possible to create this in a large batch ahead of time? Will the activated charcoal get weird mixed hours before?
Hey Lauren,
I would go ahead and make the batch and then just add the charcoal when you are ready to serve or just use the black food coloring, you shouldn’t have any issues with that! xx