Pumpkin Cider Float

This recipe is so seasonal, so delish, and such a fun treat. Though intended for the grown ups, we also have an option to make a kid friendly version too!

Let's work through this dessert cocktail backwards, and start with the garnish. We're going to make a super quick maple whipped cream to pipe on top of our floats. It's a simple as whipping some heavy cream and maple syrup together until soft peaks form, adding a little powdered sugar to help stabilize the cream, and continuing to whip the cream until stiff peaks form. That's it! We have a sweet, maplely cream that pairs perfectly without float in just a matter of minutes.

For our float, we need only two ingredients: pumpkin pie ice cream and hard apple cider. Pumpkin ice cream is obviously a seasonal ingredient. I found a version made by a major player in the ice cream game (Turkey Hill), so it should be pretty readily available this time of year. Aldi also makes a pumpkin ice cream, but you know Aldi can be hit or miss. If you can't find pumpkin pie ice cream or you're craving this float when it's not fall time, we have two options. One, you could use some vanilla ice cream that's been sprinkled or mixed with a little pumpkin pie spice. Or two, you could abandon the pumpkin all together and use a peanut butter swirl ice cream. Both options are delish!

We're going to get a couple of scoops of our ice cream right into a tall mug or glass. Then, we pour over a whole bottle of hard apple cider. A few things to note about the cider...1. Use your favorite brand. It's one of the stars of this dessert, so get what you like. There are different flavors and brands of hard cider, so you have lots of options here. 2. Try to pour in the the cider with the glass tilted at an angle. You know how bartenders are always tilting the glass when they're filling a draught beer? Well, that's to help keep the head (the foamy part that forms at the top) from getting out of control. So, try to use the same concept here when you're pouring your cider. Pour slowly and at angle so you can get as much cider in that mug without all the extra foam as you can. It's going to be there regardless, but we might as well minimize it if we can.

Now, if you want to make a version of this for the kiddos, you can use sparking apple cider. We want the carbonation and bubbles in our float, so regular apple cider is not the first choice. Definitely go for the sparking.

Once the cider is in the glass, all we need to do is top the float with some of our maple whipped cream. Use as much or as little as you like! We'll have plenty of whipped cream left over, so you can either make more floats (recommended!) or use the leftover whipped cream for things like pancakes, brownies, or ice cream (also recommended!).

Once everything is assembled, we have a sweet, creamy, warmly spiced dessert/cocktail hybrid. You can slurp it with a straw. You can scoop it with a spoon. You have options! Once the ice cream starts to melt a little bit, stir it all together and we almost have a milkshake like situation. There are different stages to this dessert, and I am so here for it!

You know the drill...please drink responsibly. Enjoy, and let's eat!