It Only Takes 4 Ingredients To Make Festive Apple Pie Shots

Nothing tastes like fall quite like an apple pie. Tucking jammy and tender apples speckled with autumnal spices beneath a hearty crust, apple pie brings the best out of the harvest season. But if you're tired of tradition and are looking for a way to harken back to fall comfort with an alcoholic kick, make a batch of these not-your-grandma's apple pie shots.

To begin, pour 1 ounce of vodka into a shot glass. Then, add one ounce of apple cider. Spray a helping of whipped cream atop the liquid, and sprinkle the shot with a pinch of ground cinnamon. Take the entire shot, and before swallowing, mix it in your mouth a few times to combine the flavors. The apple cider and cinnamon pull flavors from a traditional apple pie, the whipped cream creates an à la mode element, and the vodka introduces a boozy dimension.

If you're looking for more flavors in these shots, consider trying out different flavors of vodka. Vanilla vodka will make the shot taste sweeter. For a spicier shot, Fireball will amplify the cinnamon flavor.

Preparing festive drinks is a perfect way to ring in the seasonal spirit ... with spirits. Just like you can add vanilla vodka to apple pie shots, consider adding it to pumpkin beer to mellow out the beer's bitterness and introduce a sweeter taste.

Serve your apple pie shots alongside these mini beer shots, which don't have any beer in them. These shots, which layer Licor 43 beneath heavy cream, resemble a foamy pale ale, except with vanilla and botanical-forward flavor profiles. Similar to the apple pie shot, they can also be made with the baby Guinness shot — a St. Patrick's Day favorite — which is another version of a miniature beer shot. This tiny version of the Irish beer is composed of coffee liqueur and Baileys Irish Cream, looking like the iconic pint of Guinness, but with sweeter notes.

Using season-inspired flavors and colors, there are a bunch of Jell-O shot recipes that are perfect for holiday parties too.