Most apple butter margaritas I found end up tasting like apple pie in a glass. Cinnamon sugar on the rim, sweet apple butter in the shaker, sometimes more cider on top. Pleasant. Also a dessert.
A margarita is supposed to be salty and sour. So this one keeps the apple butter for body and warmth, then adds a little boiled cider for real, tart apple flavor. The rim is salt and cracked black pepper, with just enough brown sugar to round it off.
Boiled cider is an old New England farm ingredient. It's nothing but fresh cider simmered down to a thick syrup, and people once called it apple molasses because they used it the same way. It mostly disappeared by the middle of the last century. It turns out to be very good with tequila.
What you need
For the boiled cider
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2 cups fresh apple cider, unfiltered if you can find it
For the rim
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1 tablespoon flaky or coarse salt
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1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
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1/2 teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper
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Finely grated zest of 1/2 lime
For one cocktail
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2 ounces reposado tequila
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3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
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1/2 ounce orange liqueur, such as Cointreau
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2 teaspoons apple butter
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1 1/2 teaspoons boiled cider
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Ice
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Thin apple slice, for garnish
Directions
Make the boiled cider
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Pour the cider into a wide saucepan and bring it to a gentle simmer over low heat.
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Let it simmer, uncovered, until it's down to about 1/4 cup. Plan on 45 minutes to an hour, and go by the amount in the pan, not the clock.
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It's ready when it looks like warm, runny honey. It thickens as it cools, so don't take it further.
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Pour it into a small jar, let it cool, and keep it in the refrigerator.
You can also buy boiled cider. A few Vermont producers still make it.
Make the drink
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Mix the salt, brown sugar, pepper, and lime zest on a small plate.
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Run a lime wedge around half the rim of a rocks glass and dip that side.
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Add the tequila, lime juice, orange liqueur, apple butter, and boiled cider to a shaker. Give it a quick stir first so the apple butter loosens up.
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Fill with ice and shake hard for about 15 seconds.
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Pour through a fine mesh strainer into the glass over fresh ice.
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Add a thin apple slice.
A few things worth knowing
Taste your apple butter first. Store-bought ones range from barely sweet to basically jam. If yours is on the sweet end, cut the orange liqueur to 1/4 ounce before you touch the apple butter.
Strain it twice. Apple butter leaves grit behind. The fine mesh strainer catches it. Skip it and the last sip is sludge.
Pepper on half the rim only. It should show up at the end of a sip, not greet you. Half a rim lets you choose.
Reposado, not blanco. The little bit of oak in a reposado sits well with the apple. Blanco works. It's just brighter and a little thinner.
Make extra boiled cider. It's the slowest part of this recipe, and it keeps being useful. Drizzle it on pancakes, stir it into a vinaigrette, or brush it on a pork roast.
Make it for a crowd
For eight drinks, stir 16 ounces reposado tequila, 6 ounces lime juice, 4 ounces orange liqueur, 1/3 cup apple butter, and 1/4 cup boiled cider in a pitcher until smooth. Keep it cold. Shake each drink to order with ice, or shake two at a time, and strain into rimmed glasses over fresh ice. Don't batch it with ice in the pitcher, or it goes watery.
Good with
Something salty. Tortilla chips with a sharp white cheddar queso, spiced pepitas, or pork carnitas.