These were a huge hit at Thanksgiving! I found a recipe online that called for pumpkin liqueur or pumpkin spice syrup. I looked around for either one to no avail. What’s a Bargain-ista to do? DIY! I found a recipe for pumpkin spice syrup online but it had a lot of sugar! We have two camps in my family, a sugar-free camp and a bring-on-the-sugar camp, so I decided to make the pumpkin spice mixture without any sugar and tailor make the drinks to accomodate the sugar lovers and the sugar-free folks. The result? Peace in both camps! Victory!!!

Recipe for Pumpkin Spice Mixture
1 ½ C. water
1 T. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
3 T. pumpkin puree

Combine all ingredients in a medium sized pot. Cook over medium heat for 7 minutes, stirring frequently, but do not allow the mixture to come to a boil. Let it cool, and transfer it to a bottle or jar. You can subsititue cinnamon sticks for the ground cinnamon and strain it through a cheesecloth if you want (I didn’t). If you are a sugar-lover you can add 1 ½ C. sugar to the water and let it dissolve before adding the other ingredients, then you won’t have to add the sugar to the drinks later. This mixture is great in coffee as well!

Recipe for Pumpkin Spice Martinis
4 oz. Pinnacle Whipped vodka
4 oz. Smirnoff (or other) vanilla vodka
4 oz. club soda
2 T. sugar or 1 packet of Truvia
2 oz. Toriani vanilla syrup (either regular or sugar free)
2 T. Pumpkin Spice mixture

Makes 2 martinis. Yum! Enjoy!