Pumpkincello!

Get started now on the the world's most versatile Thanksgiving pumpkin cocktail. 

Skins of the Flesh: Roasted and raw pumpkin skin, vodka and seasonal spices make pumpkincello, a holiday drink with a variety of uses.

Pumpkincello

Skins of the Flesh: Roasted and raw pumpkin skin, vodka and seasonal spices make pumpkincello, a holiday drink with a variety of uses.

Photo by: Photo courtesy of ONE. Midtown Kitchen

Photo courtesy of ONE. Midtown Kitchen

Skins of the Flesh: Roasted and raw pumpkin skin, vodka and seasonal spices make pumpkincello, a holiday drink with a variety of uses.

It’s perfectly acceptable to start planning your Thanksgiving menu after the Halloween decorations come down. But at ONE. Midtown Kitchen in Atlanta, Georgia, bar manager Dawn Jones has created a recipe that’ll inspire you to start cooking weeks in advance as well.

As a seasonal spin on limoncello, Jones is making pumpkincello, a recipe that requires three weeks for vodka to be infused with raw and roasted pumpkin skin. And it’s worth the wait: You can top it with Champagne; pour it over cheesecake; spike coffee with it or add it to half and half and sip it from a martini glass with a crushed graham cracker rim. Gravy’s not even that talented!

Pumpkincello

  • 2 baking size pumpkins
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 cups water
  • 2 sticks cinnamon
  • 24 allspice berries, whole
  • 2 green cardamom
  • 1 nutmeg clove, crushed

Preheat oven to 350. Cut pumpkins in half. Remove seeds and strings. Place one pumpkin on a baking sheet. Bake for about 40 minutes or until soft. Remove and let cool.

Remove the outer skin from the other pumpkin and chop into medium-sized pieces. Place the raw pumpkin in a glass jar. Cover with 1 liter of vodka. 

When roasted pumpkin has cooled, the skin should peel off easily. Chop and cover with 1 liter of vodka.

Store raw and roasted versions in separate containers in a cool dark place for 3 weeks.

Toast cinnamon sticks, allspice berries, green cardamom and nutmeg in a pan until fragrant. Combine sugar, water and spices in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir until sugar dissolves.  Reduce heat and let simmer until reduced by half. Strain.

Combine roasted and raw pumpkin vodka mixtures. Add spiced simple syrup. Chill and serve.

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