Spiced Pear Martini

Do we need a little break from the last few creamy, sweeter drinks I posted?  I do! So for Day 8 of my 12 Days of Christmas Cocktails series I made a Spiced Pear Martini. Pears are plentiful this time of year and what better way to enjoy them than in a martini?  Well, I know there are plenty of delicious ways to use pears, but this is a cocktail series after all.

If you’ve followed along on this blog…in particular all my cocktail posts, you’ll see I have a couple pear martinis.  A caramelized pear martini and a triple pear-tini, just to name a few (right now there’s 4 pear cocktails on here). I LOVE pear martinis!  Which is funny because I would not just pick up a pear and eat it.  I like it in cocktails and I like it in salads and other dishes but by itself…I usually reach for a different fruit first. I’m the same way with bananas. Weird, I know.  I think it might be a bit of a texture thing.

So a while back I decided to make a spiced pear infused vodka.  In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been in a bit of a spiced whatever kick this fall…as in spiced everything! PSL, spiced pomegranate, gingerbread martini,  yada yada yada.  So it only seemed natural that I’d do a spiced infused vodka.  Duh! I wasnt really sure what to put in it but since I’ve been using a lot of ginger, cinnamon and cloves these past few months I thought I’d try that.

But once I made it I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.  I had some cranberry juice in the fridge and tried making up something with that.  Good but not great.  I also had some white cranberry juice from my white cranberry cosmo (if you’re not a big juice drinker, just buy a six-pack of the little bottles and then you have juice when you need it).  I thought that would have a nicer, mellower flavor to let the spiced pear shine.  And, yes, it did.  I liked it better. I first tried using a little St. Germain elderflower liqueur but it was a little too fruity for this drink in my opinion.  So I decided to give it a try with  Domaine St. Canton ginger liqueur to up the ginger ante and it was perfect in it. While I haven’t tried this drink with it, I sure you could muddle some fresh ginger to replace the ginger liqueur if needed.  I didn’t have any fresh ginger leftover so I went with my liqueur.

This turned out to be a really lovely cocktail if I do say so myself.  Just enough spice to be a bit different but not overwhelming. And it’s not too sweet at all…I didn’t even feel the need to add any simple syrup to tame the vodka.

Spiced Pear Martini

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Ingredients

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To make the Spiced Pear Vodka:

• 1 bottle vodka
• 3 pears, sliced
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2” piece of ginger (I sliced it but didn’t bother to peel it)
• 20 whole cloves

To make the Martini:

• 2 shots spiced pear vodka
• 1/2 shot ginger liqueur (I used Canton)
• 1 Shot white cranberry juice
• Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
• Garnish: 1 piece of crystalized ginger (or a slice of fresh pear or lemon)

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Instructions

To make the infused vodka:

1. In large jar, combine vodka, pears and spices. Store in dark cabinet. Shake every day. Let sit about a week.
2. When ready, strain vodka through a fine mesh strainer into a clean container. Discard solids. I like to store my vodka in the freezer.

To make the martini:

1. In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add spiced pear vodka, ginger liqueur and white cranberry juice. Shake well and strain into chilled martini glass.
2. Garnish as desired.