The morning of Thanksgiving, I was in the liquor store searching for brandy to make some brandy sweet potatoes when I spotted a small bottle of Smirnoff Vanilla. Inspired by a drink I had at Parasol Down, a bar at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, I made an impulse buy and started concocting as my sweet potatoes went into the oven. The idea? Pumpkin spice martini.

I started with a basic simple syrup: I mixed 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a pan with a little bit of vanilla, stirring until it dissolved. From there, I added a cup of pumpkin (from a can), and a little bit of sumpkin pie spice. When everything had melted into a nice syrup, I let the mixture cool and put it in a plastic container conducive to pouring. From there, it is just a few tips of vodka and half and half, plus a few shakes with ice, to liquid pumpkin pie and a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

Pumpkin syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin
Pumpkin pie spice, to taste

Put sugar and water in a pan over medium heat. Stir constantly until sugar is dissolved completely. Add pumpkin and spices, stir until completely dissolved.

Pumpkin Martini:
1 part pumpkin syrup
1 part vanilla-infused vodka
1 part half and half

Put all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass.