Jalapeno Hot Toddy

This one will require you to have specific, maybe a little hard to find, ingredients. This one was inspired by a trip to a candy store in North Carolina when we were visiting my husband's family. The candy store had honey sticks with all kinds of interesting flavors.  The one that caught my eye the most was jalapeno honey. Instantly images of spicy hot toddies danced in my mind.  I bought two, and then obsessed about how to get them home without them breaking in my luggage. They survived, and here we are with a wonderfully spicy sweet hot toddy that will warm your winter woes. 

A quick google search reveals a variety of options for jalapeno honey, both in sticks and jars.  Sometimes specifically jalapeno, sometimes habanero or just 'hot chili'.  

Makes 1 cocktail

 Ingredients:

• 1 cup hot water
• 3 ounces spiced rum (or whiskey or bourbon)
• 1 TBSP plus 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 1 jalapeno honey stick (which is about 1 tsp of honey, original recipe suggests 1 TBSP honey)
• 1-2 jalapeno slices 

Instructions:

1. Combine hot water, spiced rum, lemon juice, and jalapenos in coffee mug. 
2. Stir with honey stick and squeeze out honey

*Note: I was not sure there would be enough jalapeno flavor with just the honey stick so I added the jalapeno slices.  Not sure how much flavor came from them, but the idea was that they were not just a garnish.