I’d like to share with you the basic recipe for mulled wine that I used when I was a poor graduate student; you can take the cheapest bottle of wine and transform it with a little heat and a few ingredients into a Dickensian Christmas fantasy.
The hilarity comes with the warmth because I think the wine gets stronger. So enjoy with some cheese or charcuterie with crackers or mini quiches. Butternut squash is my favorite.
But after doing a little research, I’d also like to share some of the variations you can add to the basic recipe. I’m going to experiment this year, and I’ll let you know what I think because I’m intrigued by the addition of whole peppercorns (about 3) and cracked cardamom pods (2-5) because I’m thinking these will add a spiced chai effect, especially if you added a quart or two of black tea. The recipes I’ve found just add one of those three ingredients not all three but what the heck?
Other recipes include brandy or rum. If you have apple cider on hand, use that if you’d rather skip the spirits or use herbal or spiced orange teas to soften the mulled wine.
As for the fruit, you can use a whole orange and stick the whole cloves in for a festive presentation or you can simply slice the oranges which looks pretty to and just put the whole cloves straight in or in a tea ball.
So here is the basic recipe, and just combine it all in a crock pot on low heat for an hour or two before serving:
1 pint cranberry juice
1 cup water
¾ cup sugar
2-4 cinnamon sticks
6 whole cloves
1 bottle Burgundy
1 lemon thinly sliced
1 orange thinly sliced
