Okay okay, we know, we are super early with this one and we really aren’t trying to send you into a frenzy by talking about Christmas before the end of September but this is a recipe we felt was too good not to tell you about.
Contrary to our usual practise, we are trying to get ourselves fully prepared for the Christmas season this year, which means although we do have Autumn and Halloween still to come first, we do have to start thinking about Christmas around about now. My new in house baker/product tester/cake eater/wine taster (as of yesterday), Kate Moss, and I have decided we wanted to come up with some original Christmas recipes to share with our followers and customers this festive season. This mulled wine recipe was our first project, which we intended to keep under wraps until at least November. However, we decided to treat you with this ginger spiced mulled wine because it is getting colder at night now, and who could really object to their house smelling like Christmas? And, well…..wine is good (in moderation folks, we aren’t promoting binge drinking here!)
This recipe is really easy to make, and I’m afraid even easier to drink. It’s great to have bubbling away when friends and family call round, even if for the lovely aroma alone, and it could very easily double up as a nice Halloween drink if you need an excuse to start making it now (I.e make a giant vat of it and label it a cauldron as it bubbles away). You don’t need to spend a bomb on the red wine either. We used a boxed Shiraz which was cheaper than buying by the bottle, if you’re going to be making a few batches over the winter.
The honey in the recipe is a replacement for the usual added sugar. Not only does this make it a healthier option, but it also has a richer flavour which you can just taste a hint of through the wine. The ginger flavour is just the perfect Christmassy finishing touch, and what we believe to be he key ingredient to really make your mulled wine stand out from the crowd!
So here you go: Kate and Becky’s Ginger Spiced Mulled Wine.
Ingredients:
750ml red wine of your choice
500ml cloudy apple juice
3 tbsp clear honey
Zest and juice of one lemon
Zest and juice of one orange
Handful of cloves
One whole orange (to stick the cloves in)
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1 tsp ground ginger
Pinch All Spice
Method
Take the whole orange and randomly insert the cloves into the skin, then place the whole orange and cloves into a large saucepan or stock pot.
Combine the red wine, cloudy apple and honey and pour in with the orange and heat on the hob over a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile zest the lemon and orange and add zest to your mix. Halve the fruits and squeeze the juice into the mixture as well.
Add all the spices, leaving the cinnamon stick and star anise whole.
Bring the pan to simmer and simmer over a low heat for five minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
Remove pan from the heat, take out the orange and sift mixture through a muslin cloth or fine sieve to extract the zesty bits, star anise and cinnamon. Serve in a mug or handled glass whilst hot. Delicious!!
