Mulled Wine

Nothing is better during those cold winter months than a sharing a pot of mulled wine with your friends and family. It’s warm, full of baking spices, and just makes you want to curl up on the couch and watch your favorite holiday movie (Die Hard of course).

Ingredients

1. Mace: This can be a difficult spice to find in stores so I’d recommend picking some up online. It’s good value, just make sure to order in advance of making your mulled wine.
2. Cardamom: You can use either black or green cardamom pods here. The black is a bit smokier but works just as well. Cracking the pod open with the side of a knife blade can be tricky, and can scatter the seeds, so do it gently and just enough that the pod gets opened, then throw it in your spice pouch.
3. Star anise: This spice is delicious and beautiful! I like to pick out the smallest and prettiest pods to use for garnish and throw the broken ones inside my seed pouch to infuse my mulled wine with it’s herbaceous flavor.
4. Nutmeg: Pre-grated nutmeg is perfectly good, but freshly grated nutmeg has a spiciness that definitely carries through to the final product so use it if you can.
5. Apple or Pear: Just pick one of these fruits because two of them can turn your mulled wine too juicy. I love using a ripe pear because it’s woodsy quality comes through in the finished wine, but apples work too. Just make sure to cut the fruit into small enough pieces that they’ll finish steeping in the 25 minute cook time.
6. Wine: Mulled wine is great because you don’t need an expensive wine to make a great cocktail. Just pick a red wine that’s in your budget that’s full-bodied like a merlot or cabernet sauvignon. You’ll need two 750 mL bottles (or one big 1.5 L bottle) to make a full batch that’s worth all of the potent spices we’re putting in.
7. Brandy: If you want to give your mulled wine a bit of extra kick just add 4 oz of brandy or cognac (they’re the same thing). The price doesn’t matter here, but try get a brandy with strong vanilla notes like E&J VSOP.