With the big day literally around the corner, we’re already thinking about all the festive flavours that Christmas will be bringing us. From mince pies, to pigs in blankets, there really is something about those warming ingredients during winter time that makes us all feel a little bit fuzzy – right?

Mulled wine, or – Christmas in a glass – as we like to call it, can be a bit of a marmite situation. Some people love the winter spice overload, and others – not so keen. However, below we’ve sourced a recipe that even the biggest of scrooge’s will love this winter.

 

Ingredients;

  • 2 clementines
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 lime
  • 200 g caster sugar
  • 6 whole cloves
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 3 fresh bay leaves
  • 1 whole nutmeg , for grating
  • 1 vanilla pod
  • 2 bottles Chianti or other Italian red wine
  • 2 star anise

 

Method;

  1. Peel large sections of peel from the clementines, lemon and lime.
  2. Put the sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the pieces of peel and squeeze in the clementine juice.
  3. Add the cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and about 10 to 12 gratings of nutmeg. Halve the vanilla pod lengthways and add to the pan, then stir in just enough red wine to cover the sugar.
  4. Let this simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved into the red wine, then bring to the boil. Keep on a rolling boil for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until you’ve got a beautiful thick syrup. The reason I’m doing this first is to create a wonderful flavour base by really getting the sugar and spices to infuse and blend well with the wine. It’s important to make a syrup base first because it needs to be quite hot, and if you do this with both bottles of wine in there you’ll burn off the alcohol.
  5. When your syrup is ready, turn the heat down to low and add your star anise and the rest of the wine. Gently heat the wine and after around 5 minutes, when it’s warm and delicious, ladle it into heatproof glasses and serve.

So there we have it; Christmas in a glass, and one of the ultimate ways to stay cosy this winter – enjoy!

 

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