Made for cold weather, good friends and cosy nights in.
About the cocktail
One of the best things about winter has to be escaping the chill into a warm, cosy bar and being greeted by the gentle waft of spices like cinnamon and clove. And while those smells usually come from a slow cooker loaded with Mulled Wine, we reckon it’s possible to go one better. Welcome to Mulled Cider. In the drinks world, ‘mulling’ just means adding some heat and sweetness to any drink, and cider works beautifully. The classic aromatic spices (here it’s allspice, cloves and cinnamon) go extremely well with cider’s apple flavours, and we’ve added cloudy apple juice to amp up those notes. Calvados, a French apple brandy, adds another bold, warming flavour to the pot, while the rich sweetness of golden syrup and a pinch of salt balance it all out. Served warm, Mulled Cider is obviously a strong candidate for winter get-togethers – especially if it gets properly cold where you live. We can see big steaming batches of this in the centre of the table as everyone thaws out from a day at the footy, or it might be poured from a thermos at a picnic on a cool afternoon or handed out as the drink on arrival at your next winter party.
Ingredients
Peel of 1 lemon ½ cinnamon stick 4 cloves 4 allspice 1 pinch salt 355mL apple cider 100mL cloudy apple juice 30mL golden syrup 100mL Calvados Glass: tea cup or glass mug Garnish: clove-studded apple wheel
Method
Add all ingredients to a saucepan Simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes with the lid on Carefully strain the solids and serve it in your mug or cup Garnish with the clove-studded apple wheel
Dan’s top tips
All the additional flavours and spices in Mulled Cider mean that you don’t need to be too picky with the alcoholic cider you choose for this drink. Just don’t skip on the cloudy apple juice – it really helps take the edge off the warm alcoholic cider with its acid and sweetness. Calvados may seem like a bit of an obscure ingredient, but it’s generally pretty available. If you can’t find any, regular brandy will definitely work, as will Scotch or bourbon. You might like to try a different base each time you make this to see what you like best. As with other warm cocktails, when heating alcohol, be sure to keep the heat low for a gentle simmer; a higher heat or hard boil will make the alcohol evaporate. And finally, this recipe makes four serves but if you’re catering to a large group, it’s easy to scale up. The alcoholic cider is approximately one can or bottle, so just grab a few more and multiply your other ingredients by the same ratio. You might also want to set a slow cooker on its ‘warm’ setting and use it to keep bigger batches at the right temperature for as long as you need.
How do you make Mulled Cider?
Mulled Cider is made by adding your ingredients, including alcoholic cider, to a saucepan and simmering gently until everything is hot and flavoursome.
Can you make a non-alcoholic Mulled Cider?
If you want to make this recipe non-alcoholic, just omit the alcohol and instead add extra cloudy apple juice.
- Which spices are best in a Mulled Cider?
Warm, aromatic baking spices like cinnamon, cloves and allspice are perfect in Mulled Cider, but you could also get creative with spices like cardamom, nutmeg or mace.
