I know what you’re thinking, “Mulled wine after Christmas?” Well, yes because it’s National Mulled Wine Day. It does seem like a holiday drink to me, but maybe it’s time to change my thinking. Spiced or Mulled Wine wine makes my whole house smell so good, and it’s a warm and comforting drink when it’s cold outside. Invite a friend or two over to share and conversate or curl up with a mug, a good book, and a fur baby for a peaceful afternoon.
The spices are nicely balanced with the warmth of the wine and the sweetness of the citrus and honey.
The Ingredients
I had a little shopping to do for this Spiced or Mulled Wine recipe, but not too much. I found the lemon, orange, and red wine at my usual grocery store. It’s optional, but I decided to make a quick stop for a small bottle of cognac to add.
The honey and whole spices were all in my pantry. And yes, they need to be whole spices even though it’s not stated in the recipe (they are shown in the accompanying post, though). Ground/powdered will not work for this recipe.
The Process
This mulled wine recipe was very easy to make, but it does require a kitchen scale to measure the spices. In case you don’t have one, I converted the measurements as best I could:
- 8 grams cinnamon = (2) 2-inch cinnamon sticks
- 1 gram cloves =
- 2 grams nutmeg = about 1/4 of a whole nutmeg
I happened to have a small piece of nutmeg in the bag that weighed 2 grams, so this is just an estimate. If you need to break a whole nutmeg, place it into a ziplock bag and pound it with a meat mallet. Add the pieces to your scale until they reach 2 grams.
My 2.5-quart saucepan was just the right size for this recipe. I placed the cloves and nutmeg into a tea ball and let the larger spices and citrus fruit float loose. The bigger pieces were easy to remove with a slotted spoon, but I didn’t want to have to hunt down the small ones.
It’s not specified, but I covered the pan while it simmered. Although the lid was on, the mulled wine soon filled my kitchen with its wonderfully spicy scent. I planned to simmer it for 30 minutes, but I ended it after 15 so I could try it. That’s how good it smelled!
Here’s how my time was spent on the entire recipe:
- 6 minutes to prep
- 15 minutes to cook
- 21 minutes total
