I love creating recipes, restaurant reviews and travel guides, but to keep this site going I sometimes feature sponsored posts (which are all clearly marked) and I also use cookies and affiliate links (so if I link to a product I love, and you click my link and buy it, I make a bit of money!) In recent posts these are all clearly marked with *. Please note archive posts are still being updated. Additionally, I use Google Analytics to collect some (anonymised!) data about your visit. You can find out more by reading my Privacy Policy.
By hitting okay and proceeding to my site, you are agreeing to your data being used in this way.
Mulled Wine is all very well if you’re catering for a crowd, but this Christmas I’ve added a brand new festive warmer to our family repertoire for the chilly afternoons and evenings when there is just one or more of you: my mulled apple juice, cognac (or brandy, whichever you’ve got really) and cinnamon vodka laced hot toddy. Curl up with a good book in front of the fire, mug in hand, or knock together a plate of festive nibbles (hello our family Classic Cheese Straws recipe) and get set in to a good present wrapping session.
Use the same glassware (I use my JING tea infusor mug) you usually select to serve up a good steaming cup full of muller wine, and serve with a cinnamon stick in each glass. I’ve also found here that the better base ingredients you use the better the taste; I like fresh Innocent apple juice and Fentimans ginger beer for that extra kick in mine. These actually also taste great mixed together 50/50 as an impromptu drink for guests who happen to be driving, so be sure to keep the fridge well stocked over the next fortnight!
These proportions serve one person, but I’ve easily sized it up to serve whoever wants one; remember to up the spices for mulling stage, and the pour from the pan through a sieve to catch the cloves and cinnamon pieces so that they don’t end up in everyones glasses.
Hot Toddy’s are really personal, and I like mine made with warm apple juice, ginger beer, cinnamon vodka and cognac.
Ingredients
Scale
75ml Apple Juice
75ml Ginger Beer
50ml Boiling Water
2 Cloves
Broken End (about 1/4) Crushed Cinnamon Stick
30ml Cognac or Brandy
20ml Cinnamon Vodka or Liquor (I use Smirnoff Gold)
Instructions
Combine the apple juice, ginger beer and boiling water in a small lidded saucepan. Add the cloves and the crushed cinnamon, and bring to the boil over a medium to high heat.
Put on the lid, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the cognac and the cinnamon vodka, and heat gently until heated through, taking care not to let it boil as it will boil off the alcohol.
I'm a food writer, professional recipe developer and cookbook author living in the English Countryside. I love creating easy, accessable recipes filled with vibrant world flavours that are manageable on busy weeknights. Simple and delicious dinners, from my kitchen to yours!
My newsletter, ingredient, takes a deep dive into a different ingredient - unusual, basic or seasonal - every month delivering stories, histories and most importantly recipes right into your inbox. It's your new favourite food magazine column, but in email form!
My Book
One Pan Pescatarian: 100 Delicious Dinners – Veggie, Vegan, Fish
My second cookbook contains 100 delicious dinner recipes, all of which are either vegetarian, vegan or which celebrate fish and seafood - all cooked in either one pot or one pan.*
Discussion