This post is part of a series called ‘Flavors of The Holidays‘.
Its fall and the flavors and aromas of the holidays are upon us. Join me for the next few weeks as I reveal some of my favorite holiday dishes from family, friends and around the world. Check back every Wednesday for a new recipe until Christmas.
On a cold, blustery day, nothing warms you to the core like a hot cup of spiced apple cider and its probably one of the easiest things to make. Just writing out the recipe is enough to make me want to go have a cup! Besides being simple, cheap and tasty, it’ll make your house smell like warm apples and cinnamon all day.
- Ingredients
- 1 Gallon apple juice
- ~10 whole cloves
- 2-3 cinnamon sticks
- 3-4 star anise heads
- Instructions
- Put everything in a large crock pot and heat until steaming
- Enjoy
Spiced Apple Cider
Cook Time: 30 min | Level: Basic | Yield: 16 servings
NOTE: It takes a good while for everything to heat up, so if you’re in a rush you may want to start it on the stove top, but you’ll lose some flavor. If you can’t fit the entire gallon of cider in your pot just set the remaining off to the side and top off the batch as it gets low.
A note on the difference between apple juice and apple cider when your shopping. From what I can tell the difference is that cider is made by pressing the apples which results in the typically refrigerated cloudy stuff found in the produce section and juice is the pasteurized and filtered liquid from a cider. That said, you may notice in the juice aisle of your supermarket there will be both ‘Apple Juice’ and ‘Apple Cider’ (both from concentrate) that look nearly identical, most notably that they are clear. As far as I can tell there isn’t a difference between these two products and either will work for this recipe. The key is to get a 100% juice from concentrate that is clear, as it makes the best presentation.