APPLE CIDER PUNCH & MULLED APPLE CIDER!!

APPLE CIDER PUNCH

My granddaughter served this at her son’s baptismal party…It is so good and thought you might want to try it for the holidays!

INGREDIENTS:
1 gallon apple cider
1 12 oz can frozen cranberry-raspberry juice (Welch)
3-5 cinnamon sticks
12-15 whole cloves
1 teaspoon lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:
Tie up cinnamon sticks and whole cloves in cheesecloth & remove when done
Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer 20 minutes.
Serve hot or cold.

MULLED APPLE CIDER

Have you ever been enticed at a party by a wonderfully smelling mulled cider that tasted delicious. Well now using this recipe you can make your own Mulled Apple Cider!

To spice up one quart of apple cider, use one stick of cinnamon, about twenty whole black peppercorns, 3 whole cloves, and 2 tablespoons brown sugar. In addition to these four ingredients, prepare some zest from a citrus fruit. Use the zest from half a lemon, lime, or lemon-sized orange for each quart of apple cider. If you're using medium lemons, use about a third of the zest. Large oranges - use a quarter of the zest per quart of juice.

Select a pot or pan large enough to hold all the apple cider. Toast the cinnamon, cloves, and peppercorns to bring out their distinct flavors and aromas. Do this by simply heating your pan over medium heat with the spices in the pan. Toss the spices in the pan occasionally to prevent burning. The spices should become very fragrant within a minute or two.

Pour the apple cider into the pan and bring to a boil over high heat. When the apple cider gets warm, stir in the brown sugar so it fully dissolves.

Once the apple cider is boiling, reduce the heat so it just simmers (small bubbles form and rise to the top in a steady rhythm, but not at a furious rate). Add the citrus zest at this time. Don't add the zest earlier because you don't want the brief hard boil to break up the zest to the point where you will have difficulty straining it.

Maintain the simmer for thirty minutes. Do this with the lid off because it's easier for me to keep it at a constant simmer this way.

Pour the mulled juice/cider through a fine mesh strainer and into the container of your choice. If your cider has a great deal of particulate matter, you may want to place a cheesecloth or coffee filter in your strainer to filter out the fine particles. Serve hot.

You can let the cider cool and then refrigerate for up to a week. Bring it back up to a simmer before serving.
Recipe from Cooking For Engineers