Christmas Market Mulled Wine

It's officially the holiday season, and we couldn't be more excited!  One of our favorite parts about the holiday season is Christmas markets. While we've been to a few Christmas markets in the US (See our posts on the Denver Christmas market and Cambria Christmas market), we don't see these as often as we wish. But, in Europe, they are in almost every city. These markets are the best place to "window shop" and buy little trinkets to bring home from your travels. Our favorite market to date is the Edinburgh Christmas Market. It covers the whole East Princes St Garden area, and it is filled with hundreds of stalls that sell traditional Christmas market trinkets, and local artisan items. There is an unbelievable food section with stalls that sell lobster rolls, salmon cooked on an open fire grill, raclette and potatoes, haggis burgers, cheesy spaetzle, and everything in between! Unsurprisingly, our favorite thing to buy is a nice hot mug of mulled wine. These stalls are dotted throughout the market and sell steaming mugs of mulled wine with the option to spike it often with brandy, Grand Marnier, Amaretto, or Whisky. Ivy likes hers straight, while Eve likes to add something to hers if it's especially nippy outside. 

When we aren't wandering Christmas Markets, we often make mulled wine at home. We love how the rich and warming scent fills our house and gets us into a cozy holiday spirit. We want to share our tried and true mulled wine recipe with you all. We hope it warms you up and gets you in the holiday spirit too! Happy holidays!

xxx Ivy and Eve

Makes 4-6 servings depending on serving mug size.

Ingredients:

• 1 bottle of dry red wine - Choose a full-bodied red such as a Merlot, Syrah, or Malbec

• 2 cinnamon sticks

• 2 cardamom pods

• 4 whole star anise

• 6 whole cloves

• 1 lemon 

• 3 mandarin oranges (or tangerines or easy-peel oranges)

• 3+ tbsp brown sugar

• Optional additions: Grand Marnier, brandy, whisky, or Amaretto
  

Directions:

Mulled wine:

1. Slice the peel off of the lemon.

2. Peel 1 orange.

3. Quarter remaining orange.

4. Add wine, 3 tbsp of brown sugar, spices, lemon peel, quartered orange, and 1 orange peel to a large saucepan and heat on low for around 20 minutes, or until "mulled" enough for your taste.

5. Pour into your most festive mugs, adding 1 oz of your liquor to each mug if you'd wish.

6. Garnish with an orange star or two.

7. Enjoy!

Tip: For a lower alcohol version, add 1 1 /2 cups of water (we do this if we know everyone will want several mugs). For an Alcohol-free version, sub cranberry and/or pomegranate juice for the wine. You can also sub apple cider (alcoholic or not) to make mulled cider!

Orange stars:

1. Carefully peel 1 orange, trying to keep most of the peel intact and in large pieces.

2. Use kitchen scissors (or a tiny star cookie cutter like THIS ONE) to cut out star shapes. 

3. Use as a garnish for your mulled wine.

Tip: You can make a bunch of these and air dry them for a few hours/overnight, and keep them in a jar or baggie to use as garnish whenever! They'd be perfect with mimosas, sangria, or even on top of desserts!