How embarassing… I’ve not written a post for ages and ages! More embarassingly, I’ve promised you all some recipes and then failed to deliver for which I am rather ashamed. So, I’m going to hit you with two recipes in quick succession now to make up for it. If I start with the mulled wine, you can make that, and then sip it whilst making the baked apples so that you really feel festive! Mulled wine for me isn’t just festive, its what I start making as soon as the nights draw in. An evening with some friends, a bottle or 3 of mulled wine and some cake is so lovely and cosy, and so at any given opportunity I’ll get out the spices, the thermos flask and the saucepan and mull my little socks off.
Mulled wine is very very basic the main point to remember really, is that if alcohol boils, you’ll be boiling off the percentages as you go, so you want to heat your wine rather than boil it, to retain the alcohol.
You will need -
700ml of red wine
55 grams (2oz) of granulated sugar
140 mil (1/4 pint) of water
half a lemon
about 10 cloves
a cinnamon stick
- If you have a vacuum flask that will hold 700 ml then all the better, although it is not necessary.
Take your half-a-lemon and poke small holes in the peel, then stick the cloves into the holes, then get your sugar and water and in a saucepan heat them gently to dissolve the sugar, stir gently so it doesn’t burn or stick. If you have a vacuum flask, gently slide your clove-studded lemon and your cinnamon stick into the flask and heat your wine up to just below boiling point, then pour your hot wine into the flask, pop the lid on, leave for ten minutes to infuse and then drink drink drink!
If you do not have a vacuum flask, put your wine AND lemon and cinnamon into the saucepan with the melted sugar and the water, warm them through and then turn the heat off - leaving them for ten minutes to infuse. Then remove the lemon and cinnamon and bring your wine up to just below boiling point, before pouring into a heated jug to serve. You can heat the wine up again if it starts to cool, and you can serve it with dinner, with some pre dinner snacks, with some mince pies… I’d happily drink it on its own!
Whilst supping your spicy festive wine, you can turn your attention to some baked apples. These are really scrummy after dinner with a bit of custard and at this time of year they can offer a nice break from all the fat and pastry that we end up eating. I used Norfolk Beefings, or as we pronounce them in Norfolk, ”Biffins”, which are really delicious. However, you can really use any nice sized cooking apple and get a good result. Simply take the apple, wash it and then remove the core, keep the rest of the apple in one piece though..! Using a sharp little knife, score a line round the middle of the apple, where the waistband would be, this is so that the apple can expand during cooking without exploding, splitting or just generally making a mess. Put the apple/apples in an oven-proof dish and stuff the hole in the middle with some mincemeat and honey, or some raisins sultanas, brown sugar, butter and golden syrup. You can pop in some almonds, walnuts, a dollop of jam… Mine had mincemeat and a dollop of crabapple jelly on top.
Bake in a low-ish oven, say 180, for around 45 minutes. The size of the apple is really the deciding factor in how long it will take to cook, so if you’re in a hurry avoid baking a huge apple as you’ll be waiting a long time. You will be able to tell when the apple is done as the skin will have wrinkled and darkened, the insides will be poking out if the line that you scored around the middle, and a fork gently prodded in the slit will meet next to no resistence.
Just be careful when you eat them as they hold their heat well and you can suddenly come across a scorching hot bit when you least expect it!
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