Mulled Wine

Nothing better than a traditional homemade mulled wine on cozy winter nights.

The answer Mulled Wine!

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 2hrs 15 minutes

SERVINGS: 36 truffles

Ingredients:

• 2 bottles Red Wine
• ½ cup Orange based liqueur
• 2 nos Orange(sweet)
• 1 medium Lemon
• ½ tsp Grated Ginger
• 1-2 nos Star Anise
• 1 whole Cinnamon Stick
• 1 pod Vanilla
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp Caster Sugar
• ½ tsp Nutmeg Powder

Instructions:

1. In a large saucepan, add cinnamon stick, grated ginger, caster sugar and nutmeg powder.
2. Peel large sections of the lemon and the orange rind and add the rinds to the saucepan.
3. Add the juice of one whole orange.
4. Pour the orange liqueur and about a half a cup of red wine. There should be enough liquid to cover all the ingredients. If required, add more orange juice from the second orange.
5. Split the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the vanilla extract (paste) and add to the saucepan. Also just drop the vanilla pod.
6. Turn on the heat and simmer all the ingredients for about 10 minutes while stirring from time to time. You need to keep a watch over this, even though it is slow cooking. This is the base of the mulled wine. It needs to be dark and syrupy. 
7. When the syrup is ready, lower the heat and add the rest of the bottles of wine.
8. Add the star anise at this point. 
9. Gently simmer for 5 minutes and your mulled wine is ready.
10. Serve it warm in sturdy glasses, preferably with handles and garnish with orange wedges.