Last Friday marked the day Hubby and I started our big adventure together, eleven years ago. Hubby had bought steak and he came home with a bottle of red wine. We normally go for Châteauneuf-du-Pape with red meat, but the bottle of red wine Hubby had chosen was great to accompany our beef with Dijon mustard and steamed vegetables. It would definitely complement my rougail saucisse and chorizo pasta perfectly, too.
We did not finish the bottle and the following day, I really fancied vin chaud (mulled wine). Can you think of a better winter warmer than hot, sweet, spiced wine? Me neither!
It turns out that as I have been making batches and batches of cranberry mincemeat recently, I had all the ingredients I needed at home.
Within minutes, it smelt like Christmas all around the house!
As we were sipping our mulled wine, I started thinking about presents for the children’s teachers and decided it would be a nice idea to give them a mulled wine kit. I made some more on Monday for my friend, just to make sure the balance of flavours was right. I used less cardamom and it was perfect!
I then started putting together what I had in mind and it looked great! It would make a nice alternative to an impersonal bottle of wine for colleagues, your children’s teachers or an ideal Secret Santa gift. Whether the recipient decides to make the mulled wine or not does not matter. It is all about the gesture and the effort that went into it, isn’t it?
Our kit included all ingredients listed in the recipe below. I studded the orange with the cloves, for aesthetics’ sake. I placed the cranberries, ginger, cardamom pods and bay leaf in a jar, but did not close it with a lid. I simply used jute as a way to prevent the contents of the jar from escaping, and secured the cinnamon stick to it with raffia ribbon. The sugar went in a smaller jar, lid on, with jute on top. I wrote the instructions on Kraft paper and attached them to the neck of the bottle with raffia ribbon. We presented the kit in a bag decorated by the children.
You could omit the cranberries and replace the cinnamon stick and root ginger with their powdered counterparts, but to me, these three ingredients add to the luxurious feel of our homemade present.
Without further ado, here is my recipe:
Luxurious Mulled Wine Kit
Ingredients
- A 6cm piece of root ginger
- 1 orange washed
- 2/3 cup soft brown sugar 85g
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cardamom pods
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 bottle red wine
- Optional: 1 cup fresh cranberries 90g, washed
Instructions
- Peel the ginger.
- Stick the cloves into the orange and cut it in quarters.
- Place all ingredients together in a saucepan over a medium heat, until just simmering (do not boil). Stir well and reduce the heat.
- Cover and let the spices and fruit flavour the wine over a low heat for ten minutes. Gently squash the orange quarters and cranberries with a wooden spoon to release their juices and stir.
- Serve warm after straining the mulling ingredients.
- Santé!
I would like to be a teacher at your kids school!! You are amazing. And congrats on your anniversary!
Author
Thanks Vicki! The teachers were quite pleased. x
I wish I’d seen this yesterday when I was running around town trying to decide what to get for Daniel’s teachers. Such a lovely idea, and one I’m sure they’ll enjoy.
I haven’t seen many mulled wine recipes that include ginger, but I tried some ready-made mulled ginger wine last week and the ginger really adds to the flavour so I’m sure your recipe will be delicious.
Thank you for linking up to #FoodYearLinkup 🙂
Author
You could always make them next year!
Good plan
Lovely gift the teachers. Your vin chanud recipe is quite different from mine, I ight give it a go next time. Bonns fêtes Mel!
Author
Merry Christmas to you too, Phoebe!
Could I have made any more typos???!! What is vin CHANUD? I “ight” give it a go??? “Bonns” fêtes, agh! I hope you understood what I was saying!
Author
I did. I actually quite likes “chanud!; that sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?
What an absolutely fab present! I LOVE mulled wine and hate the fact that in the UK it’s only really drunk around Xmas time, unlike in France where it’s drunk all winter – so we go very French when it comes to vin chaud and drink it all winter. Love, love, love it 🙂 x
Author
Ha ha!
Ooooh sounds and looks delicious, could do with a cup of this now! xx
Author
Me too!
Love this! What a great idea – and I love the smell of mulled wine around the house too 🙂 #festivefoodfriday
Author
Thanks Michelle. I quite fancy a glass now!
A lovely idea for teachers! I bet they really appreciated it!
Author
They did. I even got a hug!
Yes please! Cheers beautiful x
Joyeux anniversaire! J’aimé beaucoup cet idée, j’imagine que les professeurs étaient ravis ! J’aimerais faire cette recette, j’imagine l’odeur dans toute la maison, ça doit être tellement agréable !
Author
Elles étaient aux anges! Dis-le moi si tu essaies cette recette de vin chaud.
Happy Anniversary! And what a wonderful teacher gift, you are so thoughtful, and organised xx
Author
It was a last minute present, but I was really pleased with the results!
What an absolutely gorgeous and thoughtful gift this is Mel. You’re so creative! I’ll definitely remember this for next year. Thanks so much for linking to #festivefoodfriday this year and Joyeux Noel!
Author
Joyeux Noël à toi aussi, ma belle! xxx
What a great idea, I love the addition of cranberries. Popping over from #TastyTuesdays
Author
I am not normally keen on mulled wine, but adding ginger, crushing the cranberries and adding the juice of the orange really gives it a beautiful, fruity flavour.
Happy anniversary honey, you guys must have got together just weeks before my hubby and I
I wrote you a much longer message than that but the phone gremlins ate it!!
Hope you have a fab Xmas and trip to France darling. Let’s meet up early new year. Much love xxx
Author
I hate it when that happens! We arrived in France yesterday and I am really enjoying being around family and eating loads (and loads and loads). xxx
Enjoy my lovely! Christmas is *all* about the food for me too (but you probably guessed that) xx
Author
I had! Enjoy xxx
Author
He he! x
Happy anniversary! And what a lovely idea for a gift. I might have to do that next year. Wishing you and your family a fabulous Christmas and I’m looking forward to reading more of your blog in the New Year. xx
Author
Thanks Karen, have a wonderful first Christmas in Australia!
Mel this is such a fantastic idea! i adore the smell of mulled wine 🙂
Author
Me too. It reminds me of Christmas markets!