It’s fall. And chilly. I personally love it- it means scarves, boots, and comfort food. Lots of squash, potatoes, soups, and oh yah, ciders!! I love me a good cider… hot, iced, as popsicles, and oh yes, as alcoholic bevies to make a brisk night a warm and cozy one 🙂
For this cider, I decided to use the Crock Pot. I’d been doing a little slow cooking challenge for myself anyway- I cooked all slow cooker meals for a week straight, so thought, why not add in a beverage to the mix?! (Check out my week of Crock Pot recipes HERE!) Not only is it slow cooked AKA is extra flavorful, but it’s also cooked with cranberries, orange slices, cinnamon sticks, apples, cloves, nutmeg, and both apple and cranberry juices, so yah… hello flavor! More specifically, hello fall flavor!!
Naturally, being a slow-cooked cider, it makes a large batch. No prob here- I jarred what I didn’t drink right away and enjoyed it throughout the week. I had it hot, I had it iced, I even saved a teeny bit to make some mulled cider popsicles 🙂
It’s a very flavorful cider- largely due to the whole cloves and the combo. of two juices, as cranberry juice tends to be strong. If you want a subtly flavored cider, lessen the amount of cloves and use juice that isn’t super sweet (“cocktails” generally are sweeter than “juices”). I liked it just as was, but I like my ciders spiced and flavorful- you can always dilute it if you find it’s too spiced for you 🙂
INGREDIENTS
6 cups apple juice
3 cups cranberry juice
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup fresh cranberries
1/2 large orange, sliced (about 1/2 cup), plus orange peel
1/2 large Granny Smith apple (about 1/2 cup)
1 tbsp sliced fresh ginger, about 3-5 slices
4 cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp whole cloves (about 10-15 cloves)
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
DIRECTIONS
Pour juices in Crock Pot
Add cranberries and cinnamon sticks
Chop orange in half
Using a peeler (or whatever else you like), peel the rind of half of the orange
(You don’t need the other half for this, so either eat or juice and add that if you want!)
Add peels to the pot
Thinly slice the orange half…
Thinly slice half the apple
Roughly chop some fresh ginger- about 1 tbsp worth
(You want big pieces so you can easily remove them)
Add orange, apple, and ginger to pot
Now add spices- allspice, nutmeg, and cloves
Stir and taste, if you want (I couldn’t resist!)
Cook on low for 4-7 hours- keep in mind that the longer
you cook it, the more potent the spices will become
When done, serve up what you want and then you can jar any extra cider to have later!
Serve hot or cold…
Enjoy!!
Those pictures are so pretty I can actually smell this! 😉
Silly question- in the states is apple cider used interchangably with apple juice? As in both are non-alcoholic? I’m never sure in american recipes if it means apple juice or alcohol as in the UK apple cider means an alcoholic apple beer only!
Hi Ellie- great question actually! It ca be super confusing haha… we have apple juice and apple cider, which is basically spiced (or mulled) apple juice. We also often make our ciders with alcohol, but refer to them specifically as alcoholic drinks… so this is a cider because it is apple juice with loads of spices, but if you added alcohol (which is delish, too!!) then it’s a “rum and cider” or “brandy cider” etc. Hope that makes sense 🙂 Most recipes I have seen online for Crock Pot mulled ciders call for using apple cider bought from the store (they are sold everywhere- just bottled apple juice that’s already spiced), but I wanted to make it completely from scratch… either works 🙂 Thanks for asking!
Ah thanks for clearing this up that makes perfect sense! I find it SO interesting the small differences in the languages of the Uk and US, amazing I still find them after 10yrs of being married to an American (he didn’t have a clue on the cider thing lol)!! 🙂
At least that’s my understanding anyway haha… even within the US there are different idioms and language variations, so figuring it all out can be tough! And when I was in London, I had to ask several times what thing certain things meant- you’re right, it’s fascinating what differences there are! Others may have a different take on cider, but that’s my take on it- I’m curious now though… I’ll ask around and see what my friends say, too 🙂
Funnily enough I just watched an old ‘barefoot contessa’ episode on tele and she suggested apple cider was a great drink for kids so def going with your take on that! Or else she’s suggesting giving alcohol to minors… tee hee! 😉
Haha! That’s hilarious! (Sorry, somehow just seeing this…) 🙂