A couple of weeks ago we were doing some digital grocery shopping via FoodKick and my fiance Victor asked if I wanted to make mulled cider. Why wouldn't I want to taste fall in liquid form?! I browsed several recipes and decided on cinnamon, star anise, allspice, black peppercorns, fresh ginger and orange (peel and slices) to flavor our cider. We accidentally bought a ginormous bottle of Bulleit Bourbon, so I need to work on some new bourbon recipes.

Mulled cider is super easy. I peeled and sliced a bit of ginger and one orange, loosely measured the spices, and tossed everything but the bourbon into a large pot with one quart of apple cider. We let everything simmer for about 30 minutes, and ohmygosh IT SMELLED AMAZING. I would love mulled cider in candle form without that gross artificial apple smell that you find in most fall candles. Post-simmer we let the mix cool down and once we were out of tongue-scalding territory we added 2 cups of bourbon. This was way too much. Well, I mean...I liked it, but it was strong. In hindsight, I would have spiked each individual serving. I also would have added cloves, but I was still pleased with the outcome. I also would make sure we had a better strainer to keep all of the spices and bits of ginger and orange out of the final product.

We had quite a few servings so we kept the rest of the batch in the fridge and warmed up individual servings on the stove when we needed a hug from the inside. This helped make election night a bit less painful.

2 quarts apple cider
2 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon allspice berries
2 whole star anise
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 (1 inch) piece of ginger
1 orange, peeled and sliced
1 cup bourbon

In a large saucepan, bring cider, spices, and orange to a boil. Cover, and reduce to simmer for at least 15 minutes. Remove from heat and filter through cheesecloth or strainer. Serve warm.