Spiked Apple Cider

Spiked apple cider is a popular beverage that is generally served during the autumn and winter. This drink is richly flavored with spices and is the perfect choice for festive occasions. While you can serve the mulled apple cider on cold winter days, there are other variations of this beverage too. A cold apple cider drink could be served during summers as well. Though apple cider is easily available in the grocery stores, you could go by your culinary instinct and make apple cider on your own. As the name suggests, apples are the most important ingredient of this drink. The flavor of the drink will depend on the types of apples you are planning to use. Though the typical apple cider drinks are flavored by using a variety of spices such as nutmeg, cloves or cinnamon, you could also make a delicious alcoholic apple cider drink by spiking the drink with brandy, rum or other types of alcoholic drinks. So, are you ready to create delicious variations of this popular autumn drink? Here's the information you need.

Making Apple Cider at Home

Making this drink is quite easy. Though you can use apple cider that is available in the market, if you don't wish to use that, you could even make apple cider at home. It's quite simple. Here are the instructions.

• First of all, select some good-quality sweet and tangy-flavored apples.
• Clean them thoroughly and remove the seeds.
• Cut these apples and blend them in a food processor.
• You can then pour the puree through a wet muslin cloth and squeeze it to collect the juice.
• The juice should be collected in a container and the container must be properly sealed.
• This must be stored at a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit for a period of two weeks.
• Once the juice has fermented, it can be used in apple cider recipes.

Spiked Apple Cider Recipes

Hot Apple Cider Drink

Have you ever made mulled cider at home? Here's the list of ingredients and instructions for making mulled apple cider at home.

Ingredients

• 2 quarts apple cider
• 1 cup brandy
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• Lemon zest
• A pinch of grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon honey

Directions

• First of all, you need to pour apple cider in a pan and heat it on a low flame.
• While apple cider is heating up, add lemon zest, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, brandy and honey to the saucepan.
• Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
• While the mixture is on low heat, make it a point to stir it occasionally.
• Once the flavor of the mulled spices has set in, all you need to do is pour the drink into mugs.
• It's time to serve this delicious drink!

Cold Apple Cider Drink

Let me tell you another recipe for a delicious spiked apple cider drink. There is no need to drink apple cider drinks in autumn or winter only, you can cool yourself with a cold apple cider cocktail. Here's the list of ingredients and instructions for making this drink.

Ingredients

• 1 cup apple cider
• ½ cup brandy
• ½ cup apple brandy
• 3 teaspoons maple syrup
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• Ice cubes

Directions

• You first need to fill half of the cocktail shaker with ice.
• The next step is to put apple cider, lemon juice, brandy, apple brandy and maple syrup to it.
• Now you need to shake these ingredients well.
• Serve the delicious drink in chilled cocktail glasses.

Buttered and Spiced Apple Cider

Let me tell you how you can make another delicious winter drink by using apple cider. This buttered and spiced apple cider recipe can be used for making this rich flavored drink.

Ingredients

• 32 ounces apple cider
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• A pinch of grated nutmeg

Directions

• You need to pour apple cider and maple syrup into a saucepan.
• This needs to be cooked on low heat for about 15-20 minutes.
• Now take a small bowl. Add softened butter and combine the other spices in it.
• Keep stirring till the spices and butter have been mixed properly.
• Serve the cooked apple cider and garnish it with the mixture of butter and spices.

These were some recipes that you can try at home. You can try other variations by mixing other spices or different types of alcohol to it. So, put your culinary talent to use and make this delicious drink for your loved ones. I am sure they will appreciate your effort.