DIY Christmas 1 : Mulled cider

I may have an unfair advantage here, as my father is actually a local cider producer, but mulled cider is a Christmas favourite with our friends and family.

Basically, the recipe is half dry alcoholic cider and half apple juice (if you can find spiced apple juice with a touch of cinnamon use that) add what ever wintery spices you want (I don't like cloves so I add cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamon) and gently heat (I use the slow cooker - people can help themselves and everything stays warm - you can top it up as the evening goes on )

To make this into a gift I add the ingredients to a 750ml/litre bottle with instructions - it doesn't matter that the cider will become flat because you will have to heat it anyway. Label the bottle and leave instructions. With home-made mince pies you can't really go wrong!