Oh the weather outside is frightful, but winter is (supposedly) still weeks away. This week it has gone from 70’s and sunny on Monday to a Saturday that was dreadful with rain, mid 40’s and just gray. Perfect weather for a day shut in the house watching college football.

On a day like today you just need something to warm your soul. A spicy mulled beverage is perfect. It’s warm, spicy, sweet, and will heat your core. Even better, mulled beverages are easy. EASY. Put them in your crock pot and leave them to let the flavors infuse.

Now anyone can go buy the tea bags of mulling spices from the grocery store. Yet why would you do that? When I have time to plan I make my own mix. Also, you can get some pretty nice mixes from places like Penzeys or Urban Herbs. You should NEVER and we mean NEVER buy ground mulling spices instead of infusing flavors you are going to end up with gritty beverages. On the other hand, spices like cinnamon and nutmeg should be broken into smaller pieces.

Ingredients:

• 1oz white or pink peppercorns
• 1/2 oz allspice berries
• 4 cinnamon sticks broken into pieces
• 1 nutmeg cracked (use a kitchen mallet)
• 2 Tbsp crystallized ginger
• 1 Tbsp dried lemon peel
• 1 Tbsp dried orange peel
• 1 Tbsp coriander
• 2-3 cardamom pods
• 1/2 Tbsp cloves

The great thing about mulling spice mix is you can change things around as much as you want. Leave things out, add more of a spice you really want to come through. In place of dried peels or crystallized ginger use fresh. Add some star anise to give it a licorice flavor. Just be careful of spices that have the tendency to over power delicate flavors. Mainly you want to avoid abusing cloves and cardamom, while they add great flavor, less is more. You want to taste more than just one flavor.

Now how to mull. Put your spice mix in a piece of cheesecloth and tie it shut, either with twine or just the corners of the cloth. Put your spices with cider or wine in the crock pot and turn it to low for two hours. Turn the crock pot down to warm and enjoy.