Everyone has different “favorite holiday memories” mine tend to involve food. (I wonder why?!) This cranberry orange spiced cider invokes many memories.
Coming home from church and eating a tasty Christmas lunch. Putting apple cider and spices on the stove to simmer. Opening our presents. Dipping up cider and sipping on it while cleaning up the mess and playing with our new toys, or playing games with the grandparents that usually showed up a little later.
I can still remember the delicious smells that would invade our house from that spiced cider. Today I’ve changed it up a little. Instead of cider and simple spices, this drink is robust with flavor from orange and cranberries too!
I didn’t add any sugar to this cranberry orange spiced cider. Many spiced cider recipes add lots of sugar and I really don’t know why, this one is sugar-free (save for what naturally occurs in fruit) and absolutely delicious!
Think guilt-free spiced cider!
Cranberry Orange Spiced Cider
- 8 cups plain apple cider
- 1 orange
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 3 star anise
- 6 clove buds
- 2 whole allspice
- 2-3 dashes of ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- Optional: whisky or rum
- Thinly slice your orange and place it in a 3-4 quart crock pot.
- Add all other ingredients except the vanilla.
- Cook on high for 3 hours, or until the cranberries split open.
- Scoop out the fruits and spices.
- Add the vanilla extract and stir.
- Add in the alcohol if you wish
- Strain into a pitcher or carafe for serving.
- Garnish with orange slices, apple slices or cinnamon sticks if desired.
When you are dealing with a house full of guests, think ahead and make the drink portion easy. Get all your fruit and spices ready the night before and place them in a container in the fridge overnight.
3-4 hours before you want to serve your spiced cider, add everything to the crock pot and cook on high for 3 hours until the cranberries are all soft and “popped”.
Cranberry Orange Spiced Cider 3 hours later:
If you are in a hurry, place all ingredients in a sauce pan, bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 15-30 minutes until the cranberries pop then finish recipe as instructed.
Personally, I prefer the slow cooked method as it makes the house smell amazing!
The orange makes it sweet, and the cranberries make it tart. Together with the spices, this is one drink that will bring them back for more. Over and over again!
These darling Irish Coffee mugs are perfect to serve your cider in for an extra bit of class and flair.
This looks so healthy, refreshing and delicious! Yum! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
My holiday memories also involve (mostly) food! Lol… Well I can’t think of a better way of cheer up the celebration than with food, right?
This looks delicious.
It’s definitely an American thing to associate celebrations with food, but it just seems appropriate 🙂
This looks perfect for a cool day! I can’t wait to try out this recipe. Thanks for sharing at the Monday Funday Party. — Emily
Just wanted to let you know you’re featured on Inspire Me Monday! This cider looks great for fall gatherings too. 🙂
We would love this for Thanksgiving! Thank you so much for joining Delicious Dishes Recipe Party!
Looks great! Thanks for sharing with the Delicious Dishes Recipe party!
This combo sounds so yummy! How fun for fall! Sharing! Thank you for sharing on Merry Monday! Hope to see ya next week!
Kim
This is perfect for the cold weather. Thanks for sharing your recipe with us on MM.