Mulled Wine Ingredients: 

• 10 cloves
• Zest and juice of 2 oranges
• 100-150g caster sugar depending on desired sweetness
• 25g dried cranberries
• 100g whole blanched almonds
• 700ml red wine
• 500ml ruby port
• 300ml vodka
• 10 cardamom pods
• 2 small cinnamon sticks

How to Make Mulled Wine: 

Pre-heat the oven to 200°c / gas mark 6 and boil up your kettle.

Place the blanched almonds into a small bowl and cover them with boiling water, then leave them to soak in the water for 10 minutes.

Remove the almonds from the water. Next slice the almonds into thin shards and scatter them over a baking tray. Then roast in the oven for approximately 5 minutes until golden, before leaving to cool down.

Take a large saucepan; next add the red wine, vodka, port, spices, sugar, orange juice and the orange zest. Bring to a simmer over a low heat, but take care not to bring to the boil.

To serve, remove from the heat and let the mixture cool down a little.

Handy Tip: when you pour the mulled wine into your serving glasses, place a spoon into each one (the spoon will absorb the heat so the glasses don’t crack).

Best ladle the mulled wine into your glasses, then sprinkle over the roasted almonds.

Finally, place in the mulled wine glasses a few dried cranberries.