Wassail Tea

Yes, we have the song stuck in our heads too.  But, this is actually really good.  Originally Wassail was a highly alcoholic drink akin to spiced wine that was given to carolers or others looking for gifts on Christmas eve, this rated g version retains all the character without the bite*. Traditional recipe adapted by Judy Burch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You Need

A baking sheet

A large thick stockpot or a croc-pot

Ingredients

2 large oranges (we use navel oranges)

Whole cloves (a small handful)

½ gallon of apple juice

1 ½ qts cranberry juice

½ cup lemon juice

6-8 cinnamon sticks

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350°

Carefully and one at a time push clove into your unpeeled oranges.  You want to space them evenly and all around the orange.  In the end, your orange should look like Pinhead in the Hellraiser series, if pinhead were an orange and cloves were pins.

Put your cloved oranges on your baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

When the oranges come out mix together in your stockpot/slow cooker all the other ingredients.  Add the oranges.  Bring the mix to a simmer (in a slow cooker set it to low) let simmer for an hour.

Ladle into mugs, serve hot.  We like to add a cinnamon stick to each cup for presentation sake.

 

*Okay, we know that you want the alcohol version.  We add a cup (or two) of Korbel brandy OR a cup of Makers Mark bourbon.  If you want to keep the whole pot non-alcoholic but still serve yourself some cold-weather cheer add one part either brandy or bourbon to 3 parts tea.

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