Deliciously warm and spicy mulled pear cider

Dimmicks Beach - Blairgowrie

The inspiration for giving this a go was when I was recently down at one of my favourite places on this earth - the Mornington Peninsula. I was having a girls weekend with two of my sisters and after traversing the rugged terrain of the Blairgowrie cliffs looking over the wilderness of the back beach with one sister, I went for a civilised shopping trip to Sorrento with the other. It was a cold, wet and windy day - my favourite kind of weather for the beach and for a browse through boutique shops including one of my favourites ... Antipodes Gallery & Bookshop.

After about an hour or two of shopping we decided it was well past time for lunch. I instantly pictured us near the fire at The Continental Hotel. As it was quite late they had plenty of tables. On their specials board were the words 'mulled pear cider'. Cold, wet and windy day with mulled pear cider - match made in heaven.

It was hot and the spices were warm. I had only taken one sip when I knew I was going to have to find a way to replicate it. I went trawling through the internet for recipes and in typical Bella fashion I have sort of created a hybrid of them all to come out with something pretty special - if I do say so myself.

I don't know my ciders very well so I did some research looking at reviews. What I was looking for was general appeal but on the not so sweet side. The cider I decided upon was Somersby Pear Cider which I found at Dan Murphy's.  I got the very last pack of ten.

I had a winter warmer gathering planned at my place which made it the prefect time to give it a crack.

Ingredients

• 2 x 375ml cans Somersby Pear Cider 
• 4 cloves
• 1 star anise
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 1 - 2 pinches of grated nutmeg (I actually grated the nutmeg!)
• 1/2 vanilla pod sliced in half long ways
• 1 nugget of ginger chopped
• 2 cardamon pods
• 1 orange - juiced & the peel (try not to get the white pith)
• 1 tbsp organic raw castor sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp brandy (I used St Agnes three star brandy)

Pulling it all together

Because I was using the stove for other things I decided that in the spirit of experimentation I would use my rice cooker. The following instructions will work the same for the stove.

Brewing and bubbling in my cauldron
... ahem, I mean rice cooker

• Pour the pear cider into the rice cooker and turn it onto cook to heat the cider through
• Add everything but the sugar and brandy
• Bring it to the boil then for those on a stove, turn it down to a simmer. In the rice cooker it pretty much just gets to a simmer but if yours is a little excitable with heat then you may need to alternate between 'cook' and 'keep warm' settings.
• Place the lid on so that it is mostly covered and let it simmer for about 5 or so minutes. 
• Stir in the brandy and then have a little taste and see if you feel your mulled cider needs sugar. Mine had a slight bitterness due to the orange peel. I quite like bitterness but it did still need the sugar.
• If you're going to add sugar stir it through until dissolved (won't take long) and taste again.  Keep adding sugar until you get your preferred level of sweetness.
• Serve warm

Result

Warm and spicy
and all things nicey

Delicious is a word that comes to mind! It was pretty close to what I had at The Continental Hotel but I reckon mine was even better. It was definitely a little more spicy and was a little less sweet. I didn't serve my in a fancy glass or use my remaining cinnamon sticks for decoration but a thin slice of orange seemed to add a touch of ... well, decoration really.

My winter warmer gathering guests seem to like it too which is always a good indicator of a recipe worth making again. 

NOTE: I made this twice, once as a trial and then again for my guests. The first time I used the quantities I've specified here. Second time I doubled the recipe but I didn't need to double the sugar.

Verdict

This will definitely become a favourite for me in winter. I wouldn't make it every night but it's perfect for when guests come over. And the benefit of having it in the rice cooker is that I was able to keep it warm. But just as a side - it still tasted darn good when it was cold.