This Thursday evening we are hosting the staff and governors of our church school here at the Vicarage for ‘mulled wine and mince pies’. That’s what our invite said, anyway. But as many of the staff have to drive home, we will also be serving a wonderful non-alcoholic alternative, given to me by another Vicar’s-wife-in-training, when the Vicar was at theological college. Her original name for it was spiced cider, but that is not very helpful, as it really is non-alcoholic, so I’ve renamed it Spiced Cranapple. It is mulled winey in flavour and not too sweet, as some non-alcoholic punches can be. Serve it at your carol service or at the Vicarage and enjoy!
Enjoy the warmth
Ingredients
1l cranberry juice
1l apple juice
250ml (1 cup) orange juice
5 cloves
3-4 cinnamon sticks
2 tbspns sugar
1 orange, halved and sliced into rounds
Combine all the ingredients, bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes to allow spices to infuse. Can also bring to boil and transfer straight to thermos pots and leave to infuse that way for church events (and keep leftovers warm for Vicarage use the rest of the week…mmmmm).
Anyway. Best get on with the pastry now. Not sure how many mince pies I’ll need for Thursday but I definitely need to start making them today.
The Vicar's Wife 
Haya, this is worth a try! thanks for that. Take care. Nicky
[…] here but Amanda, The Vicar’s Wife, makes a non-alcoholic version of Mulled Wine called Spiced Cranapple, a mixture of Cranberry and Apple Juices. Mulled Cider is a popular alternative to Mulled Wine […]
[…] You can find Amanda’s recipe here. […]
I am here as a result of http://simplybeingmum.com/ I am going to give the recipe a try – have invited people for mince pies and mulled drinks before our churches carols by candlelight – at St Marks Harrogate
I cooked my gammon this year in left-over spiced cranapple from our carol services. It was delicious! Definitely be doing that again…
Served this at our mince pies and mulled wine evening at the Rectory last week, it went down a treat! I really enjoyed having an alcohol free ‘mulled wine’ option and a lot of people appreciated it too. Got some left over too, yum! Thanks again! Bev