Mulling things over: Making mulled spices for cider, tea and more!

Retail mulling spices inspire some homemade blends

A recent trip to WIlliams-Sonoma, where the store was filled with the intoxicating aroma of mulled spices that seemed to exclaim, "hello, holidays, we are here!", inspired us to both purchase a tin of premade spices as well as make our own.  While the "ready made" spices were pretty good, we must humbly make an exclamation of our own:  homemade mulling spices are the best!

Mulling spices at BTS kitchen: five spices and citrus peel/zest

For our from-scratch mulling spices, we used Allrecipes "mulling spices" recipe. It's quick and simple and only requires seven ingredients:

    

1. one orange
2. one lemon
3. two cinnamon sticks
4. Allspice berries
5. cardamom pods
6. cloves
7. black peppercorns

The only change-up we made was to swap the two cinnamon sticks for 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon (using reference.com as our conversion guide authority).  The citrus fruit skins are zested and thinly peeled, then placed in an oven (on parchment paper) set to 200 degrees for 60 - 75 minutes. After they bake, just blend them with the spice mix.

After citrus peels bake in the oven, mix with special spices

For Thanksgiving, we put these mulling spices to work in an apple cider slow cooker recipe from Taste of Home (Slow Cooker Apple Cider). We substituted their spices for our own blend, but everything else was the same. And, in BTS' preference for easy creations in the kitchen, this one certainly met the criteria. 

Place spice blend in a cheesecloth and tie with string

Bake citrus peel on parchment paper

We simply put two quarts of apple cider in our Instant Pot, set to "low", and stirred in a half a cup of packed brown sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved, we added our mulled spices (tied in a cheesecloth bundle) and topped with orange slices.  All that was left to do was put the lid on and let the spicy brew simmer for three hours.

Mulled apple cider in Instant Pot

I have to say, it was one of the best apple cider drinks I've sampled, and our Thanksgiving guests seemed to agree, asking for two or three more cups.  An added benefit to steeping mulled spice concoctions is the delightful smell that fills the house, a sweet, savory and citrusy aroma that evokes the holiday season as much as peppermint and hot cocoa.  

Some of our Thanksgiving guests who asked for more than one cup 😀

WIlliams-Sonoma knows what they're doing by filling their space with mulled spices - and now, so do we!

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The mulling spice tin we purchased at WIlliams-Sonoma contains 36 tea sachets which, per the label can be used to infuse apple cider or apple juice or steeped up all on its own for a cup of spicy herbal tea. Mulling spices can be used not only in traditional ways such as cider, wine, or tea, but, per Bon Appetit, in other capacities as well such as: *gasp* coffee, baking, meat rubs or pancakes.