The Best Homemade Glögg Recipe
In case you aren’t familiar with glögg, it's a hot, spiced wine and liquor punch.
Some describe the aroma of mulling the glögg as “heavenly," because the wine is mulled with the additions of flavorful spices—cinnamon sticks, cloves and orange peels. Raisins and almonds also make the traditional Scandinavian Christmas drink wonderfully hearty. With all of these ingredients together, it's the perfect beverage for a cold day or night as it will warm you from the inside out.
We're happy to say that making glögg has also been a tradition at Laura Jean! Here's an easy recipe from us, to you:
Ingredients
1.5 liter bottle inexpensive dry red wine
1.5 liter bottle inexpensive American port
750 ml bottle inexpensive brandy
10 inches total of cinnamon sticks
15 cardamom seed pods or 1 teaspoon whole cardamom seeds
2 dozen whole cloves
1 orange peel, whole and washed
1/2 cup dark raisins
1 cup blanched almonds
2 cups sugar
Garnish with the peel of another orange
Directions
1) Crack the cardamom seed pods open. You can leave the seeds in the pods once they are cracked.
2) Pour the red wine and port into a stainless-steel or porcelain kettle. Add the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, orange peel, raisins, and almonds. Cover and simmer.
3) Put the sugar in a pan and soak it with half the brandy. Warm over a medium-low flame and stir occasionally until it becomes a clear, golden syrup and all the sugar is dissolved (at right). Let it simmer for about 15 minutes until the tiny bubbles become large burbles. This starts caramelizing of the sugar and adds a layer of flavor.
4) Add the sugar syrup to the spiced wine mix. Cover and let it simmer over a low heat for an hour.
5) Strain to remove the spices, almonds, and raisins. You can serve your glögg immediately or bottle it in clean used wine or whiskey bottles.
6) Serving. To serve glögg, warm it gently in a saucepan over a low flame or, better still, in a slow cooker. Serve it in a mug and, don't skip this, garnish it with a strip of fresh orange peel, twisted over the mug to release the oils.
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