"Wassail" is a hot and spiced punch that's familiar to the winter holiday season. You've heard of "Wassailing" where a group of folks travel house to house singing carols for the celebratory season. In cider-producing regions of England, the carolers actually sing to the apple trees. So in light of such festivities, I offer this recipe (coven members are invited to submit seasonal recipes of their own via SunTiger@usa.com).
Winter Wassail
Ingredients:
* 1 quart apple juice
* 1 quart apple cider
* 8 oranges
* 4 lemons
* 16 cinnamon sticks (10 for garnish)
* 8 whole cloves
* 8 whole allspice berries
* ¼ teaspoon mace (a.k.a. nutmeg)
Directions:
In a large pot, combine apple juice and cider. Wash and slice oranges and lemons. Throw them in. Create a spice bouquet by wrapping 6 cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice, and mace in a piece of cheesecloth or muslin. Add to juice. Simmer for at least 30 minutes. Ladle into mugs. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
This recipe for Winter Wassail serves/makes 10
5 comments:
What is fun to do is cut an orange in 1/2. Use your whole cloves to stud the orange in runes, pentacles, whatever shapes you want and place intent with each clove. Place the oranges in the wassail and they add wonderful flavor!
AWESOME tip. {Thank you, Luna, for sharing such a fun idea!}
~ SunTiger
Luna, I really like your orange and clove suggestion. I'm going to try it with SunTiger's Wassail.
Here's one of my all-time favorite recipes for Yule time (or any time!). It takes a bit of patience, but well worth the effort!
Brown Butter Yule Cookies
2 cups butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup chopped pecans
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 ½ cups confectioners' sugar
½ cup hot water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Heat butter over medium heat for 5 minutes or so, until it turns nut brown in color. The foaming and bubbling is part of the browning process, but watch it carefully so that you don't burn the butter. Remove from heat, and cool slightly. Reserve 1/2 cup of the butter for the frosting.
Pour remaining browned butter into a large mixing bowl. Beat browned butter with brown sugar until the butter is no longer hot. Mix in eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat thoroughly. Mix in flour and chopped pecans. Drop tablespoons of dough onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light brown around the edges. Cool.
In a medium bowl, mix the reserved 1/2 cup browned butter with 2 teaspoons vanilla, confectioners' sugar, and hot water. Beat until smooth. Frost the cookies with pentagrams, crescent moons, or any shape you wish.
AWESOME FAERHEART. {Thank you.} I've printed out the recipe and when I bake the cookies I'll take a photo to share here at CyberCOVEN. Any coven members who want to submit photos or content for sharing may do so as well.
Hiya! Re: Mace=nutmeg in the wassail recipe. Mace is the outer coating of nutmeg. While the taste is similar, it isn't quite the same. Mace is also used in incense for increasing psychic ability, but it smells awful (at least, it does to me). Really acrid and strong. I prefer to ingest it (in small quantities) so I'll be saving this recipe! Thanks!
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