Glogg (Mulled Wine)

I like trying fancy drink recipes but rarely get to make something for a crowd. We had a friend and her family visiting a few weekends ago, though, and I decided to make a nice warm pot of glogg - Scandinavian mulled wine. The recipe comes from Martha Stewart magazine - I got the Jan. 2013 issue in my stocking - so it was also the first time I'd ever made a Martha Stewart recipe. I liked this one because I didn't have to go out and buy apple cider or port - it's just spiced vodka and wine. FYI I doubled the recipe so I could feed the crowds.

Now this being Martha Stewart, the first step occurred seven days prior to the dinner party - steeping a small amount of vodka (8 oz) with spices - cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and cloves. They were ground spices, though, which made a lovely slurry. I also had to filter it about ten times after the 7 days were up so it wasn't too powdery. I also made a simple syrup in advance - 2 cups sugar to 1 cup water. Scary how much sugar went into that!

The day of the party it was easy to throw everything together in a large pot. The flavoured vodka, a 1.5 L bottle of cheap red French table wine, 20 oz more vodka (supposed to be 24 but I ran out) and most of the simple syrup. It was quite potent, as you can imagine, so I did end up adding the full 2 cups of the simple syrup in there. It's great for a party since you can just leave it on super low heat and serve as needed.

My favourite part was actually the suggested garnish - I skipped the raisins but added the slivered almonds. Confusing for some visitors, but I loved eating them - it added a nice crunch! I'm not sure how potent a drink it ended up being, since I had a few glasses and didn't feel very tipsy. But it was very tasty. We were just missing a roaring fire and some snow outside...