Wintery Non-Alcoholic Drinks

So, I have been trying to write this post for a week, but I feel rusty regarding informative content. I have similar posts with food, so I wanted to do a post with traditional wintery drinks. Now, for health and personal reasons, I don’t drink alcohol. So, the challenge I found and accepted was to look up some non-alcoholic choices so everyone could try them if they wanted to.

Spiced apple syrup with clementine & cloves

Ingredients

• 200ml apple juice
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp whole allspice
• 1 mace blade
• 2 whole cloves
• small strip fresh ginger
• 1 clementine, zest finely peeled with a vegetable peeler
• 100g golden caster sugar

Method

• STEP 1Heat the apple juice with the whole spices, ginger, zest and sugar. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 mins.
• STEP 2Remove from the heat and leave to cool, then strain the syrup into small bottles.

Peppermint hot chocolate

Ingredients

• 200g bar plain chocolate, broken into chunks
• 600ml milk
• 150ml pot single or double cream
• sugar, to taste
• 6 peppermint candy canes, to serve

Method

• STEP 1Put the chocolate in a pan with the milk. Gently heat, stirring until all the chocolate has melted. Continue heating until the milk is steaming, then remove from the heat and stir in the cream.
• STEP 2Divide the hot chocolate between 6 mugs, add sugar to taste and hang a candy cane on the edge of each. Pass the mugs round and let everyone stir their hot chocolate with their candy cane – letting as much of the sweet peppermint dissolve as they fancy.

Rooibos Tea in a White Bowl

INGREDIENTS

• Tea 15 g, rooibos
• Brown sugar cubes
• Lemon juice

Method

Put the Rooibos tea in a teapot. Pour boiling water over the tea and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Strain the tea through a sieve into a second teapot and serve.

Sweeten with sugar and flavour with a few drops of lemon juice.

Tips:
Rooibos tea is a caffeine free alternative to black tea. Rooibos only grows in the Cederberg mountains in the southwestern part of South Africa. In South Africa it is not only used as a drink, but is also used for cooking and baking and in some cosmetics as well as for colouring hair.

Slow Cooker Pear Cider

INGREDIENTS

• 8 medium, assorted pears (D’Anjou, red Anjou, Bosc, or Bartlett), quartered
• 1 medium orange, peeled and pith discarded, and flesh quartered
• 5 cinnamon sticks
• 1 (2 1/2-inch) piece fresh ginger, sliced
• 5 whole allspice berries
• 2 star anise pods
• 2 tsp. whole cloves

Method

• Step 1

Place pears, orange, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, star anise, cloves, and vanilla in a 6 1/2-quart slow cooker. Add up to 7 cups water, leaving at least 1 inch of space. (Pears will not be fully submerged.) Cover and cook on high 4 to 4 1/2 hours or on low 8 to 9 hours, mashing pears with a potato masher 30 minutes to 1 hour before end of cooking.

• Step 2

Strain cider through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a large pitcher. Stir in maple syrup. Serve warm or chilled.

White Hot Chocolate

INGREDIENTS

• 4 c. whole milk
• 12 oz. white chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste (or 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract)
• 1/8 tsp. kosher salt

Method

Step 1

• Combine milk, chocolate, vanilla, and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture is hot and chocolate is melted and smooth (do not let boil), 6 to 8 minutes.

Step 2

• Add a few drops of food coloring to frosting and stir twice to create a swirl pattern; carefully transfer to a piping bag. Pipe on top of hot chocolate in mugs.

I can’t tell you how many recipes I looked at to find the ones I did. The mismatching fonts are bugging me but not enough to rewrite the whole thing. The recipes aren’t mine, and I will try to source everything below.

Alex

Sources:

CountryLiving.com

FineDiningLovers

BBCGoodFood.com