Mulled Apple Cider

It was a cold November night, fall was all around. Halloween was placed in boxes and gently packed away awaiting next October's frights while Thanksgiving was peaking out its head. The splendor of orange and yellow and rustic red around the house mirrored the blasts of color and heat cast out from the fireplace. The leaves outside the big picture window had started to change with bright bursts of color being whipped around by the cold November wind. And Charisse was snuggled up on the couch straining to hear her favorite Seinfeld show over the banging and cursing and carrying on that was Eric on his own in the kitchen. Yup, things were pretty much normal. You see Charisse actually had a touch of a cold, so Eric decided to whip up some hot mulled apple cider which would fit the night. Unfortunately, Eric decided to do it his way and in the kitchen that doesn't always work. Actually, he followed the steps pretty faithfully, but neglected the difference between "finely diced" and "Pureed". He also bought the cheap cheesecloth from Safeway and so was ending up with more of a mulled apple sauce than a cider. It was one of those moments when he realized we had Charisse's juicer around and that a juicer would be much better than trying to squeeze apples through a fine mesh strainer. We have the Waring one and it is a beast. Eric had gotten through about half the apples when he switched to the juicer, which pulled the same amount of juice from the "done" apples as Eric had done the hard way, then pulled all the juice from the rest all in about 2 minutes. Next time, were going all juicer all the way. Anyways, once we got the juice thing figured out, we pulled the cider together and it really was just what the evening needed.

Apple Cider
What you will need

12 Apples (see article for help selecting apple variety)

Core your apples and cut them into slices. Cut away anything you wouldn't normally eat, but leave the skins on which adds flavor.

Easy way: if you have access to a good juicer, juice them and move on to the next part.
Hard way: Puree the apples. Puree means just that, don't skimp and think its "good enough". using cheese cloth (or a very fine mesh strainer) press the puree though extracting as much juice as possible.

If you find that your getting more of an apple sauce than an apple juice, you can add a little water and it will even out.

Mulled Apple Cider
What you will need 

Apple Cider
3 Cinnamon sticks
Orange rind
6-8 whole cloves
1/2 cup brandy


Fill a non-aluminum pot with cider and put on low heat. Add remainder of the ingredients and let soak. When the pot comes to a boil, pull off heat and serve.

The cider will stay good for a few days, as long as you keep it refrigerated.