Heather Kew, RMT 
Making Christmas gifts is a great way to give a more personal, unique gift that has more meaning than a store bought gift, but often costs a lot less. This DIY Gift is the perfect example! Mulled Spices are something that you can give on their own or with a nice bottle of red wine. The ingredients are incredibly inexpensive and will often be in your own cupboard.
Mulled cider can be made with either red wine, apple cider/juice or cranberry juice - or any combination of those 3. I really love mulled cider as a Christmas drink because you can make a non-alcoholic version of it - even using a non-alcoholic red wine - and it still feels really festive. Its a way to be more inclusive for people who chose not to drink for whatever their reason may be! One of the other reasons I really love this drink is that you can make a large batch of it in your crock pot - making it really easy to serve to guests without having to make an individual drink each time someone would like a drink. Bonus is that your house will smell amazing!!
This year, I will be making a couple of jars of mulled cider for my daughters school teachers as Christmas Gifts. Teachers get gifts every year and while the thought is always appreciated, there is only so much room on a teachers Christmas tree for ornaments. This gift is great because it will be something homemade that will bring warmth to her teacher (I hope!!).
The Recipe
Makes 10 - 1 Cup portions
Ingredients
40 cinnamon sticks - crushed
1 -1/4 Cups Whole Cloves
2/3 Cups Whole All Spice
2-1/2 Cups Candied Ginger - chopped
Essential Oils
5 ml bottle - Doterra Wild Orange Essential Oil
Directions
- In a large bowl, measure ingredients and stir to combine. Make sure that your cinnamon stick pieces are crushed small enough to fit into a tea bag easily.
- Measure your mixture into a container that you will be gifting. This recipe makes 10- 1 cup or 8 oz portions.
- Attache labels to jar and attach bottle of essential oil to jar with ribbon. I like to add a package of tea bags to this gift package as well.
Directions For Making Mulled Cider
Ingredients:
1 L Apple Cider (If needed - you can substitute with unsweetened apple juice) or 1 L Cranberry Juice
1 Cup Brown Sugar
2 TBSP Mulling spices (preferably in a mulling bag or tea bag)
10 drops doterra Wild Orange Essential Oil
Sliced Lemons and/or Oranges (optional)
- In a crockpot or slow cooker, stir ingredients together and allow to cook on low for 2 hours OR In a large sauce pan on low heat, stir ingredients together and allow to cook for 1 hour without boiling. Enjoy!
Directions for Mulled Wine
Ingredients
1 -750 ml bottle of Red Wine
1 Cup Apple Juice
1 Cup Brown Sugar
10 drops Doterra Wild Orange Essential Oil
2 TBSP Mulling spices (preferably in a mulling bag or tea bag)
Sliced Lemon or Orange (Optional)
- In a crockpot or slow cooker, stir ingredients together and allow to cook on low for 2 hours OR In a large sauce pan on low heat, stir ingredients together and allow to cook for 1 hour without boiling. Enjoy!
