It is time: December is upon us and the most festive beverages are once again being made at Christmas markets all over the world. But with the cost of living crisis raging on in the background, you might save yourself a couple pence by making your mulled wine (or cider!) at home.

Let’s start with the classic

Traditional, never out-of-style mulled wine (which also tastes like proper mulled wine not like a melted plastic cup for £6):

First, get a bottle of red wine. Merlot, Shiraz, Malbec are the typical choices if you prefer your wine sweeter, or alternatively if you’d like something more zingy, feel free to go for a dryer type of red wine.

You’ll also need one or two cinnamon sticks (one for half a bottle, two if you’re boiling the entire bottle), two star anises, 4-6 cloves, two strips of lemon zest, and anywhere between three to four tablespoons of caster sugar. The total price of these ingredients (including the wine) should come to around £9 to £10 if you buy them from Tesco, and serves three.

1. Put the red wine and the spices mentioned above in a large pan, and cook until boiling on low heat (usually 10-15 minutes)
2. Remove from the heat, and leave it to cool and infuse for roughly 25 to 30 minutes
3. Once infused, heat up again without bringing it to the boil, and pour into mugs. 

Boom! That’s a nice and easy mulled wine, all done.

Making it a bit more bubbly

If you’re tired of drinking the same old thing every time the festive season comes around, there’s a way to spice it up – and try something new. By adding some unusual and interesting ingredients into the recipe, you can quickly turn a Christmas dinner into a party if you make it right (provided you and your guests like rosé).

For this recipe, as mentioned above, you’ll need a bottle of rosé wine, one star anise, a ball of stem ginger (sliced up; can also use fresh ginger – which will be shown on this basket), a teaspoon of black peppercorns, some allspice berries, a quarter of a grapefruit, and some blackcurrant juice.

1. Put everything into a large pan except the blackcurrant juice, and bring it to the boil then let it simmer immediately after on medium heat. 
2. Stir in the blackcurrant juice
3. Take it off the heat, leave it to infuse for ~15 minutes
4. Pour and serve!

The fancy one 

If you consider yourself sophisticated (but on a budget), and just want something different but rosé is too cringe for you (in which case your tastes can be seriously questioned), you can also opt for mulled white wine. 

You can never go wrong with a Moscato if you have a sweet tooth, but any white wine will do, from Pinot Grigio to Chardonnay.

This time, you need a bottle of white wine, 150ml elderflower cordial, two strips of lemon zest, two cinnamon sticks, a vanilla pod, and three to five tablespoons of sugar. Additionally, you can also add in some cider to make it more spicy!

1. Put the ingredients into a pan and heat until simmering.
2. Add the cider (if using)
3. Turn the heat off and leave ingredients to infuse for 10-15 minutes
4. Pour and serve!

The ‘less is more’ version

The last beverage on this list has to be the classic mulled cider. Many might say it’s better than wine, but this should be left to one’s taste buds. If you just can’t get enough of it, or if you want to try something different for the first time, you can’t go wrong with cider either way.

For this recipe, you’ll need at least a 1.5 litre bottle of cider, 500ml of apple juice, a strip of orange zest, four or five cloves, two cinnamon sticks, and a tablespoon of allspice berries, and if you’d like to tune the fruitiness up a notch, then you can also add some Calvados or other fruit brandy (if you can afford it).

1. Pour the cider, juice, brandy, and sugar into a pan, and slowly heat it up.
2. Add the orange zest and allspice berries, bring the cider to a simmer, and then keep on low heat for 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Pour and serve!

Words: Istvan Botond Beres|Subbing: Lumi Leinonen, Andreea Bejan