Apple Cider DIY for Your Halloween Party or Harry Potter Lifestyle - Holly Hobby
797How to make cider using regular apple juice - perfect for a Halloween party! Add rum for a Halloween cocktail. Stay for more http://bit.ly/HollyHobby
This apple cider recipe isn't 100% homemade, since we bought the apple juice from the store, but adding all of the holiday spices really brings it to the next level. Holly and Hilary served this cider at last year's Halloween party and had to make three batches to keep up with demand!
Here are the ingredients for the cider:
1/2 Gallon of Unsweetened Apple Juice
1 Orange
15 Cloves (count 'em out)
15 Allspice berries
4 Sticks of Cinnamon (can be used for garnish later!)
1 Teaspoon of Nutmeg
7 Pods of Cardamon
1 cup (or more) of Spiced Rum per batch if you're making the cocktail version
Tools You'll Need:
A 3-quart saucepan and stove
A strainer
Ice if you need to cool down the batch before adding Rum.
If you're making the non-alcoholic version, you don't need to cool it down before serving unless you're concerned for your safety.
Since alcohol is burned off at near-boiling temperatures, we used the ice to quickly cool it before adding the rum for max impact. (Thanks to Lizzy for that idea!!)
To actually make the cider, pour the apple juice into the saucepan and bring to a boil.
Once it's boiling, you can add all of the Halloween spices and the orange cut into quarters.
Bring the cider down to simmering, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
If you're making the non-alcoholic version, just strain and serve the cider with a cinnamon stick.
If you want to add rum, cool the batch down in some ice water, strain, and serve!
This recipe was adapted from one on Simply Recipes: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/hot_mulled_cider/
My friend Hilary works for Polaris, the gaming network in Maker Studios! If you have a channel and would like to work with her and others on the Maker team, you can apply here: http://awe.sm/bKBD7
Maker also gives me access to awesome royalty free music from audiomicro.com and Epidemic Sound.