***It is Christmas Cheer Week on ROSALILIUM and we have some very special guests to come and celebrate with us. First up is the one of the first Blogging friends I ever made, the lovely Lisa-Marie from Bonnie Scotland.***
Hello Rosalilium readers, my name is Lisa-Marie, and I blog over at This Girl is…, and today I am going to share my recipe for mulled wine and a wee nibble to go with it. Now, I know that most people have mince pies with mulled wine, but being a Scottish, I love shortbread, and am offering it up as an alternative.
I love Christmas. A lot. So when Elizabeth asked me to contribute a post about something festive I was supper jazzed. I love a hot drink, and for me nothing is more festive than some mulled wine, with the Christmas tree light twinkling and a cheesy Christmas film to be watch. So I’m offering this recipe – my old faithful. I hope it brings you some Christmas cheer. It will if you leave the alcohol in!
Mulled Wine
You’ll need:
A bottle of cheap red wine
300mls orange juice )no bits please)
50ml sherry
3 cinnamon sticks
2 star anise
2tsps mixed spice
- put everything in a big pot
- warm on a medium heat for 10 minutes or so
- if you want it to retain the alcohol, don’t let it boil – to remove it, boil for 5 minutes
- ideally, let it cool and sit for an hour and then rewarm to serve, but otherwise it’s good to go at this point.
This volume will make enough for a bottle plus two mugs – roughly a generous six people’s worth. It makes a very nice gift in a pretty bottle.
Shortbread
People seem to think shortbread is really difficult to make. It isn’t as long as you take time to do it or, like me, take shortcuts and use a blender.
You’ll need:
125g butter,
55g caster sugar
180g plain flour
icing sugar to dust
- preheat oven to 190c/gas 5
- line a baking tray with greaseproof paper (or use a baking sheet)
In the blender
- add flour and sugar to the blender, and then the butter, straight from the fridge, cubed
- blend until it begins to come together
By hand
- allow butter to soften a little and cream in the sugar
- add the flour and mix till it comes together
- for both methods, now gather mixture in you hands and squash ’til you have a ball of dough
- turn onto a floured surface and roll out till 1cm thick – it will crack at the ends, which is fine
- either stamp out shapes – I used a 1″ cutter for bite sized biscuits – or cut into bars.
- You should get 18-24 bars/larger shapes or 30-36 small shapes from one lot of dough
- place on prepared baking sheet
- bake in the middle of the oven for 12-16 mins (small) or 18-20 mins (large/bars) until lightly golden around edges
- remove from oven, cool on rack, and dust with icing sugar.
Happy festive eating and drinking, and thanks for having me Elizabeth!!!
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***Pop over to Lisa-Marie’s blog, This Girl Is…***