Cranberry Cider Recipe with Fennel and Orange
Yesterday I introduced my Winter Warmers Series, all about warm things to sip on through the holidays. Today I’m sharing a Hot Cranberry Cider Recipe with Fennel and Orange. Don’t miss any of my hot holiday drinks. Get the recipes delivered to your email inbox by subscribing here:
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The turkey on my dinner plate is never pinkened by a smear of cranberry sauce. The only thing I put on my turkey is gravy. But I always have cranberry sauce on the table, not just for those who like it with turkey, but because its pretty color adds spirit to the table setting.
That scarlet hue alone could proclaim that the holiday season has arrived!
So while I don’t eat the cranberry sauce itself (although I have been known to use the leftovers as a Black Friday breakfast spread for buttery toast), I do like to have something cranberry-sauce-esque to enjoy on Thanksgiving.
A Hot Cranberry Cider Recipe with Fennel and Orange was born.
- 1 medium-sized orange
- 2 tablespoons of fennel seeds, crushed a bit in a mortar and pestle or with the side of a big knife
- 4 cups of cranberry juice
- 2 ounces of orange liqueur (my preference is Cointreau but you could also use Triple Sec or Grand Marnier)
- Remove 6 big strips of orange zest from the orange (space them out if you’d like so that the orange slices you cut later have a zebra-like orange and white trim). Put them in a medium saucepan with the crushed up fennel seeds and the cranberry juice. Partially cover the pan and bring the juice to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and let the cranberry juice infuse with licorice and citrus for 20 minutes. taste the juice. If you can’t detect much of the fennel, let it simmer on low for another 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, slice the orange.
- Line a sieve with a coffee filter or a double latyer of cheesecloth. Put the sieve over a medium sized bowl. Pour the hot cranberry juice through the sieve and into the bowl. Rinse out the saucepan and pour the warmed juice back in. Heat it over medium heat until it simmers. Drizzle in the orange liqueur. Stir. Ladle into 4 mugs and garnish with the orange slices.
Here are some more tasty Cranberry Cider recipes from the Blogosphere that you should check out:
Cranberry Apple Cider from $5 Dinners
Hot Mulled Cranberry and Apple Cider from One Perfect Bite
Happy Fennel Friday! We love this recipe and it is featured on our Fennel Drink recipe round-up this week! THANKS!
http://fennelfriday.com/12-recipes-to-drink-your-fennel-healthy-immune-boosting/
Fennel Friday recently posted: 12 Recipes to Drink Your Fennel – Healthy & Immune Boosting
WHOA. This sounds great… wonder how it would be with limoncello for the “kick”. Hmmm… mmmmmmmm!! Can’t rate this recipe until I try it but it certainly has me interested!
Rachel recently posted: all over but the…
Rachel, I think it would be fantastic with limoncello! I love orange and fennel together and so chose the orange liqueur. But next time I make a batch I’ll opt for the lemon kick to try it out. Thanks for the suggestion!
I love cranberry juice but I don’t like eating cranberries. I too, just have gravy with my turkey (oh, and stuffing…lots of stuffing). I do think that I would enjoy this cranberry cider though and how pretty would the filled glasses look on the table! Great photograph.
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