Mulled wine jelly is a great way to use mulled wine leftovers from your holiday party. When it is paired with vanilla cream, it makes an exquisite gluten and dairy free grand finale for a holiday seated dinner.

The wafting aromas out of a simmering pot of spiced mulled wine is an unmistakable harbinger of the holidays.  To find a good recipe for our holidays party, I spent some time browsing online ones.  For some reasons I wasn’t compelled by one per say.  So, I decided to use common sense to put a simple recipe together.  One that is low maintenance, and doesn’t require additional trips to the liquor or grocery store.

The cooking method couldn’t have been simpler.  My slow cooker has prooven once more, that it is the indispensable kitchen appliance for our daily use as a family, let alone for entertainment purposes.

Precisely in this recipe, it provided the right gentle amount of heat for the spices to impart their flavors, and meld together with the wine and the citrus notes of orange and lemon.  Moreover, the slow cooker was great at keeping the wine warm to refill the fast-depleted pitcher.

Easy does it!  The guests showered me with compliments until my cheeks became as red as the mulled wine.

At the end of the party I had almost two cups of fragrant and spiced mulled wine leftover in the slow cooker begging to be used!.  This mulled wine jelly can’t be easier to make!

 

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 Mulled Wine Jelly

Serves 6 to 8 people

INGREDIENTS

• One bottle red wine (see notes)
• One orange, sliced
• One lemon, sliced
• Simple syrup, recipe follows
• 2 anise stars
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tablespoons of gelatin

Simple Syrup:

• 1 /2 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

 Vanilla Cream:

• 150 ml (5fl oz) double cream
•  1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or Grand Marnier
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar, sifted

DIRECTIONS 

1. Make the simple syrup.  In a small pan, add sugar and water and let them simmer 5 to 7 minutes.  Let the syrup come to room temperature,  and keep it in a sealed jar outside the fridge until you use it.
2. Empty a whole bottle of red wine in the slow cooker.  Add the lemon/orange slices, cinnamon, cloves and simple syrup.  Stir until simple syrup is fully incorporated.
3. Set slow cooker on low for 2 hours.
4. Add the gelatin to the warm wine and stir well with a wire whisk. Please see notes.
5. Divide the wine between the glasses, and let them cool completely before placing them in the fridge.
6. Make the whipping cream.  In a bowl of stand or hand mixer, wipe together the cream and sugar and vanilla or Grand Marnier at medium speed first,  and then increase the speed until soft peaks form.
7. Garnish the jellies with a dollop of cream and few orange strips and/or zest.

NOTES

• Young, bright and fruity wine is the one to use for making mulled wine.  Check Italians red or southern French.
• Gelatin should be added to the wine when it is below boiling heat.  Gelatin doesn’t dissolve in either too hot or too cold liquids.