Description
Stay festive and skip the booze with this easy homemade non-alcoholic mulled wine recipe (aka Kinderpunsch). A super delicious, warm and cozy Christmas mocktail that both kids and adults can enjoy!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 orange
- 2 cups apple cider or natural apple juice
- 1 cup cherry juice (or red grape juice)
- 1 cup pomegranate juice (or cranberry juice)
- 2 cups water
- 6 whole cloves
- 1 whole star anise
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4 cardamom pods, cracked
- 4 hibiscus tea bags (or berry tea or fruit flavored tea of choice)
- honey, cane sugar or brown sugar to taste (optional)
- Optional garnish ideas: orange slices, apple slices, cranberries, pomegranate arils, cinnamon sticks, star anise
Instructions
- Prep orange: Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from the orange in wide strips. Make sure to only peel the orange part, avoiding the pith (white part) as much as possible since it is bitter. Juice the orange and set both the juice and strips of zest aside.
- Simmer: Add the orange juice and zest, apple cider, cherry juice (or red grape juice), pomegranate juice (or cranberry juice), water and spices to a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes. Tip: Pierce the cloves into the strips of orange zest for easier removal later.
- Steep: Turn off the heat, add the tea bags, cover and steep for 8-10 minutes. Remove the tea bags and add sweetener to taste.
- Strain and serve: Strain or remove orange zest and spices. Pour into small mugs or heatproof glasses and garnish if you like. Serve warm and enjoy!
Notes
- Juice: Aim to purchase juices without added sugars – just 100% juice.
- Always use whole spices! Don’t use ground spices since they will make the drink cloudy and gritty. Whole spices infuse the punch with flavor and then are easy to strain or fish out.
- Don’t add the orange pith! The white pith on the orange can make the Kinderpunsch slightly bitter which is why I recommend just adding the zest and juice instead of slices while simmering.
- Keeping it warm: There are a few ways to keep it warm if you are not serving it right away. Once it has been strained, you can put it back in a clean pot on the stove over very low heat or transfer to an Instant Pot or slow cooker on the “Keep Warm” setting. This will keep the Kinderpunsch nice and warm until you are ready to serve. Perfect for entertaining!
- Cheesecloth option: You can bundle the orange zest and spices in cheesecloth for easy removal later instead of straining or fishing out individually.
