For over 20 years now, our family has been patronizing Chicago’s Christkindlmarket, a German-style outdoor holiday market. It became one of our family traditions shortly after we moved to the Midwest in the 1990s. We drank warming mulled wine out of commemorative mugs (or hot chocolate for the kids before they were of legal drinking age) and ate stuffed pretzels and stollen. And did a bit of Christmas shopping. Even during the years we lived in Connecticut in the 2010s, at least one or two of us were able to find our way to Chicago between Thanksgiving and Christmas when the market was being held to uphold our tradition.
As with many things this year, the Christkindlmarket was strictly a virtual event consisting of online gift purchases only. But Kelly has mastered the stollen recipe and I have a few versions of mulled wine, so a variation of our tradition can still happen, even during a pandemic year when we are not all together.
This year’s mulled wine recipes uses a bit of a sweeter wine with a delicate floral essence from blackberry preserves and vanilla as opposed to more traditional mulled wines. (For more traditional versions, try either the Glühwein or Pumpkin Mulled Wine recipes from pervious posts.) One thing to note: the preserves used in this recipe need to have real sugar in them to melt into the wine. Sugar-free versions may get gummy instead of dissolving.
Enjoy!
Blackberry Mulled Wine
Blackberry Mulled Wine (adapted from sunset.com) Time Required: 25 minutes, Serves: 3 – 4
Ingredients:
- 1 bottle (750ml) Malbec, Zinfandel, or Shiraz red wine
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 2-inch length vanilla bean, split and scraped
- 2 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
- 3 – 4 tablespoons blackberry preserves
Directions:
Preserves, a cinnamon stick, some vanilla bean, and a few cardamom pods go into the wine.
In a small (2-quart) pot on the stovetop, pour in the wine and add the cinnamon stick, vanilla bean and seeds, cardamom pods, and the blackberry preserves. Over medium-low heat, warm the wine, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes. Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the wine into mugs and serve warm.
Christmas traditions continue!
With some adaptions, we are able to continue our Christmas traditions this year! ~Linda
Blackberry Mulled Wine (adapted from sunset.com) Time Required: 25 minutes, Serves: 3 – 4
Ingredients:
- 1 bottle (750ml) Malbec, Zinfandel, or Shiraz red wine
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 2-inch length vanilla bean, split and scraped
- 2 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
- 3 – 4 tablespoons blackberry preserves
Directions:
In a small (2-quart) pot on the stovetop, pour in the wine and add the cinnamon stick, vanilla bean and seeds, cardamom pods, and the blackberry preserves. Over medium-low heat, warm the wine, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes. Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the wine into mugs and serve warm.