Something about the holidays makes me want cider. Something about the holidays makes me want to sing carols. Something about the holidays makes me want to eat sausage balls. Something about the holidays makes my hips spread out and fill up my pants. Dang those holidays.
Holidays = good time for yoga pants. Amen.
I like having hot drinks when I have a party – and cider is one of the drinks I enjoy serving at my parties. I haven’t really had a party in years. It’s because you have to be non-sleep deprived to have a party. I read that somewhere.
But anyway, this is a great drink for your holiday party…or for Christmas day. Or Christmas Eve. Or basically just any day that ends in Y.
I don’t buy juice a lot, because we just don’t drink it. But when I buy it to make cider, I feel like I need to explain myself to everyone who sees my buggy. “Oh yeah, well that juice is just for a treat. We don’t normally drink juice.” “Please disregard the juice in my buggy – we’re not drinkers.” “Well, I just buy juice for parties – and no it’s not for liquor shots.”
Make sure you pick up 100% juice for this. And that could take you a while. Because if you haven’t noticed, a lot of brands say “100% juice! No sugar added!” But if you read the ingredients, it lists a bunch of stuff that is obviously NOT juice. I’m not sure about you, but I call that FALSE ADVERTISING. Good grief.
Since I don’t buy juice a lot (we don’t drink juice, have I mentioned that?), I find that it can go bad quickly in my fridge. And since I’m cheap frugal, I hate letting something go to waste. I just freeze it.
A lot of the recipes that I have come across might say “1/2 cup orange juice.” Well good grief. You can’t just buy ½ cup of orange juice. So, I buy the good stuff when it’s on sale and freeze it in 1 cup portions in the freezer. Then I have a little bit when I need it. That’s genius, right?
This will keep nicely in your crock for several hours – while you open gifts, play Monopoly, or write thank-you notes…in your yoga pants.
I hope you all get yoga pants for Christmas – me too.
Crock Pot Spiced Cider
- 7 cups 100% apple juice
- 1 cup 100% cranberry juice
- 1 cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- Combine all in 4 quart crock pot.
- Cover and cook on high for 2 hours.
- Reduce heat to low/warm and keep hot for several hours.
Yield: about 2 quarts
made this recipe. Very good. I like the orange juice additive and not sickly sweet. I added a few cloves and then I did 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon in addition to the sticks. It actually tastes more like cider as it “ages”. I also like the fact that it uses real apple juice instead of using cider as an ingredient. I mean, if i already had cider, why would I want to “make cider”. Anyhow, glad I found this blog and this recipe.
I know – I never understood why you’d want to make cider from….well, cider. 🙂
I got a question…any future plans of bringing your crock on in print again?
Yes indeed! 🙂 We’re hoping for another round of printing sometime after the first of the year.
Merry Christmas to the Myers Family. I’ll be working HARD to get out of medical debt in 2013. Only about $1,700 total left to go. So, I’m going to be on here daily looking for cheap, FREE ideas all year long. So, glad someone recommended your site to me last year, as you have helped me learn how to live within my means, and be HAPPY about doing that. 🙂 Blessings!
Woot!!! 🙂 What a great gift that will be to yourself and your family! 🙂
Oooh, that sounds so yummy and soothing! Can’t wait to try it! Thanks for sharing.
We’re having it Christmas morning! 🙂
Living in Minnesota I am totally addicted to hot drinks during the cold season. It’s a long season. Keep these awesome recipes coming! I love the crock pot chai latte. I’ve never actually made it in the crock pot because I don’t want to have to wait for it ;-). But, I will do that this afternoon just to be able to enjoy cup after cup all day!
Juice has so much sugar it is wonderful to have a cider recipe that doesn’t use extra sugar. Merry Christmas!
Cup after cup….YEAH!