Hot Apple Cider
The other great thing about apple season besides sweet, crisp and juicy apples everywhere? Apple cider! Hot or mulled cider is a perfect cold-weather drink. Heat freshly pressed cider with cinnamon sticks, cloves, and other mulling spices slowly over the course of an hour or two to let the flavours mingle.
Tip: Use a slow cooker. Set it before an afternoon outside and it’ll be ready and waiting for you when you get home.
Homemade Chai
Make your own blend of chai with spices like cardamom, cloves, ginger, and cloves and some black tea. Steep, strain and blend with warm milk and sugar and you’ve got a chai latte in your own kitchen.
Ginger Tea
This “tea” doesn’t require any actual tea leaves — you can make your own herbal blend with slices of fresh ginger, honey, and hot water. Tip: Develop a more complex flavour by adding in some crushed cardamom pods and fennel seeds.
Hot Lemonade
A hot cup of lemon juice and honey is perfect if you’re feeling a little under the weather. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon into a mug and stir in a tablespoon of honey. Top up the mug with hot water (and adjust the amount of
honey to taste) and you have an instant hot drink that will also help soothe scratchy throats.
Flavoured Hot Chocolate
Jazz up your standard hot chocolate with different flavours, like a drop of peppermint extract, a spoonful of peanut butter, or a dash of cinnamon (add a pinch of chili powder and make it a Mexican-style hot chocolate).
Hot Pineapple Tea
If you like to buy fresh pineapple during the winter for a taste of sunshine, use the rinds to make a surprisingly
delicious hot drink. Put the rinds and core of 1 pineapple (or 4 cups of Compliments Pineapple Juice) into a slow
cooker with 2 slices of ginger, ½ cup brown sugar, 3 cloves, 1 cinnamon stick, and 2 cups of water; cook on low for
4 to 6 hours. Steep a black tea bag in the mixture for 10 minutes before serving and you’ve got a distinctly
tropical-themed warm drink.
