The Most Awesome Glogg Ever

I lived in Denmark for a few years and one of the best drinks I had while living there was Gløgg. If you want to know how Gløgg is pronounced, go here; then try to say it three times really fast.

Gløgg is a warm holiday drink that not only warms the body but is very tasty too. If you are having a gathering this holiday season, prepare this and your guests will love it. In fact, even if you aren't having a gathering, prepare it; you'll be glad you did. Enjoy!

First gather everything that you will need to make this.

• Crock pot or any other pot you can use to simmer the Gløgg
• Cheesecloth
• Whole cloves (one tablespoon)
• Port wine (about a cup)
• A bottle of red wine
• An orange, you will use the peel for zest
• Raw almonds (blanched or whole) (about a cup)
• Cinnamon sticks
• Golden raisins (about a cup)
• White sugar

The wine and port do not have to be of the highest quality because they will be mixed in with everything else.

First, open the red wine and pour the entire bottle into the crock pot which has not been turned on.

If you are using a pot, pour the entire bottle into the pot. Make sure there is enough in the pot to accommodate two bottles of wine. You won't be including two bottles but you will ensure that you have enough room in your pot.

Putting the wine in before everything else allows it to breathe while you are preparing the other things to go in to the Gløgg.

I am by no means a wine snob so I think even a twist off variety of red wine would be OK for this recipe. I have never tried it but if you do let me know what it tastes like.

Open the port wine and pour one cup into the pot. You can add more port wine later. At this point, do not introduce heat.

Using a vegetable peeler, knife or anything else you have, cut a thin layer of the orange peel. Make sure not to get the pith, which will make the Gløgg bitter. You will want to peel the entire orange. This is the orange zest!

Now you will want to cut about six inches of the cheesecloth. It does not need to be exact but you will be putting the cloves and the orange zest in it. Cheesecloth comes folded in several layers, as you can see below, so you will just cut across all the layers. The piece will be six inches wide but very long.

Measure one tablespoon of the cloves and place in a pile with the orange zest on the center of the cheesecloth you cut. This will be the mixture you use for the spice sachet.

Now that the cloves and oranges are on the center of the cheesecloth, just tie up the sachet. I double wrapped mine. The reason you want to make the sachet is so that the cloves and zest are not floating around in the actual drink but are used for flavoring.

At this point, you should turn on your heat source to a simmer. If using a crock pot, put on low, if using a stove, heat the wine and port mixture to a simmer.

Add two cinnamon sticks directly into the wine mixture. I used two cinnamon sticks but they were about twice as long and thick as regular ones so you can adjust accordingly.

Carefully place the sachet into the wine mixture.

Take one cup of almonds and chop them up. Of course you can also buy blanched or pre chopped almonds but I like big pieces so I chop them myself. You can chop them to any size but do not make them to small otherwise they will be like sediment at the bottom of the mixture.

Take one cup of golden raisins and add them to the almonds.

Now add the almonds and raisins to the wine mixture.

Now that the Gløgg has had a chance to simmer, now you can taste to see if you would like to add more sugar or more port wine.

The Gløgg can now be served. Make sure you add almonds and raisins to the bottom of the glass; they will have soaked up the flavor of Gløgg quite nicely. And, yes, do eat the almonds and raisins; that's the best part to me! :-)