Tag Archives: mulled wine

Glögg – Swedish Mulled Wine + Gift Guide

It’s winter and a perfect time to warm up with glögg (Swedish mulled wine), pepparkakor (ginger cookies), and comforting lussekatter (saffron buns). My rum glögg, which is spiced with ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and orange, can be enjoyed within a few hours. And if you bottle up the rum essence nicely, it makes a perfect gift together with a suitable red wine. This recipe gives you enough spiced rum for one bottle of red wine. But if needed, you can easily make several batches at once.

If you need some other ideas for holiday gifts, scroll down to see some of my suggestions.

Happy Holiday everyone!

Glögg Recipe
adapted from Fika: The Art of Swedish Coffee Break by Anna Brones & Johanna Kindvall

rum glögg essence
makes one 6 oz (175 ml) bottle (enough for one bottle of wine)

5 dried figs, cut in quarters
30 raisins
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
3 cinnamon sticks
2 teaspoons whole cloves
5 whole green cardamom pods
3/4 cup (175 ml) rum

for the warming glögg
1 bottle (750 ml) red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah)
1/2 cup (3.75 oz, 105 g) brown sugar
few handfuls of raisins & blanched almonds

Soak dried fruit, orange zest, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom in the rum for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Strain the essence through a sieve to remove the fruit and spices. Figs can be eaten as is or saved to serve with the glögg. Bottle the essence or heat it up in a saucepan together with the wine and sugar. Stir until sugar is completely dissolve. Make sure the glögg doesn’t boil.

Serve hot with blanched almonds and raisins (and figs). Unused essence can be stored for at least one month (but probably much longer).

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gift guide ideas

1.  something by me

Fika: The Art of Swedish Coffee Break
by Anna Brones & Johanna Kindvall, Ten Speed Press 2015

Smörgåsbord: The Art of Swedish Breads and Savory Treats
by Johanna Kindvall, Ten Speed Press 2017

Art Prints and Printed Products
illustrated by Johanna Kindvall

Pattern Design on Fabric
by Johanna Kindvall

Tea Towels
by Johanna Kindvall

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2. gift a book (new and old)

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3. cooking related gift ideas

Cooking Class at Archestratus 
Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Cooking Class at COOK
Philadelphia

Beer Brewing Kits & Classes
at Bitter & Esters, Brooklyn

Live Sourdough Starter
by Breadtopia

Kombucha Starter Kit
by Kombucha Brooklyn

Wine Vinegar Making Kit
with a beautiful vase by Cult Vinegar (UK)

Live Vinegar
by Cult Vinegar (UK)
I especially love the Riesling, Moscatel, Sake, and Port Vinegar!

Swedish Cookies
by Unna Bakery
(with my pattern design on the package)
My favorites are the Ginger Snap and the Raspberry Cave Cookies.

Norwegian Knekkebrød
by Norwegian Baked (Brooklyn)
(I designed their label)

Animated Glögg recipe for my dear friend Alice Brax, 2017.
Music:  “Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies” by Tchaikovsky, played by Kevin Macleod

Glögg (Mulled Wine)

flambera

I have never in my life done my own Glögg until now. Glögg is a warm wine drink that is very traditional during Christmas time in Sweden. In fact it’s a very old tradition and I have heard that it was a way to cover up a bad wine!

1 cup rum,or vodka or 50/50
1 bottle of a full bodied red wine (ex. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon)
dried figs
75 ml (0.3 cups) sucanat (or sugar cubes)
blanched almonds
raisins

spices
3 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 peels of an orange
5 whole cardamoms
1 small piece of ginger, chopped
20 raisins

Heat up the wine. It’s important to not let the wine boil! Put all the spices in the warm wine, turn the heat off and let it rest covered for at least 4 hours.

Seive the spices from the wine. Heat up the wine together with the figs to 60º C. In the meantime prepare a stainless steel net (for example a steel strainer) with sucanat or the sugar cubes. When the wine has reach the right temperature, place the steel net over the saucepan. Pour the rum over the sugar and light the alcohol steam below (flambé). Let the burned sugar drip into the wine mixture. Take the saucepan from the heat. Cover with a lid to stop the flames.

Serve the glögg warm with raisins, blanched almonds and the warm figs. Great after a walk in the snow!

(There are many ways to do your own glögg and what you choose to make it out of. I got inspired by Bengt Frithiofssons recipe, “Glödgande Glögg”. Frithiofssons talk about wine on the Swedish TV Channel TV4.