It’s been a rather long holiday hiatus for me; longer than I intended, actually. Work is kicking my ass right now. However, I can’t think of a better way to return from my hiatus than by posting a warm alcoholic beverage. It is January, and cold weather tells me to hibernate, eat fattening things, and drink things like Glogg. What’s Glogg, you ask? It is a Swedish beverage with a funny name and much like mulled wine but about a hundred times better!

Glogg - Swedish Mulled Wine

It’s traditionally served with a snack of raisins and almonds. What’s not to love?! A crunch salty-sweet snack and some alcohol. I dig it. If you’re having a particularly cold day, make a batch, invite some friends, and have a movie marathon or play some video games.

INGREDIENTS:

* 2½ cups full-bodied red wine, such as Cabernet

* 1½ cups ruby port

* 1 cup cognac

* ¼ cup light brown sugar

* 1 orange peel

* 8 green cardamom pods

* 2 cinnamon sticks

* 5 whole cloves

* 1 whole star anise

* ¼ cup blanched, sliced almonds

* ¼ cup raisins

* ¼ cup dried cherries

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large stockpot set over medium heat, combine the wine, port, cognac, brown sugar, orange peel, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and star anise. Bring to a simmer and then remove from the heat. Cover and set aside for 2 hours.

2. Strain the glogg through a fine-mesh strainer, discard the spices and rewarm. Place a few blanched almonds, raisins and dried cherries in each glass and add the glogg. Serve immediately. Makes 1 1/2 quarts.

Recipe courtesy of Tasting Table.

When it comes to holiday gift-giving, I’m definitely in the homemade camp. I prefer to give (and receive) homemade items, and I especially love to give food. I may not know what color scarf you would prefer, but I do know if you like white, dark, or milk chocolate (or no chocolate)! Thus, I usually make food and package it into cute containers. This year I made some chocolate-peanut-butter bark, and I was thrilled to find these super-cute take-out containers for it at World Market.

Adorable Winter Scene Container - Complete with Bark!

These are perfect for many reasons. First, it’s a cute winter woodland scene with critters, and it has a bear in it. I ♥ bears! Because it’s a Winter scene, it’s not specific to any particular holiday. I can give it to friends and family regardless of what they are celebrating: Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, Saturnalia, etc. Second, it has a cute bark design on the sides, and I’m giving chocolate bark. WIN!

If you’re curious about chocolate-peanut-butter bark, I made it from a recipe I found here, with one small change. I also added small mini-pretzels to my bark, so it contains semi-sweet chocolate, peanut butter, salted peanuts, mini Reese’s cups, and pretzels. I love the juxtaposition of sweet, salty, creamy, and crunchy.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bark from Best Mom on the Block