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Mulled Hard Pear Cider Recipe

Mulled Hard Pear Cider
Difficulty: Easy | Total Time: 40 mins | Active Time: | Makes: 6 to 8 servings

Think cider, and surely visions of apples dance through your head. But here hard pear cider steps in for the apple cider and gets spiced, sweetened, and boozed up—making for the perfect antidote to a blustery winter day.

What to buy: There are varying qualities of hard pear cider on the market; look for one that has distinct pear flavor and not too much sweetness. We like Ace or Wyder’s brands.

Game plan: The cider will keep for up to 4 days in a covered container in the refrigerator. Prepare it through step 1, and when ready to serve, reheat the cider and proceed with step 2.

This recipe was featured as part of both our Cold-Weather Comfort Food Menu and our Tailgating Recipes photo gallery.

INGREDIENTS
  • 4 (22-ounce) bottles hard pear cider
  • Zest of 1 medium orange, removed in large strips
  • 1 (3-inch) piece ginger, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick pieces
  • 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped (optional)
  • 1/2 cup brandy
  • 1/2 cup honey
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Combine cider, orange zest, ginger, and vanilla bean and seeds (if using) in a large pot, stir well, and bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep for about 20 minutes.
  2. Stir in brandy and honey, pour into heatproof mugs, and serve.
    Write a review | 9 Reviews
  • Mulled Hard Pear Cider is very very easy recipe to make.Really i liked it too much and will try to make it. Thanks for sharing.

  • Love a great hot apple cider recipe. Another one I love is the Ginger-Spiced Apple Cider 3/4 cup apple cider (hot) 1 shot Ginger Canton Liquer 1 shot Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum http://www.dinewith9.com http://www.epicureantourist.com The Epicurean Tourist

  • i made this in a big batch for a party over the weekend. it took a LOT of tweaking before it was actually good. i had to use woodchuck cider (yuck) because it was all that was available (or affordable) at my store. i had to boil down the cider for a while but then it still tasted really astringent. i added butter to give it a better texture and that really brought out the pear flavor. i also used raw sugar instead of honey so that it wouldn't taste too medicinal. hope this helps!

  • ciders (and perries [perrys?]) can vary in sweetness a great deal. Many are sweetened after fermentation. I suspect this is part of the sweetness debate with this recipe.

  • same here--great idea to substitute hard pear cider, for apple cider, but i never ever add any sweetener to my mulled cider! to me its delicious because of the four way balance between sweet and tangy, and spicy and alcohol. definately going to try it!

  • This sounds absolutely awesome. To simplify it though, I might just do the same with the pear as I've always done with my spiked cider: just whiskey, cinnamon, and cider. It's so simple and so so good! http://www.biggirlssmallkitchen.com/2008/12/cooking-for-others-holiday-parties-for.html

  • perry? hmm... this does look good, but seems like it would be really sweet without the honey. i am going to try it tonight. what's up with the adds on chowhound?

  • Please call it by it's proper name "perry" not pear cider.

  • I just tried this recipe last night, and was really impressed up until step 2. The addition of the honey and brandy made it taste like a hot toddy or other home cold/cough remedy. I will definitely try this again, although probably go a lot lighter on the honey, if not omitting it entirely to avoid the medicine-ness, it definitely was wonderful and fragrant with just the cider and spices and brandy before the honey.

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