I can’t imagine a cold, wet, interminably grey Northwest winter without the comfort of hot tea with mulling spices. And when it snows, this daily ritual takes on an almost magical significance.

I love the smell of aromatic spices in the house. I love inhaling warm wafts of spicy goodness while cradling a cup of hot tea in both hands. Comfort is the word that comes to mind, but an elemental comfort that is hard to describe. At these moments, I know in the deepest way that no matter what is appearing in my life, all is somehow, inexplicably, as it should be and thus perfect. This feeling sometimes runs counter to all logic, and yet there it is as I sip my spicy mulled tea.

The tradition of infusing tea, cider, wine, and brandy with highly aromatic spices, such as cinnamon, cloves, star anise, allspice, and nutmeg, along with citrus peel, is centuries old and closely associated with the festivities of the Christmas season.

When creating mulling spices for tea, it’s important to crush or even powder the spices to insure that their full flavor infuses into the boiling water in just 2-4 minutes, or the time it takes to brew the tea. Any longer and you will bring out the tannins in the tea, which result in that astringent, puckery feel in the mouth.

On the other hand, mulling spices can be left in larger pieces if they are intended for a drink that can be simmered considerably longer, such as mulled cider, wine or brandy.

Christmas Tea Mulling Spice

If you plan to invite a few friends over for tea and nibbles this holiday season, do infuse your favorite tea with this heady blend of spices. While you’re at it, have someone read aloud the heartwarming little story, A Cup of Christmas Tea. I guarantee you will all feel blessed by the Spirit of Christmas.

A ribbon-tied jar of mulling spices makes a lovely small gift or stocking stuffer.

2 ounces candied ginger, chopped (about ½ cup)
1 ounce Ceylon cinnamon stick, broken into ¼-inch pieces (one 4½-inch piece)
½ ounce whole allspice, crushed (about 2 tablespoons)
½ ounce cardamom pods, crushed lightly, outer shell discarded (about 2 tablespoons seeds)
¼ ounce star anise (about 2 tablespoons)
1/8 ounce cloves, slightly crushed (about 1 tablespoon)
finely grated zest of 2 large oranges
¼ teaspoon orange oil

1. If presenting as a gift in a 1½-cup, glass jar, layer all ingredients in the airtight jar, and seal. Instruct the recipient to mix the spices well before using for the first time.
2. Otherwise, mix the ingredients, put into an airtight container, and seal.
3. Store in a cool, dry, dark location. Keeps for many months.

Makes 4½ ounces (about 1¼ cups).

Spicy Christmas Tea

2 tablespoons Christmas Tea Mulling Spice 
2 teaspoons favorite black tea
sweetener of your choice, optional
thin slices lemon, optional

1. Bring a kettle of fresh, cold water just to a simmer. (Do not boil.)
2. In the meanwhile, put Christmas Tea Mulling Spice and tea into a teapot strainer basket or large tea strainer.
3. Pour4 cups of  just simmering water over the spices and tea into a teapot or other container with pouring spout.
4. Let steep 2-4 minutes, then remove the spices and tea, and pour spiced tea into tea cups to serve. If desired, sweeten and serve with lemon.

Serves 2-4.

There must be a hundred posts on the web on the topic of Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte. Amazing! Would you believe I have NEVER had a Pumpkin Spice Latte? I’m not quite sure how that happened. However, in perusing all of the copycat recipes, it appears that there is little if any actual pumpkin in this wildly popular autumnal concoction; just a teaspoon or so of Pumpkin Spice Syrup. Hmmm…

By the time I had read a dozen or so recipes for this drink, it was starting to sound less than wonderful. I won’t know for sure until I get on over to Starbucks and actually order one, but in the meanwhile I started thinking about how wonderful pumpkin and white chocolate are together. This rich, indulgent drink is the result.

The difficulty in working with white chocolate, however, is that it is essentially all sweetness with no acidic counterbalance. Thus, it can be exceedingly rich with nothing to relieve that richness. Partnerships with bitter or acidic elements, such as alcohol or espresso, can make all the difference. So, although I present you with the foundation recipe to begin with (and it is delicious), I prefer the variations. I will be sipping one of them on Halloween night, nestled by the fire, awaiting the onslaught of trick-or-treaters.

Pumpkin Spice Hot White Chocolate

This Hot White Chocolate is in the style of European drinking chocolate, which is made with whole milk (and sometimes part cream) and melted high-quality bar chocolate. The amount of white chocolate is variable. Use the lesser amount if you do not plan to add rum or espresso to your drink. Otherwise, you may find the drink a tad too sweet.

This drink is a perfect after dinner or late night finale.

3 cups whole milk
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 cinnamon sticks, broken
12 whole cloves, crushed slightly
12 whole allspice berries, crushed slightly
2 tablespoons chopped candied ginger
2 tablespoons chopped orange peel (all pith removed)
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

4-6 ounces, high quality white chocolate, roughly chopped (Lindt or Guittard recommended)
pinch sea salt (don’t even think about leaving this out)

Garnish
1 cup heavy cream, whipped and lightly sweetened
shaved white chocolate, from a bar of white chocolate
ground cinnamon in a shaker

1. In a saucepan, over medium-low heat, bring the milk to a bare simmer.
   
2. Lower the heat to keep the milk below the boiling point and add the pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, candied ginger and vanilla bean.
   
3. Remove from the heat and let mellow as long as you can wait (refrigerate if you need to hold longer than an hour).
   
4. When ready to serve, pour the milk mixture through a triple mesh strainer into a clean saucepan. Heat to just below a simmer and remove from the heat.
   
5. Add the white chocolate and stir until the chocolate is melted.
   
6. Remove from the heat, and add sea salt.
   
7. To serve immediately, pour into five, eight-ounce capacity, Irish coffee or other stemmed glasses.
   
8. To store, let cool, decant, cover, and refrigerate. Reheat to serve.
   
9. Just before serving, top each glass of hot chocolate with a generous mound of whipped cream, a few shavings of white chocolate, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Serve immediately.
   

Makes five, 6-ounce servings.

Jumpin’ Pumpkin Spice Hot White Chocolate

To each serving, add 1 shot espresso, stir, and top with whipped cream.

Spirited Pumpkin Spice Hot White Chocolate

To each serving, add 1 ounce Meyer’s dark rum, stir, and top with whipped cream.

After I created Fresh Blueberry Lime Sauce earlier this summer, I devoted myself to spooning it over Burnt Sugar Ice Cream and Fireweed Honey Panna Cotta, drizzling it over Blueberry Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake and MauiJim’s Cottage Cheese Pancakes, and using it way too frequently to make my favorite summer afternoon delight, Blueberry Lemon Verbena Spritzer with Candied Ginger Ice Cream.

Four cups of blueberry sauce goes a long way as it turns out. With the final 1½ cups of sauce, I created this terrific limeade. But first I infused it with a small amount of lavender from my herb garden.

Let me state this now unequivocally and for all time: blueberries and lavender are a flavor pairing made in heaven. Seriously!

You have to try a pitcher of this delicious concoction before fresh blueberries disappear completely for another year. I promise you will be glad you did. (You might also want to check out other great partners for blueberries in the Blueberry Primer.)

Blueberry Lavender Limeade

1½ cups sugar (or Splenda or Equal sweetener to taste)
4½ cups cold water

ice cubes
1½ cups fresh squeezed lime juice (6-8 limes)
1½ cups Fresh Blueberry, Lime & Lavender Sauce

Garnish
lime wedges or slices
whole fresh blueberries

1. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a bare simmer, whisking all the while. The sugar should go from cloudy to clear. When the syrup is clear, remove saucepan from the heat and cool. (If you prefer to use Splenda or Equal sweetener, skip this step.)
2. Fill a 2-quart pitcher half way with ice cubes. Add lime juice, Fresh Blueberry, Lime & Lavender Sauce, and the cool sugar syrup or cold water. (If you are not using the sugar syrup, add Splenda or Equal to taste.)
3. Stir vigorously to combine, and then garnish with lime slices and whole blueberries.

Makes 1½ quarts.

Where did all the ice cream parlors and drug store soda fountains go?

I don’t recall the name, but when I was a kid, there was the loveliest ice cream café across the street from the now long gone Frederick and Nelson in downtown Seattle. Mom and I always concluded our school shopping expeditions there. To me, it was pure elegance and a special treat.

For a brief while, I could forget that Mom had insisted on a magenta mohair sweater with matching plaid skirt (pleated!) and angora socks. Oh yes, and these shoes because my high arches demanded solid support. (OK, so those are the shoes I WISH she had bought me.)

Now, lest you think outfits of this sort sound like something only an ungrateful daughter would fail to appreciate, I must add here that I was 5’8″ tall in the 7^th grade and so thin that some of the bolder boys claimed I didn’t cast a shadow.

Now add that HERE-I-AM cowl neck sweater and KICKY-SKIRT that were supposed to mask that I was excruciatingly, embarrassingly THIN. Plus the real shoes. Plus the walk down the LONG hall from math class to science class, with boys lined up on both sides, hooting and sniping as the girls walked by.

Now you see why I needed ice cream. And not just any ice cream but something very special and totally absorbing.

I always ordered the same thing–a chocolate ice cream soda with vanilla ice cream. It came in a tall parfait glass set on a lace doily clad plate, complete with a wafer cookie. Mom ordered a chocolate malted with extra malt. We sipped slowly, spoons clanking the glasses occasionally. I told her how much I loved my new clothes, and she replied with a conspiratorial smile, “Just don’t tell your father how much we spent.”

Many years later, I say that exact same thing to my own daughter every time we go shopping. “Just don’t tell your father how much we spent.” In the absence of an ice cream parlor, I plan to make her this memorable concoction after our fall college shopping spree.

I will try not to balk if she wants these shoes. I mean really, how do you ride a bike and get from one class to the next in these babies?

Blueberry Lemon Verbena Spritzer with Candied Ginger Ice Cream

Here we have a new fangled play on an old fashioned ice cream soda. It’s the bees knees. Be sure to make the blueberry sauce before beginning this recipe.

small handful lemon verbena leaves

½ lime, cut into 4 wedges, then each wedge cut in half (8 pieces)

2-3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

¾ cup ginger beer (non alcoholic; preferably Bundaberg Ginger Beer, available at World Market)

2 tablespoons Fresh Blueberry Lime Sauce

1 scoop Candied Ginger Gelato (or Haagen Dazs Ginger Ice Cream)

Garnish

several fresh blueberries

sprig of lemon verbena

1. In a cocktail shaker or heavy mixing glass, add 4 ice cubes, lemon verbena, and lime wedges. Using a wooden cocktail muddler, muddle vigorously, crushing the ice, leaves and lime.
2. Add the lime juice, cover, and shake vigorously.
3. Add the ginger beer, stir, and then strain into a tall serving glass.
4. Slowly and gently pour 1½ tablespoons of the blueberry sauce into the ginger beer so as not to disturb or color the soda. The sauce is heavier than the soda and should sink neatly to the bottom of the glass.
5. Add a scoop of ice cream, the remaining ½ tablespoon blueberry sauce, a few blueberries and a sprig of lemon verbena.
6. Serve immediately with a long handled spoon.

Makes 1 drink.