Blog delayed until next Monday · 4:48am Oct 9th, 2014
What with all this new site business and the 3 tomes sitting in the Twilight's Library incoming folder (and certainly not because I've rewritten the dang thing three times from scratch already), I will not be putting up my usual writing blog this week.
In some form of consolation, I offer you several brief thoughts regarding the proper consumption of apple cider which I gleaned from acquiring a half gallon of the stuff over the weekend.
The first thing to understand is that cold apple cider is refreshing. Hot apple cider not so much. Drink the former if thirsty and the latter if you are cold. Not vice-versa (that's important).
Hot apple cider is rather thin, all things considered. However, with the proper imagination, it will readily serve as a base for hot drinks that will put Starbucks to shame for much cheaper. Your average mulling spice packet will be enough to give hot cider some extra fullness, but I find if one is going to bother heating it up at all, whipped cream is your best friend..
Whipped cream, along with some cinnamon and cloves, really helps to full out your hot cider. Be careful with the cloves: they can bite. Cinnamon is generally milder. Use both for full flavor.
Feeling more adventurous? Take a small bowl and combine whipped cream, caramel syrup, powdered cloves, cinnamon, and a dash of cold cider. Heat mug of cider. Layer cold caramel cream mixture on top of the hot cider with a dollop of pure whipped cream in the middle for show.
If you do not feel like getting a bowl dirty, hot caramel apple cider is another very excellent option. Drizzle cool caramel syrup to taste in the bottom of your mug before pouring cold cider on top. Heat. Stir. Profit. I prefer to add cinnamon and clove as well for that extra edge. Caramel syrup seems to get slurped right up by the hot cider. I have not yet found a drop of it settled in the bottom of my empty mug, and I added quite a bit.
Coffee flavor syrups that can be found in the coffee aisle at your local Wal-Mart are another great ingredient. A few drops of roasted hazelnut in your hot caramel apple cider is heavenly.
Remember folks: cider season will be here and gone. Get your cider before Rainbow Dash does.
Never had hot cider. I've always been more of a cold drink drinker than a hot dirnk.
2520055
Same here, actually (the cold-drinker business). "Hot" cider is better when its more or less lukewarm. Then it is more or less glowing golden sugary goodness flowing down your throat.
Hot cider is best when you've been out in the cold and just need something to make you feel warm from the inside out.
2520784
And it is doubly good when you are cold and tired and need a 100g sugar rush to get all your energy back