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A cup of fragrant freshly brewed tea in a warm family circle is exactly what you need on frosty winter days. We suggest adding expressive accents to your favorite drink, and a bright sunny mood to your home tea party. We will not ignore other warming drinks that will make simple family joys even sweeter and more pleasant.
Lemon-honey sea buckthorn
Tart sea buckthorn, fragrant honey and lemon with a juicy sourness are a harmonious addition to tea, which will also give it healing properties. Combine 2 tablespoons of black tea, 3 cups of lemon and a handful of dried mint in a teapot. Fill the mixture with 800 ml of hot water and brew for 10 minutes. Knead 3 tablespoons of fresh sea buckthorn berries with honey to taste. When the tea cools down a little, we put the berry-honey mass in the teapot and insist for another 15 minutes. We just need to strain the drink through a fine sieve, and you can serve it to the table. Put slices of lemon, a stick of cinnamon and stars of star anise in each cup. This will give sea buckthorn tea a rich aroma and spicy notes. Remember, it is better to serve it warm, not hot.
Cranberries with a bouquet of spices
Do you like bright, rich combinations? Then brew tea with cranberries, apple and fragrant spices. Peel and core a small sweet and sour apple, cut into a small cube, pour the juice of half a lemon. Lightly knead 30 g of fresh cranberries and put them together with apple cubes in a teapot. Pour 3 tablespoons of large-leaved black tea here, a generous pinch of ground ginger, cinnamon and thyme. Pour the mixture of 500 ml of boiling water, insist for 20 minutes, then filter. You can sweeten the drink with sugar or honey. Serve the tea in large transparent mugs, supplemented with whole cranberries and a slice of lemon. Such beauty will warm you with its appearance alone.
Cocoa and marshmallow tenderness
If you are convinced that the most delicious warming drink of autumn is cocoa, the following recipe is for you. In a glass container, mix 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder, 2-3 tablespoons of sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and salt. Fill the mixture with 150 ml of boiling water and completely dissolve the cocoa so that there is not a single lump left.
Rinse the saucepan with cold water, pour in 500 ml of milk and heat it over low heat. It is important not to let the milk boil. Continuously stirring with a whisk, we introduce a thin stream of dissolved cocoa with sugar. Reduce the flame to a minimum and, without stopping to stir, keep the drink on the fire for 2-3 minutes. Make sure that it does not boil. Pour hot cocoa into mugs and add a scattering of small marshmallows. They can be left on the surface or immersed in a drink with a spoon. Just do this before serving, so that the marshmallows do not have time to melt.
Hot chocolate with citrus and cinnamon
For fans of hot chocolate, we also have a special treat. Mix 100 ml of milk and 80 ml of cream with a fat content of at least 30-33 % in a saucepan, heat it over low heat, not allowing the mixture to boil. We break 100 g of dark chocolate into pieces without additives, put it in a saucepan and completely dissolve it in cream with milk. Add 3-4 tbsp. l. orange juice, 2 tsp. cocoa powder, sugar to taste. After completely dissolving all the dry ingredients, we keep the drink on low heat for a couple more minutes. We pour thick hot chocolate into small coffee cups. For the most demanding sweets, decorate it with a cap of whipped cream and chocolate chips. And you can serve the drink just like that, lightly sprinkled with ground cinnamon and finely grated orange zest.
An old honey delight
In the old days in Russia, in the cold, they were warmed by honey sbiten. We offer you to enjoy the taste of this miraculous drink. Mix 500 g of natural flower honey and 1.5 liters of filtered water in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over low heat, completely dissolve the honey. Now we lay the spices: 8-12 peas of allspice, 5-6 buds of cloves, a stick of cinnamon, 0.5 tsp. grated ginger root, ¼ tsp.ground cardamom and anise. For a richer aroma, you can also put dried herbs, such as lemon balm, mint, St. John’s wort or oregano. Just do not overdo it with their number. We cook the drink for 15-20 minutes on the weakest fire, constantly removing the incoming foam. We filter the sbiten through a fine sieve, pour it into mugs, and you can treat your relatives.
Spicy pumpkin under a creamy cloud
Is it possible to add vegetables to coffee? Paradoxically, but it is possible. If we are talking about a spicy pumpkin latte. Cut into slices 400 g of pumpkin pulp, bake in the oven for 40 minutes at 180 °C, then carefully puree with an immersion blender. Mix pumpkin puree with 250 ml of filtered water and 150 g of sugar. Add 1 tsp of cinnamon and ground cloves, 0.5 tsp of ground ginger, 2-3 stars of anise, ¼ tsp of nutmeg. Bring the spicy mixture to a boil and cook for 15 minutes on low heat until it finally thickens.
In addition, we will need to brew 500 ml of black coffee without sugar. Mix it with pumpkin spice mixture and 150 ml of hot milk, immediately pour the drink into mugs. With a mixer, beat 120 ml of cream with a fat content of 33-38 % into a lush, persistent foam and decorate the pumpkin latte with it.
Save these recipes for warming drinks in your culinary piggy bank to pamper your family on a particularly cold winter evening. Such a treat will instantly warm you with its warmth and fill your hearts with a soothing home comfort. And what kind of warming drinks do your family like? Share your signature recipes and cooking secrets in the comments.