[1] Salad with three different flavored oil droplets (photos #1 and #4 courtesy Matthew Kenney Cuisine). [2] Vegetables with a mushroom sauce swirl (photo courtesy Wassail | NYC). [3] The most elegant way to serve gravy (photo courtesy Strip House | Las Vegas). [4] A fancy way to serve ice cream or sorbet, with a chopped pistachio nuts. [5] Garnish your drinks, too (Chocolate Martini photo courtesy Scrumpdillyicious).

The same plastic squeeze bottles used to serve ketchup at some casual spots can also be used to create glamorous accents—dots, swirls, zigzags—on your everyday foods as well as special occasion fare.

All you need are inexpensive squeeze bottles.

You can keep them in the fridge, ready to do a maple syrup zigzag over French toast, flavored olive oil droplets in soups or on plates, raspberry purée for desserts, or anything else you want to dot, squiggle, swirl or zigzag .

There’s no limit: sweet or savory, foods or beverages.

 
SQUEEZE BOTTLE DO’S & DONT’S

DO:

 
NEXT STEPS

1. What are you cooking next? Pick your garnish and make a different design for everyone. Even a ham sandwich can be served with mustard and mayonnaise polka dots or swirls.

2. Try different flavors with different foods. Maybe that ham sandwich would like a zigzag of sriracha mayo and a drizzle of honey mustard.

3. Don’t forget the soup. We love it with a few droplets of flavored olive oil, or a swirl of Greek yogurt or sour cream.

4. Plan your matches. If this is new for you, it will take you longer to decide on the sauce than create the designs. On the other hand, there’s something to be said for spontaneity. Just grab that bottle of ranch dressing, pour it into the squeeze bottle and garnish away!
 
FINAL NOTES

A squeeze bottle makes all of this easy.

Designs don’t have to be perfect swirls or zigs.

Whatever you start with will be just fine.

You’re going to have a lot of fun with this!

After years of serving mulled wine, we realized that the popular garnishes are wasteful: They can’t be eaten, and are tossed out. That means you, cinnamon sticks, curls of peel, raw cranberries, and star anise. So, we’ve settled on seasonal garnishes that are edible, attractive, and aromatic:

 
This article has three recipes. We start with a conventional recipe.

Next is a slow cooker alternative (jump to it, below). Slow mulling is great because it doesn’t take up a stovetop burner that you may need for cooking.

Finally, a recipe for mulled wine with vodka (jump to it, below).
 
TIPS

 
 
RECIPE #1: CRANBERRY MULLED WINE

We adapted this classic recipe from Wine And Glue.

TIP: Serve mulled wine in a glass vessel. If you don’t have glass mugs or Irish Coffee glasses, consider getting some. They’re not more than $5 apiece, and you can use them year-round for any hot beverage. Rocks glasses and stemmed wine glasses also work.

Ingredients

 
Variations

[1] The conventional garnishes look beautiful, but you can’t eat them (photo © Kitchen Treaty).

[2] Our favorite garnish: an orange wedge (edible) studded with a few cloves (photo © The Guardian).

[3] Cardamom pods. Here are more uses for them (photo © Indian Home Cooking | Clarkson Potter).

1. COMBINE all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a quick boil, then reduce to a low simmer for 10 minutes. You don’t want the alcohol to evaporate.

2. SERVE warm. If you don’t have glass cups or mugs, you can also use stemmed wine glasses or rocks glasses.
 
 
 
RECIPE #2: SLOW COOKER CRANBERRY MULLED WINE

We adapted this recipe from Kate at Kitchen Treaty.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the wine, orange juice, cranberries, and sugar to a 3-quart or larger slow cooker. Stir to help the sugar dissolve.

2. SCRUB the orange, stud it with cloves and add it to the pot. If you don’t have the time to insert the cloves, just toss them into the pot separately. There are two techniques to stud an orange: use a thimble on your finger (pushing in more than a few starts to dent your finger) or first make holes with an ice pick or toothpick.

3. COOK on low for 2-3 hours, until the cranberries are tender. Be sure not to boil. Remove the orange and the cinnamon sticks, then carefully pour the mulled wine through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. Use the back of a large spoon to press on the cranberries and release the juices. Return the wine to the slow cooker and stir in the brandy. Taste and adjust the sweetness until it’s just sweet enough (the sweetness should be more elegant than a soft drink!).

4. LADLE into mugs, garnish as desired and serve. Keep the slow cooker on the low setting so guests can help themselves to refills. Kitchen Treaty advises that if kept on low for more than three hours, it will boil—and boil off the alcohol.
 

[4] Cranberry sticks are expensive. Here’s a trick: You can rinse them off and reuse them. They’ll lose some of their aroma, but wrap them tightly once they’re dried. Ali of Gimme Some Oven adds star anise to her recipe (photo © Gimme Some Oven.

[5] Glass mugs or rocks glasses make mulled wine look even better. And we love this edible garnish: a dried apple slice (photo © Nastasia Day | Pexels).

RECIPE #3: MULLED WINE WITH VODKA

This ingredient comes from Ocean Spray. The vodka is optional, but we highly recommend it!
 
Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE all ingredients except the vodka, dried cranberries and almonds in a large saucepan. Heat to boiling, reduce the heat and simmer 15 for minutes.

2. STRAIN to remove the spices. Stir in the vodka,

3. PLACE 1 tablespoon of dried cranberries and 1-1/2 teaspoons of almonds in the bottom of each glass or mug. Pour the in mulled wine and serve.
 
 
WHAT DOES “MULLED” MEAN?

According to Harvard University, the origin of the word “mull” to mean heated and spiced is shrouded in mystery. Mulling spices can include allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, peppercorns and/or star anise. A “mulled” drink is one that has been prepared with these spices. The same spices can be added to the brewing process to make spiced beer.

The custom is believed to have originated in northern Europe to use wine that had gone bad. The spices covered up the off taste, along with additions such as apples, oranges and dried fruits, including raisins.

The technique is to heat the liquids with the spices and then strain them out before serving.

The expression “cup of good cheer” comes to us from Merrie Olde England, referring to hot mulled cider and wine.

Centuries later, the term evolved into a drinking toast. The wassail bowl tradition began in the 14th century in southern England, home to apple groves galore and a lot of apple cider. The first wassail bowls contained hot mulled cider. When you come across references to “a cup of good cheer,” it refers to mulled cider or wine.
 
 

For those moments when unexpected guests arrive for Christmas, or when acquaintances give you an unexpected gift—we have a strategy:

Make homemade bark or fudge in advance. They have a long shelf life; it’s easy to carry a small tin with you for chance encounters, and even people who don’t eat sweets will be pleased to have something nice to serve their own guests, or to re-gift.

It’s also a sweet gift to take on casual visits over the holidays.

Here are two holiday-accented options, plus the difference between cream and creme.
 
 
RECIPE #1: CHOCOLATE ORANGE PISTACHIO BARK

Using salted pistachios gives this bark the popular sweet-and-salty profile. We adapted this recipe from one by the Florida Orange Juice.

 
Preparation

1. PLACE the orange juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Reduce to ¼ cup and cool.

2. MELT the chocolate over a double boiler. While the chocolate melts, stir occasionally as you…

3. LINE a small baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour the melted chocolate onto the parchment to a ¼-inch thickness. Swirl in the cooled orange juice with a spatula, creating thin channels in the chocolate.

4. SPRINKLE the cranberries and pistachios over the chocolate and lightly press. When the chocolate is completely hardened…

5. BREAK into pieces and package. For home gifting, a simple box or gift bag with a ribbon is fine (wrap the pieces in wax paper for protection). For toting around, consider something more durable. For longer storage, keep it in an airtight container.
 
 
RECIPE #2: WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY FUDGE

We adapted this snowy holiday fudge from Mom On Timeout (love that name!).

It’s just the thing to take over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house…or to the neighbors next door.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. LINE a 9″ x13″ baking dish with parchment or foil; lightly spray with cooking spray.

2. COMBINE the sugar, sour cream, butter, and salt in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, to the soft ball stage (238°F on a food thermometer).

3. REMOVE from the heat, add the chocolate and stir until completely melted. Stir in the marshmallow cream and vanilla extract until completely blended. Next, blend in the dried cranberries. Pour the mixture into the baking dish and cool to room temperature. If you want a green accent, add it now. Then…

4. PLACE the pan in the fridge for several hours or overnight, before cutting into squares.

5. STORE in an airtight container. For home gifting, a simple box or gift bag with a ribbon is fine (wrap the pieces in wax paper for protection). For toting around, consider something more durable. For longer storage, keep in an airtight container.

[1] Chocolate bark with holiday accents (photo © Close Encounters Of The Cooking Kind).

[2] Use a quality chocolate bar like Lindt (photo © Lindt).

[3] Snowy Christmas fudge from Mom On Time Out.

[4] Dried cranberries from Ocean Spray. Their Craisins are simply branded dried cranberries.

[5] Want a garnish? Make candied mint leaves—the smaller the better. You can chop them after they’re candied. Press them into the fudge when it has cooled (photo and recipe © Emjay’s Imagination).

What’s the difference between creme and cream? Why do you see “creme pie” and “cream pie” for the same thing? The answer: error which evolved into common usage.

Crème, pronounced KREHM, is the French word for cream. In America, French recipes were served at the tables of the wealthy, most of whom knew how to write and pronounce French properly.

As these recipes entered the mainstream, people who did not know French began to pronounce crème (KREHM) as (KREEM), and dispensed with the accent mark: hence, creme. This mashup of French and English became acceptable, and over time, “creme” was used for American dishes like cream pie, because “creme” looked fancier (i.e., French-associated was better).

To display your erudition when discussing a French dish, e.g. Crème Brûlée, use crème; when discussing an American dish, e.g. Chocolate Cream Pie, use cream. 
 
 
________________

 
*How To Measure Chopped Chocolate: Six ounces of chocolate chips equals 1 cup. If you chop the chocolate the size of chips, this conversion will work. Unless dry ingredients are finely ground, like flour and sugar, so they completely fill the cup measure, it’s difficult to get a precise measurement (e.g., one cup of blueberries). This is why professional recipes give measure in ounces, not cups. You can use white chocolate chips, but you’ll get better chocolate flavor from a premium chocolate bar.

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