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One 48-ounce bottle cranberry juice cocktail

One 48-ounce bottle apple cider or apple juice

Two 4-inch cinnamon sticks

3 whole cloves

½ teaspoon ground ginger

Zest from 2 oranges, cut into julienne strips

combine all the ingredients in the insert of a 5- to 7-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours. Remove the whole spices (see savvy).

keep the cider warm in the cooker for up to 5 hours.

Any remaining cider may be cooled to room temperature and refrigerated. Reheat the cider, a cup at a time, in the microwave.

serves 12

* * *

slow-cooker savvy

To remove the spices, I use a small strainer to catch the seasonings, which will float on top of the cider. Another gadget that works is a spider, used for scooping out deep-fried food from bubbling oil.

Hot Buttered Rum Cider

This buttered rum cider is a terrific way to warm up your family and friends after a day of skiing or playing in the snow. The buttered rum can be made ahead of time and frozen. The butter doesn’t freeze rock solid because of the high alcohol content, so it can be easily measured for the recipe without any problem.

1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2/3 cup dark rum

2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Two 48-ounce bottles apple cider or apple juice

beat together the butter, sugar, rum, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a mixer bowl until smooth. Transfer the mixture to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 6 months.

place ½ cup of the butter mixture in the insert of a 5- to 7-quart slow cooker and add the cider. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.

stir the cider before serving from the cooker set on warm.

serves 10–12

Warm Cranberry Punch

Warm cranberry and pineapple juices, spiced with fragrant cinnamon and cloves, make a terrific drink to serve during cold weather or at the holidays. The slow cooker will keep the punch at the perfect temperature for serving.

One 48-ounce bottle cranberry juice cocktail

4 cups pineapple juice

1 cup water

½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

Three 4-inch cinnamon sticks

½ teaspoon whole allspice berries

1 teaspoon whole cloves

combine all the ingredients in the insert of a 5- to 7-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours. Remove the whole spices.

keep the punch warm in the cooker.

serves 12

Wassail

Sometimes when writing a book, you know when you’ve done too much research. I was always under the impression that wassail was a type of mulled wine, when in fact a wassailing was also singing in the Middle Ages to apple trees to ensure a good harvest. The wassail was a huge bowl of punch lugged into the orchard and the contents would vary, but apple cider or beer seemed to be the two winners here. So what’s a girl to do? I’m sticking with the wine version because I like it—but it has a twist!

Three 750-ml bottles medium-bodied red wine, such as Zinfandel, Barolo, Pinot Noir

1 cup superfine sugar

3 whole star anise pods

3 cups dried apples

1 medium navel orange studded with about 20 whole cloves

1 medium lemon, thinly sliced

put all the ingredients in the insert of a 5- to 7-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. Remove the spices, apples, and orange, leaving the lemon slices.

serve the wassail from the cooker set on warm.

serves 10

Luxurious Hot Cocoa

My friend Lora Brody is the goddess of chocolate; anyone who could write a book entitled Growing Up on the Chocolate Diet is someone you want to know! A dear friend and mentor, she has shared many recipes with me, but this one is my favorite, from her book Chocolate American Style, which I’ve adapted to the slow cooker. Lora says hot chocolate has to have more than big flavor, it also should be thick enough to soothe your insides, which is exactly what this does. Make sure to have plenty of garnishes on hand, such as