Apple Cider Sangria

I saw this recipe a few times, before it really clicked that it was something I really wanted to make.

While I enjoy white sangrias, I really prefer red. So, that probably accounts for my hesitation.

I decided it would be great for Thanksgiving. Mum usually serves wine, but I really don't like wine... well... unless it's in sangria form!

Anyway... I was perusing the interwebs and stumbled upon this recipe at how sweet it is... and I tweaked it a little.



Apple Cider Sangria
1 bottle (750ml) pinot grigio
2 1/2 C apple cider
1/2 C ginger liqueur (I used Domaine de Canton)
1 C ginger ale or ginger beer
3 honey crisp apples, cubed
3 pears, cubed

Combine all ingredients and stir. Refrigerate at least one hour, preferably several.

Enjoy!!

I made a single batch of this and instantly decided to add half a batch more, then decided to just double it. We didn't have any more pinot grigio or we would have doubled it again!

This is wicked good!!! Everyone totally LOVED it!



I only used the apples & pears for one recipe. I think if we'd quadrupled it, just 3 pears and 3 apples would have still been fine.

This can sit in the fridge for days (if it lasts that long!!) You don't get any bitterness like you do from citrus fruit in sangria. The apples and pears just keep adding more appley peary goodness!



From this day forward Apple Cider Sangria will forever be served on Thanksgiving!! And probably many of the other days that apple cider is available! I can't wait to make it again!

I really suggest you make this today.... don't dawdle like I did!!! And make it at least a double!!

Peachy White Zinfandel Sangria

Most of the time, when Bob's best friend stays at our house, his grandmother sends along a little gift bag for the house. She totally doesn't need to do that, but she always does. Often there's some kind of alcohol... Hungarian sausage... snacks for the kids. It's awesome! Thank you Elizabet! You're such a sweetie!!

The last bag had a bottle of White Zinfandel in it. I knew right away I'd be making it into sangria!!

I mentioned to Erin that I needed to come up with a sangria recipe for the White Zin and she sent me this from Tasty Kitchen. I've tweaked it to my liking and upsized it to use a 1.5 L bottle of wine, since that's what I had on hand.



Peachy White Zinfandel Sangria
1.5 L White Zinfandel
1 C peach schnapps
1/4 C triple sec
1/2 lemon, sliced
1 1/2 oranges, sliced
BIG handful of strawberries, sliced
2 nectarines, sliced

Keep the extra 1/2 lemon & 1/2 orange, slice and use as a garnish.

Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher. Refrigerate for several hours.
Pour over ice.
Enjoy with friends!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is all you need!




This was tasty. It was light and refreshing. I didn't add any soda to it at all. Very peachy in flavor. I prefer a red sangria. But I definitely wouldn't say no to this!

Porch Sangria

Hi! Happy Summer!

Summertime at Spryte's Place equals Sangria!

This one is simply called Porch Sangria because I just made it to enjoy with a friend, on the porch on a sunny, lazy, summer afternoon!

Sangrias are easy and this is no exception.

 

Porch Sangria
1 bottle dry red wine
1/2 C brandy
1/4 C triple sec
1 1/2 C orange juice
2 nectarines, sliced
2 oranges, sliced
1 lime, sliced
gingerale

Combine wine, brandy, triple sec and orange juice in a large pitcher. Add sliced nectarines & oranges. Refrigerate several hours to overnight. When getting ready to serve add sliced lime to the pitcher. Pour over ice and top off with cold gingerale as desired.

Enjoy with friends!!
 

Narcisi Sangria

Ok, this is kind of a cheater sangria, since it's already sangria ready to drink from the bottle.

I started with a bottle of Narcisi Sangria.


I found that in my wine cabinet. My mom bought it for me when we went out to Narcisi Winery for a little wine tasting.

I added some Brandy & Fruit.


A couple of nectarines, some raspberries, an orange and an apple.
(I LOVE nectarines!)

Mix it all up and let it rest overnight in the fridge.


Add some nice cold gingerale... and it's cocktail time!


The Narcisi Sangria is really delicious right out of the bottle... but if you can add more spirits & fruit, why not right? Cheers!

Summer Stone Sangria

There was no sangria last week. Well... I did make one... but it was a FAIL... but this week definitely more than makes up for it!

Summer Stone Sangria!

It's summer time and what would be a perfect addition to sangria?

Summer Stone Fruit!

I'm still working through my wine cabinet. This week I pulled out a Fat Cat Pinot Noir.



Summer Stone Sangria
1 (750 ml) bottle Fat Cat Pinot Noir
2/3 C Slivovitz (plum brandy)
1 C Apricot Nectar
2 Nectarines, sliced
1 Black Plum, sliced
1 Red Plum, sliced
1 Black Velvet Apricot, sliced
1 big handful Cherries, sliced
Ginger Ale

Mix all ingredients except ginger ale and refrigerate several hours to overnight.
When ready to serve, pour over ice and top off with ginger ale!

Enjoy!!



Chop up all of the fruit.


Mix it with the wine, apricot nectar and slivovitz and refrigerate.




This was DELICIOUS!


I was a little afraid it would be too strong with the Slivovitz... or too winey... since I'm not a wine fan in general...

It was great straight... and great with ginger ale!

I loved it!

Definitely a winner!!

Refreshing Grapefruit Sangria

So the 4th of July weekend sangria for the Summer of Sangria started out to be a Limey Citrus Sangria. At least that's what I thought when I was putting it together.

First, I realized that I have a cabinet full of wine! Jon and I don't drink wine, but when people visit, they often bring some along. Since I typically have cocktails for the evening already planned, it usually ends up in the cabinet. There are also some leftover from previous wine-tastings in the cabinet.

So I started there. I wanted to use up the wine I have, instead of shopping for more wine. Makes sense right?

From little under-appreciated wine supply I selected a big bottle of Barefoot Moscato. That was definitely a leftover from a Moscato wine tasting.

My original train of thought was since moscato is sweet, I'll have to tart it up a bit. And I LOVE lime, so I figured I'd go citrus, heavy on the lime. I couldn't wait to try it!

I snuck a taste just before I put it into the fridge and thought it was great! Typically, that taste is usually way too winey for me. But not this time, limey & tart... but it didn't stay that way!



Limey Citrus Sangria
Refreshing Grapefruit Sangria
1.5 liter Barefoot Moscato
1 C Key Lime Rum
1 12oz can Limeade concentrate, thawed
1/2 medium pink grapefruit, sliced, then quartered
1 orange, sliced, then quartered
1 lemon, sliced, then quartered
2 limes, sliced, then quartered

Combine all ingredients in a pitcher and refrigerate several hours to overnight.
Pour over ice and enjoy!

Sounds pretty limey right?



I'll tell ya what, if you invite grapefruit, be prepared to step aside, because grapefruit is definitely the life of the party!




It went into the fridge limey, but those juicy pink grapefruit quarter slices really took over.

Also, I had planned to top off the glasses with 7up, but it was already such a light sangria, that I ended up just pouring it over ice.



The tart grapefruit flavor was a total surprise and it was so refreshing on a really hot 4th of July!



This is definitely a keeper!! But now I have to find that Limey Citrus Sangria I was trying to create. I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

Oh yeah... I totally forgot!! I never told you how the Summer of Sangria came about!

The BakeSpace Wine Club of course!!

The Wine Club had slowed down a bit, but DD kick started it and dubbed June & July Sangria!

I decided to extend that and make it a Summer of Sangria! Starting out with my Memorial Day Tropical Sangria, since Memorial Day is really the unofficial first day of Summer right? And ending with Labor Day weekend!

Check out all of the other Sangria recipes at the BakeSpace Wine Club Sangria section... and keep checking back all month!



So stay tuned! I have a Limey Citrus Sangria to concoct and a cabinet full of wine that needs to get used up!

Release the Kracken Sangria!

It's the Summer of Sangria at Spryte's Place and I'll be putting up a new sangria recipe every week.

This week's selection I'm calling Release the Kracken Sangria!

I wanted to make a red sangria with rum. Most of the recipes I looked at called for white rum.

BORING!

I LOVE The Captain! Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum. I thought the spice would add a nice twist to the Sangria.

I typically have a few rums in the liquor cabinet, but I ran out the door to buy wine and totally forgot to double check.

So Hector and I got to the liquor store and I decided I'd just pick up some Captain Morgan's just to be safe. It's not like we wouldn't use it anyway.

But we got to the rum section and I started thinking that a fruity white rum might be good too.

Then we saw it.

The Kracken Black Spiced Rum


Jon really wanted that one and I have to admit, spiced rum with a sea monster on it is pretty appealing.

Since I grabbed wine on the cheap... I splurged the couple extra bucks for The Kracken!

And when you say the name, you can't just say "The Kracken"

You have to really roll that "R" with a Scottish accent... like Sean Connery or Groundskeeper Willy.

The Krrrracken!

I have no idea why... that's just the way it always sounds in my head!

Anyway... back to the Sangria!

Release the Kracken Sangria!
2 bottles (750ml) Cabernet Sauvignon
1 C The Kraken Spiced Black Rum
1 C orange juice
2 nectarines, sliced
1 black plum, sliced
1/2 pint of raspberries
1 orange, sliced (plus one for garnish)
1 lime, sliced
lemon-lime soda

Pour all ingredients except lemon/lime soda, into a large pitcher and refrigerate for several hours.
Add some ice to wine glasses, pour in wine mixture and top off with lemon/lime soda.
Enjoy!







That's it!

So we shared this with Erin & Andrew.

Unfortunately, I have to say, this is not a favorite Sangria.

The reason?

It mostly tasted like wine and well... I don't really like wine!

I love Sangria, but wine... not so much.

This recipe definitely isn't a fail. I'll try it again. Maybe I'll double the orange juice next time. Or add some triple sec.

Now if you actually enjoy red wine, you definitely should give this a try!



See ya next week with a new Sangria for Summer of Sangria at Spryte's Place!

Tropical Sangria

I love Sangria! I think I like red best, but I wanted to try to make a tropical white sangria.

This is basically the same recipe I tried before, but I changed the wine to Sauvignon Blanc and changed the fruit.



Tropical Sangria
2 bottles Sauvignon Blanc
1/3 C brandy
1/3 C triple sec
1/2 ripe mango, cubed
1 orange, cut into slices, then quartered
5 or 6 pineapple fresh pineapple spears, cut into bite-sized pieces
cold lemon/lime soda

Pour all ingredients except lemon/lime soda, into a large pitcher and refrigerate for several hours.
Add some ice to wine glasses, pour in wine mixture and top off with lemon/lime soda.

That's it! Really easy right?!

I really don't like most wines... but I do love sangria.

I took a little sip after mixing the fruit & wine & liquor, before I put it in the fridge.

MAJOR squinchy face!! I hoped it would get better in the fridge.

Thankfully, it really did!!

It was very fruity & tropical tasting. Perfect for a hot summer day!

Sangria!

I experimented with making some Sangria over the weekend. I'm making some for a special occasion coming up and wanted to get in at least one practice batch!

The one I made is pretty simple.



Sangria
1 bottle Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon
1/3 C brandy
1/3 C triple sec
1 nectarine, sliced
1 granny smith apple, sliced
1 orange, sliced
1 big handful raspberries
7up

Pour all ingredients except 7up, into a large pitcher and refrigerate for several hours.
Add some ice to wine glasses, pour in wine mixture and top off with 7up.

The pictures aren't really great for this.

Everything except 7up into the pitcher.




Chill several hours.

Add ice to wine glasses.


Then wine mixture.


Check out that wine soaked fruit.


Top off with 7up.


So far, I haven't found a red wine that I like. But I do like Sangria.

This was pretty good.

I think I can probably find a better one. I have time to experiment a little more this weekend.

This would have been good over champagne or asti too!