Wednesday, November 18, 2009

homemade holiday smell-good


Dad's been making this for as long as I can remember. On chilly holiday mornings the scent fills the house, and its so wonderful. This is close to Dad's recipe, but I sort of improvise my own based on what I have in the house and whatever scent I want to be strongest.

As soon as the temp drops below 70, its on the stove, simmering away pretty much every evening. I absolutely love this smell and the warmth and comfort it seems to give the house. Its extra easy to make and you can tweak it to bring out whichever spices you love the most!

In a small pot 1/2 filled with water I put:

orange peel
very little bit of lemon juice
cinnamon sticks/ ground cinnamon
ground allspice
ground nutmeg
whole cloves
very little vanilla
very little almond extract
ground ginger

This is just my little mix for fall/ winter 09, and there's no set QTY of each ingredient to use, just sprinkle a little bit of everything in, and see how you like it. If you want the cinnamon or orange or clove to be more prominent (my favorites), go nuts! Just let it sit on the stove and simmer.. you'll have to add more water eventually , but when you do, then re-up your spices.

It really does make your house smell like you're cooking something amazing.
Enjoy!

[google image]

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing! Do you think something like this could be made/simmered in a jar on an electric candle warmer? Would there be enough heat to make a good scent?

    I have an old apartment stove, and running the burner for awhile might be a little...iffy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Kelly! I'm not quite sure about the electric candle warmer because you need a good bit of water to get it going..

    I usually bring it to a low boil and then set the burner on low, keeping an eye on it and adding water and spices as needed.. I don't blame you at all for not wanting to use the stove, especially an old one.. do you maybe have a crock pot? Thats the absolute BEST and safest way to go...

    ReplyDelete
  3. This could be used in a small crockpot set on low also.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I do have a small crock pot - fantastic idea! Thanks so much - it'll be a wonderful add for my first year of hosting the family Christmas.

    ReplyDelete

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