Mulled wine and cherry jam with Amaretto

Ingredients for 5 servings:

• 500 ml red wine
• 500 g gelling sugar 3:1
• 750 g cherry(s), frozen
• 15 carnations
• 2 star anise
• 3 slice(s) ginger, thinly sliced
• 1 vanilla pod(s)
• 5 cardamom pods, crushed
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 5 tbsp Amaretto
• 1 orange(s), unsprayed

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Rest time approx. 2 hours 10 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 4 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 29 minutes

Thaw the entire bag of frozen cherries in warm water. Pour the red wine into a saucepan. Split open the vanilla pod, scrape out the seeds, grate some orange peel, and add everything to the red wine along with the other spices. Heat the mixture and bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes. Cool the liquid and let it steep for about 2 hours. Then pour it through a sieve into another saucepan. Add the cherries, including their juice, and puree to the desired size using a hand blender. Stir in the gelling sugar and let stand for 10 minutes. Heat the mixture and, once bubbling, continue cooking for another 4 minutes. Spoon the jam into five 250g twist-off jars, filling them just below the rim and adding a tablespoon of Amaretto to the top. Close the jars and turn them upside down for 5 minutes. Turn them upside down again later and let them cool. If you like it a little stronger, you can add some ground cinnamon or clove powder before cooking. I buy my spices in jars from Turkish supermarkets. They’re cheaper and hold more than the sachets from traditional retailers. I also use the empty jars for jam.