Holiday Red Wine Sangria

It's no secret that I LOVE the holidays. I mean I start watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel starting in July and start planning my Thanksgiving recipes in September. There's just something about the end half of the year just makes me happy.

Holiday time means more family and friend gatherings and more baking, cooking, crafts and making specialty drinks for all of these gatherings.

Which brings me to my favorite Holiday Sangria recipe. With only a few simple ingredients its super easy to make and is sure to be a crowd favorite (even for those people that don't enjoy red wine!)

Here's what you'll need: 

- 2 plastic carafe's with a lid I prefer these

- large pitcher to serve (I use one similar to this)

-1 1.5 liter bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon wine ( I prefer Barefoot)

-2 oranges

- 1/2 bag of fresh cranberris

-1 cup of simple syrup *recipe below*

- 1 mini bottle of Grand Marnier

- 1 apple

Once you get all of your ingredients together here's what you'll need to do:

1. Cut the oranges into thin slices

2. Cut the apple into little cubes or slices whichever you prefer

3. Put all of the apple pieces, half of the orange slices and half of the cranberries into one of the carafes. Put the remaining orange slices and cranberries into the other carafe and put to the side. 

4. Pour 1/2 cup of simple syrup and 1/2 of the mini bottle into each of the carafes

5. Now you are going to pour your wine into the carafe that has the apples in it, you will have wine left over. Just put the cork back on and put the bottle to the side. DO NOT pour wine into the 2nd carafe, I like to have these fruits to have a vibrant color for when you serve the sangria so you will add them later. Let the sangria mix sit in the refrigerator over night or if you're in a crunch just a few hours. The longer the fruit soaks the better the flavor!

6. Now when you're ready to serve your sangria pour the carafe with the wine into the glass serving pitcher, if you have room left in the pitcher add more wine from the bottle but save some room to add the remaining fruit mixture. After you serve a few glasses add the remaining wine to the pitcher and enjoy!

Simple Syrup:

This is really the most simple recipe and you don't need to buy it from a store just mix 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of boiling water and stir until all of the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and chill.  

I hope you enjoy this sangria as much as I do!

XOXO