Valentine’s Day has come and gone. My kids are still crashing from all the candy. And it is supposed to be in the 30’s tomorrow. For this Southern California girl, the 30’s are frigid! Luckily someone gave my kids a box of Red Hots candy for Cupid’s favorite holiday. Since  my kids are totally wussy when it comes to spicy foods, it is up to me to get rid of them. That is why I am going to make some cinnamon candy cider. It’s warming, it’s tasty, and it is simple.

Instructions:

Grab a quart of your favorite apple juice and pour it into an appropriate sized sauce pan. Now this next step is quite difficult. Dump in your Red Hots. You can also use hard cinnamon candies, or really any type of cinnamon candy you have. Turn your burner on to medium. Stir frequently. The apple juice will begin to boil and the candies will melt and mix into the juice, creating a nice sweet and spicy treat. Continue to stir until all of the candy is melted in. Serve hot and steaming.

If you are serving this to kids, or if you aren’t a huge spicy kind of person, start with a small amount of candy, instead of the whole box. Taste the cider after you have melted some in and add more if you want to.

For us, I melted about a third of the box in, served my kids their cups, then added the rest of the box for my husband and me. It was divine.

This recipe can also be adapted to make caramel apple cider. Just swap in hard caramel candies for your cinnamon candies (I have used Werthers). Melt them in just like you melted your cinnamon candies.
For parties you can keep your cinder warm in the crock pot so everyone can have a cup of warm cider!–Stephanie Wright