Mom'S Mulled Cider For The Crock Pot - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 -2 medium orange
1 -2 medium red apple
2 cinnamon sticks
whole cloves, for poking into fruit
2 lemons
1 dash ground cinnamon (optional)
1 dash ground cloves (optional)
1 dash nutmeg (optional)
1 gallon good quality cider (or more)
1/4 cup brown sugar, to taste

Preparation

Set a medium or large crock pot to HIGH heat.
Fill crock pot with cider- leaving room for the apple and orange to float around (we'll get to them in a minute).
You will have extra cider at this point- use this for replenishing later.
Wash the orange and apple and dry off.
Poke cloves into the flesh of the orange and the apple- as many as you like.
Set the cloves studded fruit into the crock pot.
Add cinnamon sticks and some brown sugar to taste.
Using a vegetable peeler, cut off two long strips of lemon rind from one of the lemons, being careful not to get any of the white pith.
Drop these into the cider pot and save the rest of the partially zested lemon for another use.
Slice the remaining lemon into thin slices and drop 4-5 slices into the cider pot.
Save the remaining slices for later or another use (I set them in a dish for guests to use as garnish).
Cover crock pot and let mixture come to almost a boil (this may take up to an hour- this will vary greatly depending upon the size of your crock pot).
Once it is almost boiling,sprinkle with a very light dash of each ground spice to taste (don't add too much or it will be gritty).
Turn the heat down to LOW and allow cider to cook at least another hour before serving.
Leave the crock pot on LOW and allow guests to ladle out mugfuls.
Keep replenishing more cider as the crockpot empties.
You will NOT need to add more spices, etc, as long as you still have 1/4 of the original mulled cider left in the crock.
No need to return to a boil, just pour in the new cider and continue to heat on LOW.
The last dregs of cider will be very heavily spiced- I usually discard the remaining 1/4 of liquid after I am finished replenishing the cider for the day.