Mulled wine gelatin shots are the perfect cheerful, spicy addition to your holiday gatherings this year! Mulled wine is a quintessential winter treat, with its warm, spiced aroma filling the air and instantly evoking cozy holiday memories. These shots will make you feel like you’re wandering a holiday market in Germany.

These boozy little treats are perfect for holiday parties, family gatherings, or just a festive evening at home. The beauty of mulled wine gelatin shots lies in their versatility: you can adjust the strength, sweetness, and spice level to suit your tastes, making them as much a personal creation as a crowd-pleaser.

How to make Mulled Wine Gelatin Shots

For the wine: A dark, full bodied wine is usually what is called for when making mulled wine. However, you can honestly use whatever type of red you like. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec are all good options. But, as it’s going into a shot with a lot of other flavors, whatever red you have on hand should work just fine!

For the alcohol: Here there is some choices! I like rum, so therefore I used a nice dark rum for my shots. Mulled wine is often made with brandy so that is another option. Or you could add some flavor with an apple liquor or even Cointreau. I think a spiced rum would also be a nice choice.

For the mulling spices: You can change the flavor to your preferences with the mulling spices as well. You can buy premade bags of mulling spices to use. Or, just throw in a cinnamon stick, some cloves and star anise like I did! Be sure to remove them after mulling the wine. Another ingredient to add during this step is sugar. The mulled wine had a very strong, spicy flavor but it is not very sweet. I added a little sugar just to boost the sweetness a tiny bit.

Thoughts on mulling the wine: This is an important step so you get all those delicious warm and spicy flavors! This will also be the hot element to help set the gelatin. But, you don’t want to cook the wine too long or it will change the flavor of the wine and not in a good way. To create your mulled wine, add the wine and spices to a small pot and heat up slowly over low-medium to medium heat, don’t let it get too hot or boil. Cover the pot and let it cook for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Tips for making shots using gelatin

When using knox (or similar) be sure to let the gelatin bloom before stirring it or heating up the liquid. To do this you first sprinkle to gelatin over the liquid and allow the powder to fill up and plump. This help the gelatin dissolve better and, in turn, it will work better in your recipe. You will also avoid having lumps in your gelatin this way. Nobody likes a lumpy gelatin shot!