Hot Spiced Cider

Just the thing for a cold afternoon, this recipe is based on the one from Alice Cantrell's Tea & Cake With the Saints: A Catholic Young Lady's Introduction to Hospitality and the Home Arts.

2 quarts apple cider
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp whole allspice
1 tsp whole cloves
(For 1 gallon of cider, just increase to 3 cinnamon sticks and 1 1/2 tsp each allspice and cloves.)

Break the cinnamon sticks once or twice. Combine with other spices in a small piece of cheesecloth or a coffee filter. Tie with UN-waxed dental floss. Float with cider in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and keep warm.
This can also be heated in a crockpot. I don't usually have all day, though, so I microwave it in the insert until the cider is hot, then just keep it warm in the crockpot.

I like to use the rustic cider (vs. the clear bottled kind), but prefer to decant from the jug without shaking it. Too many particles seem to cook together into unappetizing clumps.