Warm spiced apple juice for a cold Halloween evening

After an hour of knocking on doors in the cold, the children come home with pink cheeks, wet gloves and far too many sweets. The last thing they need is a fizzy drink. What I make instead is a pan of warm spiced apple juice. The house smells of cinnamon and orange, everyone holds a mug in both hands, and it costs very little.

It is the same idea as mulled wine, but with no alcohol at all, so the whole family can drink it. I use cloudy apple juice from a carton, because it has more body and more apple taste than the clear kind. A litre is enough for four to six mugs.

Into a saucepan go the litre of apple juice, one cinnamon stick, three or four whole cloves, two thin slices of fresh ginger, and the peeled zest of half an orange in wide strips, with no white pith. Sometimes I add a star anise, if there is one in the jar. I do not add sugar. Apple juice is already sweet, and the children have had enough sugar for one night.

I warm it over a low heat for about ten minutes, without letting it boil hard. Boiling makes the juice taste flat and cooked, and the spices turn bitter. I want small bubbles round the edge and steam rising, that is all. Then I take the pan off the heat, put the lid on and leave it for another five or ten minutes so the spices can do their work.

Before serving I always strain it through a sieve into a jug. This matters more than it seems. Whole cloves and pieces of star anise are hard and small, and a child gulping a warm drink can easily swallow one or choke on it. So nothing solid goes into the mugs, except perhaps a thin slice of fresh orange floating on top for the grown-ups.

Temperature is the other thing I watch. A drink that feels pleasantly hot to an adult can scald a child's mouth, and hot drinks are one of the most common causes of burns in small children. So I pour the children's mugs first and let them stand for a few minutes, add a splash of cold juice to bring them down to warm, and check each one myself before handing it over. I put the mugs on the table, not on a low coffee table where a toddler can reach.

For anyone who likes it sweeter, a little honey can be stirred into an adult's mug. Honey is not suitable for babies under one year old, so the baby gets plain water or milk instead.

If there is juice left over, I let it cool, pour it into a clean jug or bottle, and keep it in the fridge, covered, for up to two days. It is lovely cold too, or warmed gently again in a small pan. I do not leave it sitting in a warm pan on the hob all evening.

The same pan works well later in the season, for bonfire night or a winter afternoon, and the spices can change: a vanilla pod, a few allspice berries or a strip of lemon peel all work.

Warm spiced apple juice. Serves 4–6. About 20 minutes. You need 1 litre cloudy apple juice, 1 cinnamon stick, 3–4 whole cloves, 2 thin slices of fresh ginger and the peeled zest of half an orange, plus a star anise if you like. Warm everything gently for 10 minutes without boiling, cover and leave for 5–10 minutes, then strain. Let the children's mugs cool to warm before serving.

What do your children drink when they come in from the cold?