Food and Recipes Drinks Cocktails Snow Day Sangría Be the first to rate & review! Pair this big-batch drink with cheesy appetizers. By Karen Schroeder-Rankin Karen Schroeder-Rankin Karen Rankin is a chef, recipe developer, and food stylist with over 25 years experience cooking, developing recipes, styling food, and entertaining guests at her table and in restaurants. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on December 18, 2022 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Ruth Blackburn; Prop Styling: Christine Keely Active Time: 25 mins Cool Time: 30 mins Chill Time: 8 hrs Total Time: 8 hrs 55 mins Servings: 8 Fruity sangria is a summer favorite when fresh slices of citrus enliven robust red wines. This white wine sangria, however, will be a beloved winter take on the beverages. Dry white wine holds lemons, apples, and pears, and winter spices, like star anise and cinnamon warm it up. You'll want to serve cold, but there's a warming element thanks to those spices and the hint of vanilla in the sangria syrup. You'll want to plan to make this ahead. It needs 8 hours of chilling for all the flavors to infuse. If you're serving this at a brunch, make it the night before, and pour up just before serving. If this is for a holiday dinner or party, make it in the morning so it chills all day while you focus on appetizers, like these Fig, Pecan, And Brie Bites. Ingredients 1 vanilla bean pod, halved lengthwise 4 lemons 2 oranges 1 cup water 1/2 cup granulated sugar 3 whole star anise 2 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks 1 medium Honeycrisp apple 1 medium red or green Anjou pear 2 (750-milliliter) bottles white wine Directions Scrape vanilla bean pod with the back of a paring knife; place scraped seeds and pod in a small saucepan. Use a vegetable peeler to remove wide strips of zest from 1 lemon and 1 orange, leaving as much white pith behind as possible. Add zest strips to saucepan. Squeeze zested lemon and another lemon to yield 1/4 cup juice, and add lemon juice to saucepan. Stir in water, sugar, star anise, and cinnamon sticks. Bring mixture to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves. Simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Remove and discard lemon and orange zest and vanilla bean pod from cooled syrup. Thinly slice 2 lemons, apple, and pear crosswise. Place fruit in a large pitcher or punch bowl. Add white wine and cooled syrup. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or up to 12 hours. Cut orange peel twists from 1 orange. Ladle cold sangría into 8 glasses. Garnish glasses with orange peel twists. Rate it Print