Well it's here, the 24th annual Polar Bear Plunge in Seaside Heights, and with all those cold plungers taking the dip, I thought they could use a little something to warm themselves up. It's my recipe for a Hot Toddy that will warm you up after a long day of jumping in the freezing Atlantic ocean. It's also great if you’re coming down with a little cold or the flu.

Sorry this one is only for the grown ups, but see below for another option where you make it without the rum for a tasty spiced hot cider for the kids.

Ingredients:

¾ cup of apple cider
¼ cup of Capt. Morgan’s Spiced Rum
Dash of nutmeg
Cinnamon Stick
½ of on orange squeezed
1 orange twist
Pat of butter

Mix it up:

Heat apple cider in sauce pan, add nutmeg, squeeze of orange, cinnamon stick and pat of butter, come to slow boil then to large coffee cup add rum (room temperature) pour hot cider in mug, adding orange twist and stir with cooked cinnamon stick. Serve hot, drink before it gets cold. Works wonders on a sore throat.

Note: You can omit rum if you want, just add a teaspoonful of brown sugar instead in the cooking process of cider, or if you want to burn the alcohol off add the rum in the boiling of the cider, let mixture come to a full boil for 3 minutes to burn off most of the alcohol. Make sure that the rum is added to the cider away from the flame of the stove. Adding the rum while the burner is on could cause a flare-up. Enjoy!