Sangria Haroset Style- My recipe in this month's Bitayavon! And our favorite Charoset Recipe

This is one of those recipes that came out of a semi-disaster. One Pesach "someone" got the idea to try a selection of some of the wonderful kosher wines that are plentifully available for Passover.
We had a crowd of college-age kids for second seder that year, so rather than waste the ones that, let's say, weren't all that great, I thought it would be fun to turn it into Sangria, and to tell the absolute truth, I was happy to dilute the alcohol level too.

This is the kind of recipe that begs for improvisation:

• If your wine is not sweet enough, boil equal parts of sugar and water together, let cool, and use this simple syrup to adjust the sweetness.
• You can change the brandy to Slivovitz, or anything in that category that works pesach-wise.
• I liked the idea of the apple juice and the apple slices just to carry over the taste of Charoset, and the pomegranates, well, because they are Pomegranates...but ANY fruit juice will be delicious, pick the level of "symbolic" that works.
• Feel free to add blueberries...blackberries....
  

Sangria Haroset Style

2 bottles red wine*
1 cup kosher for passover brandy (Kedem) or Slivovitz
1 cup apple juice
1 cup pomegranate juice
Simple Syrup to taste (about 3/4 cup for dry wine)
Apple Slices
Grapes cut in half
Pomegranate seeds

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate, airtight for at least 24 hours.

Basic, Ashkenazic Charoset (Haroset) Ingredients:

Charoset Pyramid (Haroset) with Playmobil workers

This is the most basic Charoset in the world. It is the one your grandmother made, and probably her grandmother too.

Making it has always been a big family effort as we make about triple this amount, and we chop it by hand (k'ton-ton style) in a wooden bowl with a half-moon chopper, except for when we are REALLY late on seder prep when we throw it all into the food processor, and lament that its not the same (experience), but agree that it still tastes good. You can gussy it up all you want, throw in chopped dates, orange juice or grape juice instead of wine, use almonds instead of or also.

The most fun thing is to mold it into a pyramid, and decorate it with playmobil or lego people as we have been doing since around 1988.

• 5 mixed apples, peeled, cored, in chunks
• 1 cup walnuts 
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preparation:

In a chopping bowl with a chopper, start to chop apples until pieces are about 1/2 inch. Add walnuts and continue to chop until it is well blended, and.. like mortar.
Add the sugar, wine and cinnamon (and any fancy accoutrements). Taste. Add more sugar or cinnamon if you like, the sweetness will depend on the apples you use.