While I sit here enjoying the best cup of cider I’ve ever tasted, I am writing out this recipe so you can enjoy it, too. 🙂 Autumn is literally in my mouth right now and this is what I live for.
Remember to taste-test along the way!!
Total time: About 1 hour
Batch: full batch is 4 cups- serves two glasses. To serve four (4) people double the recipe.
To begin, you’ll need: 5 medium sized apples, a knife, and a cutting board.
Time for this step: About 5 minutes (unless you peel them, which will make a future step easier).
Cut up 5 apples (largely diced) to pulverize in a blender. (dicing them just makes it easier for the blender).
Next, get out: A blender that will juice the apples, some water, Maple Syrup. (If you choose to, use a 1-cup measure and a Tablespoon- but I really eyeballed the measurements here).
Time for this step: About 5 minutes
I put all the apples in a blender and blended them until they were very small saucy pieces. I scraped the sides, added just less than a cup of water and blended again. I repeated this entire process, until I had added just over two cups of water and the mix was nice and juicy. Then, since I needed 4 cups of juice, I added one last cup of water, but before filling it with water, I filled the bottom of the cup measure with a thin layer of Maple Syrup- about a Tablespoon. (this made it the perfect sweetness).
What you need for this step: The (mostly saucy) juice mix you just made, A bowl, and a strainer (I actually stacked two strainers, so the strainer wouldn’t run into the juice and defeat the purpose of straining).
Time for this step: About 8-10 minutes (if you peeled the apples, it might only take 5).
I strained the juice through a strainer and pressed all the juice out until I had only peel left. The second strainer is also great for catching the apple sauce that will come out with the juice. If you don’t want any pulp in your cider, you can set the apple sauce aside to eat later! I don’t mind pulp, so I scraped the sauce into the juice.
Find & Gather: A saucepan, Cinnamon, Pumpkin spice (or Nutmeg- I haven’t replenished my Nutmeg… oops, so I used Pumpkin spice), Whole Cloves, a ¼ teaspoon measure, a 1/8 teaspoon measure.
Time for this step: 1 minute
Once I had only peel left (it was the size of a handful and had no more juice to squeeze out), I stirred my fresh apple juice and put it in a saucepan. Adding, just over ¼ teaspoon cinnamon (as I don’t have cinnamon sticks) (but literally just a teeny tiny bit extra), and just under a 1/8 of Pumpkin Spice, and three cloves, the cider was ready to mix and heat. (If you have Nutmeg, you can use 1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg instead of the pumpkin spice).
Next, you’ll need: A stove and glasses to serve the cider in 🙂
Time for this step: About 12 minutes
Bring the cider to a boil, and then set the heat on low-medium to simmer it for 10 minutes. Before serving, if you wish, strain out the cloves.
Enjoy your steamy cup of heaven in a glass!!!
P.S. I’m finishing my second glass already 🙂
This recipe is a highly modified and personalized version of: petersfoodadventures.com apple cider recipe.
Popp!nTalk 