I was trying to find a way to use the aforementioned apples we picked at Windy Acres. I made an apple crisp. That was yummy. But because the apples are so small, it took me about 45 minutes to core enough for the apple crisp. I didn’t even peel them. (Granted, I wasn’t in a rush – but that’s still a long time. Even for me. I’m more known for being thorough than fast.)
I also cored apples for another 45 minutes in order to turn them into apple butter in the crockpot. It burned. (The recipe was for a larger batch, I’m assuming, and I didn’t notice it. Either that, or the difference in crockpots meant that hers took 15 hours to cook and mine burned in approximately 9.)
By this point, I was tired of coring small apples. Very tired. And I had about half the apples left. So I thought, hey – apple cider! I didn’t actually know how to make apple cider, or if you could just make it by boiling apples and straining them – but I figured you probably could. After some quick research, I discovered that you could, in fact, make soft apple cider without a press, and you could indeed boil the apples if you didn’t have anything powerful enough to process them raw.
I didn’t actually follow a recipe – I just experimented – but here’s what I did. I don’t know if purists would call this real apple cider. It sure tastes better than store-bought cider, though.
(I did take pictures, but it turns out that bad lighting + camera on a less-than-smart four-year-old phone = not very good pictures. I’ll save you the cringing, and leave the visuals to your imagination.)
Apple Pie in a Cup
1. Wash the apples. I put them in a big bowl with water and some white vinegar.
2. Cut up the apples. These apples are small, so I just cut them in half in order to remove the stem more easily. (NOTE: I didn’t core the apples, because the whole point was to use them for something that required less prep time and work. If you do core them, though, you can make the leftover apple mush into applesauce after you’re done straining out the apple cider. If you do this, you may want to consider peeling the apples, as well.)
3. Place the apples in a large pot. Add water to cover. (I first added water only half-way up the apples. However, I discovered that the amount of water you add more or less equals the amount of cider you will get, and the cider was quite strong enough to handle a little thinning.)
4. Cook the apples until they’re very soft. Higher temperatures will obviously cook them faster.
5. When the apples are very soft, remove them from heat. At this point, I got out my handheld blender and blended the apple mixture into mush. This probably isn’t necessary, but it makes me feel better, for some reason.
6. Strain the liquid out of the apples. The clarity of the cider will vary depending on how you do this. I put my colander on top of a large bowl, laid a clean linen towel on top of the colander, and dumped the apple mush in. Leave it for as long as you want until all the liquid is strained out. Oh, and remember to put the colander on top of a large enough bowl, too. Spilled cider is a mess. Don’t ask me how I know that.
7. Finally, I returned the apple cider to the (rinsed) pot, reheated it, and added sugar, cinnamon, and allspice (or whatever spices you want) to taste. I didn’t use very much of any of the above, but they added the finishing touches to the cider. Whole spices such as cinnamon sticks and whole cloves would probably be better, but I only had powdered, so that’s what I used.
Definitely my new favorite use for these apples. Apple pie in a cup.
A few notes:
– The thought occurred to me that you could reuse the leftover apple mush and simply add water to it to make more cider. I actually tried this the second time I made it, and it worked. However, the taste was much blander and, well, cooked. Which I supposed I should have figured out – but hey. I wanted to try it. And now I know. It doesn’t make very good cider.
– A few articles that I read said to use only apples that you would eat plain, and to cut off bruises, etc. I personally think apple cider is a great way to use apples that may be a bit more bruised than you would enjoy eating plain, for example, and the bruised apples I threw in had no effect on the resulting cider. I did cut off parts of apples that were obviously bad, as they may have an effect on taste, and I just didn’t want them in my cider.
– I haven’t tried making the applesauce yet, but my theory is that you would retain enough liquid in the apple mush to have the consistency you wanted, and then you would add some cinnamon, sugar, allspice, or whatever you wanted, just as you do to the cider. You could also put it in the blender if you wanted a smoother texture. You may not want to cook the apples quite as long, either, for color reasons. If I have the stamina to core the next batch of apples, I will for sure make applesauce and post my results.
– You can obviously use any kind of apple to make this, and only the taste will vary. The articles I read recommended making apple cider from a variety of apples, so as to have a richer taste.
– Fun Fact: If you make applesauce, you can actually make apple butter from the applesauce. Yes. Apples plus water equals apple cider, which gives you applesauce, which you can use to make apple butter. The circle is complete. Isn’t God amazing?
I’ve made this three times now, and enjoyed it every time. Not to mention that it makes my house smell amazing. If you try it, let me know. I’d like to know how it works for other people.
And if you are really in the mood for fall food, here’s a recipe for Pumpkin Waffles with Apple Cider Syrup. That’s what I’m going to be trying.
My Life Unpacked 