apples bring cider... & applesauce... & bread!

 

We inherited apples, is it bushels of apples?

I've really been wanting to make apple cider from scratch.  So, I did.

It's a bit messy and naturally you need a lot of apples to make a decent amount of cider, but it's fun and makes your house smell like a home to come home to.

  

Apple Cider

 lots o' apples

water

4+ cinnamon sticks

4+ T. allspice

optional: orange +/- lemon peels

Quarter all apples and place them in a large pot; add enough water to cover apples.  Less water will make stronger cider that can always be watered down at the end.

Boil apples and water, stir often.  Wrap cinnamon (and optional peels) in cheesecloth and drop into apples.  (I tried to use ground cinnamon and the cider results with a grainy texture.)  Add allspice to taste and keep mixture boiling for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on size of batch.

When apples have cooked down, reduce heat to low for another hour.  Turn off heat and you're ready to separate the cider from the solids, aka, applesauce!  Use a strainer... this is the messy part;)

{applesauce}

 {cider}

The cider and applesauce keep for a week.

As I said, you end up with a lot more applesauce than cider.  We couldn't possibly eat all of the applesauce so I used it for the base of a spice bread recipe.  What's great is that because the applesauce can be used to replace butter/oil, the bread is very healthy.

Applesauce Spice Bread

2 c. applesauce

1 c. white sugar

2 eggs

3 T. milk

2 c. whole wheat flour

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1/4 t. ground nutmeg

1/4 t. ground allspice

4 T. flax seed

optional: 1/2 c. chopped pecans or walnuts 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. 

In a large bowl, combine the applesauce, sugar, eggs and milk; beat well.  Sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt; stir until smooth.

(You may choose to omit spices that already were used in applesauce recipe.)  

Fold in the pecans. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. 

Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes.

Recipe loosely adapted from here.