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It hasn’t been totally cold outside this winter (aside from the Houston Snow Day), so warm drinks haven’t come into my rotation much.
For the longest time, though, I wanted to learn to do homemade apple cider, and I got the chance with a fantastic variety of apples.
I was gifted a box of these beauties to see what I could do with them.
Pazazz Apples are a really neat variety. They’re super juicy, with a thin, crisp skin, like Honeycrisp apples, but they’re small, enough to eat without a friend. I don’t know about you, but I have literally picked up Honeycrisp apples the size of my head! They’re also in season after the fall, so if you like to have a good crisp apple after the fall is over, these are a great variety to try. I was really excited to try these out, and I thought there was no better way to experience the taste than to experiment with making my own cider.
I didn’t make this cider in the traditional sense. Instead of using dark liquor, I used a light, lemon vodka to add to the taste.
I also didn’t add any extra sugar, because these apples didn’t need it, they were sweet enough without having to add additional sweeteners.
I like apple cider, but I often find that it’s a little too sweet for my liking and I have to water it down anyway.
I liked making my own because I was able to temper the sweetness. I started out without sweetener, and it turned out great.
Check out the recipe below, and let me know if you have a favorite way to make homemade apple cider!
Do you like yours spiked, or without alcohol? What kinds of apples do you tend to use in your recipe?
I would love to hear see your comments below, so don’t forget to leave me one!
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Homemade Apple Cider
- Total Time: 6 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 gallon of cider 1x
Description
A homemade cider you can create right in your slow cooker!
Ingredients
- 6 Pazazz apples – washed and sliced, but no need to peel, or core.
- 1 cup of lemon vodka
- 4 cinnamon sticks
- 1 tablespoon allspice
- 1 zested lemon peel
- 6 cups of water (or enough to cover your apples)
Instructions
- Wash and slice your apples (seeds, cores, skin and all)
- Dump your apples into your crockpot
- Cover with water.
- Add lemon vodka, cinnamon sticks, allspice and zested lemon peel
- Cook on low heat for 6 hours
- Strain the cider with a mesh sieve (or cheesecloth, whichever you have handy, and whichever will keep the large chunks of apple out of your batch!)
- Enjoy warm or cold. It was hot outside, so we had it cold!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 hours
- Category: Drinks
- Method: Slow Cooker
6 Responses
Your description of these apples makes my mouth water! I would love to make a non-alcoholic version of this!
Yum! Could you use apple juice instead to make it non-alcoholic for the kiddos?
I’ve never heard of Pizazz apples before, fun name! I love apple cider, it’s one of my favorite holiday treats since it’s not something we just make year round.
Same! That along with eggnog! It hasn’t been cold enough in Houston to drink hot, winter drinks. Maybe by February lol. It feels weird enjoying hot drinks when it’s 70 degrees out!
Oh my this looks so good! I am going to try to make it this weekend! Fingers crossed my presentation is as good as yours!
YAY! So glad you’re going to try it! Let me know how it turns out for you!