Caramel Glazed Apple Bread and the Cider Experiment

did i mention i have my weight in apples to use up within a couple of weeks?

no? well i do.

not that that's a bad thing at all, although i'm pretty sure i need a couple days to actually have time to bake them all up into delicious treats of various types. tuesday i experimented with making apple cider!

one word of advice: if you're using mulling spices, don't put them in until the end. or at least take them out after a few minutes. have you ever over brewed tea and it turned bitter? yeah. if it wasn't for that, this would have been spectacular. it made my apartment smell really good. i also need a larger stock pot. i had to split the recipe into two of my smaller (but the biggest i own) pots, and they kind of bubbled over a bit. BUT....it smelled delicious none the less.

i got the recipe from gimme some oven, and it seriously couldn't be easier. (let's not talk about how i screwed up though.) you need:

12 medium apples (i used honeycrisp and jonamac, but you can use whatever you'd like)
a large orange
about a gallon of water
1/2-1c brown sugar
mulling spices (i used 4 spice bags, they are tea bag sized)
OR (in place of "tea" bags)
4 cinnamon sticks
a whole nutmeg
1 tbsp whole cloves
an allspice (optional)

quarter your apples and the orange, you don't have to core or remove the stems. just wash them and cut them. put them in a large stock pot and fill with water until covered. if you are using the whole spices, go ahead and toss them in too. if you are using the spice "tea" bags, save those for the last few minutes.

bring to a simmer on high heat, and then turn to low heat. cover and stir occasionally for two hours. once everything is nice and soft, mash it with a potato masher, wooden spoon, or spatula. let it continue to simmer for another hour.

strain through a fine mesh strainer into a container. add your brown sugar to taste. you can also strain through cheesecloth to squeeze the most cider out of the apples.

let's not forget about the apple bread. you know, the one i mentioned with the caramel glaze? yeah buddy. that's some good stuff right there. i mean, the apple streusel bread i have made in the past was good, but i think this tops it. it is seriously fluffy, cinnamony, appley, and caramelly.

yeah, so mine is not as pretty as the ones on the link i gave you, but theirs are mini, i don't have mini loaf pans, and, well, this is the only picture i got that i liked. i actually have some donuts to share, but i will share them on sunday so i have something to post.

seriously, though, go try this bread. mine may look kind of derpy, but i think the contrast of the apples and the cinnamon swirls looks pretty cool. my glaze could use some work, but it tastes good. that's what matters.

maybe i should just not be lazy and take some better pictures.

i could use some nice big windows for some natural light. i am pretty sure this apartment used to be a cave. it sucks. in the mean time, i am left to dream about a house i will probably not have until i am old, because i am poor. i mean, who knows if i'll have a job. rumor has it they might close my store....now that i finally got a manager and all. it only took two months. oh, and they finally agreed to let me hire a keyholder so i am not completely screwed when someone asks for a day off! small steps, small steps. hopefully it's an improvement.

it is also the insane inflatable this weekend. i am excited for that! saturday is the day, and i'm pretty sure i'm more prepared than last year. i am up to week 6 in my c25k training app. i kind of skipped a week, i got overwhelmed with work and the lot of things, so i just started again. i am getting close to 3 miles though! not that i plan on running the whole thing on saturday, i mean, it's basically a giant bouncy house. why run and skip everything?

i feel like i need to sort things out. i am not sure what, though. i actually took quite a few days off lately, mostly because i was wasting paid time off. i just feel like something is off. i feel like i can't remember things, like i have a.d.d. and can't pay attention to anything, i space out and forget what i'm doing.....i thought maybe taking time off would help, unless i'm doing it wrong. i don't usually have a lot of days off, i have been trying to do things with my free time, but i didn't think it was that much. my paid time just reset, and since i didn't use it all, maybe i will take a week or something just to hang out and not worry and do anything. i don't know. contemplating. and now i'm rambling

anyway, thanks for reading. check back sunday! ♥