So I've got big news - we've finally got our worktop fitted in the kitchen! Yes, we may have 16 pieces of sofa filling our bedroom, 14 boxes of wooden flooring in the hall and sparkly mosaic tiles absolutely everywhere there's any space, but we have a worktop now, which means I can open the dishwasher without worrying about it toppling forward and crushing me - yay!
But since we haven't fitted the hob/stove yet, I'm still using my Crock Pot on an almost daily basis. I own this 7-quart Crock Pot (here's a link to the same Crock Pot if you're in the UK)
and it's what I used to make the soft cider in this recipe.
I did a fair bit of easy homemade apple cider recipe research online (okay, so mainly on Pinterest) and I was so shocked with how many "homemade" recipes included apple cider in the ingredients list. Seriously - if you're making homamde apple cider, store-bought apple cider cannot be one of the ingredients!
Anyway, making this warming fall drink entirely from scratch with a slow cooker really could not be any easier at all. You don't even have to worry about peeling or coring the fruit. It really is a case of chopping up the apples and orange, throwing them into the slow cooker with all the remaining ingredients, leaving it all to cook and then sieving it. That's it. All in all, there's probably around 15 minutes active time at the most - and surely we can all spare 15 minutes to make something as fabulous as this homemade spiced apple cider recipe, right?
Even if you're not keen on the taste of hot spiced apple cider, I recommend you give this recipe a try for the smell alone. Since the ingredients are left to cook in the Crock Pot for six or eight hours, the aromas work their way through your home, filling every tiny corner with the wonderful smell of fall - and who could say no to that?!
Ingredients
- 9 apples
- 1 orange
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons cloves
- ½ teaspoon mixed spice
- 6-8 cups water
Instructions
- Wash the apples and orange and roughly chop into segments.
- Place them into your Crock Pot along with the cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, cloves and mixed spice. Pour over the water and leave to cook on high for around 6 hours or low for around 8 hours.
- Use a ladle to spoon the mixture into a sieve placed over a bowl. Use the back of the ladle to squish the apple and orange slices, getting all the flavours out and into the bowl below.
- Pour the sieved apple cider into two large bottles and store in the fridge for up to one week. Heat in the microwave or in a saucepan on the stove before serving.
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