Hello second blog post of the year!
Yes, this has to change. And yes life does come at you fast, but I am more than excited to get back into the flow of things. Also, I’m very excited to share this recipe with y’all!
If you love apple butter (which is so easy to make from scratch and delicious), caramel, pecan pralines, and ice cream—then this is a recipe you do not want to miss out on. I dare you to share because you will want it all to yourself.
c Recipe
Ingredients:
The recipe I used for the apple butter comes from one of my favorite books, Saving the Season by Kevin West. This is a book I flip through at the start of every season to gain inspiration and welcome all the new seasonal produce.
So if you love cooking seasonally, preserving, and fermentation, then this is a book you need to have on hand.
Apple butter is one of those things that is just good to have on hand. I am looking to make a bigger batch to open up to during the Spring months to savor what I preserved in the Fall. The best thing is that it only takes a handful of ingredients and a little bit of time. Another perk, your house will smell amazing.
Apples, apple cider, and spices. So easy right?
Making the Ice Cream
I haven’t made ice cream in ages and have been itching to enjoy a few scoops, or maybe the whole pint. The last thing I wanted to do was go to the store to buy some eggs and secondly, I did not want to use six eggs just for the yolks. So I went to one of my favorite ice cream recipes that uses no yolks and still produces a creamy and delicious ice cream, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream!
I’ve made her ice cream base many times but this particular time I finally went out and brought some tapioca flour. Game. Changer. I need to research why, but the texture came out way better than using the substitute, corn starch. So, I highly recommend that if you are going to make this, by some tapioca flour. Nowadays a lot of grocery stores may carry it in the bulk section if you do not want to buy a whole bag.
I added a few tablespoons of rum to the ice cream base because why not? And wanted to add some candied pecans at the end. You can think of this as an elevated butter pecan ice cream. I mixed the apple butter with some homemade caramel and WOW! No words. Make sure you put this on your radar to make it soon. Take advantage of the lovely apple season and make some homemade apple butter. You can think of me later!
Spiced Apple Butter
Ingredients:
- 5 medium apples (make sure to mix the varieties with some tart apples)
- 1 cup apple cider
- 3/4 teaspoon, ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon, ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon, freshly ground nutmeg
Instructions:
Quarter and core the apples and cut them into thin slices. Place them into a saucepan and cover with apple cider. Bring pan to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for about 3-4 hours, making sure to stir every 15 minutes or so.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
At the end of the cooking time, most of the liquid will have evaporated and the apples will be tender and falling apart. Using an immersion blender or blender, puree the apples. Transfer to an ovenproof dish and mix in the allspice, cinnamon and freshly ground nutmeg. Stir every 10 minutes until the butter turns a deep mahogany brown. Roughly 40-50 minutes. Pack the hot apple butter into a container and place aside to cool.
Caramel Sauce
Ingredients:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup of water
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
Instructions:
In a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat, combine the sugar with 1/4 cup cold water and stir to combine. Cook, without stirring, until the sugar has turned a deep amber hue, approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully pour int he heavy cream. Whisk in butter and salt. While still warm, add in apple butter and combine thoroughly. Place aside.
Rum Ice Creams ( Adapted from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream)
Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole milk, divided
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon tapioca starch
- 3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup rum1 cup candied pecans, roughly chopped.
Instructions:
In a small dish, whisk together 2 tablespoons of the milk and the tapioca starch together and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together cream cheese and salt until smooth.
Heat the remaining milk, heavy cream, sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla bean in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a rolling boil and allow it to boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a boil and allow it to thicken slightly 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and little by little, whisk the hot mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Stir in vanilla extract and rum. Gather a large bowl and fill with ice water to make an ice back. Place ice cream base into a ziplock bag and submerge into the ice water. Or, refrigerate overnight to chill down.
Freeze ice cream according to ice cream maker’s instructions. Gather candied pecans and apple butter caramel. Pour ice cream mixture into freezer container and mix in the pecans and swirl in the apple butter caramel. Freeze until completely solid.