Recipe: Apple Infused Simple Syrup

So you went apple picking, you’re cooking up a whole mess of apple-centric recipes, but you’re feeling a little wasteful throwing away all those apple peels piling up around the kitchen.

Never fear, I have found the perfect use for them. Apple infused simple syrup!

Kim’s Apple Infused Simple Syrup
1 cup brown sugar
3 cups water
2 cups apple peels (that is a rough estimate, you could use as much as you want)
1 tsp. cinnamon

Note: More than anything this recipe is about ratios. It doesn’t so much matter how long you cook it or how many apple peels you use as long as you follow this formula:
3 (water) : 1 (sugar) : 1 (cinnamon) ~ per 30 minutes over medium heat

So, you can reduce the mixture and make the syrup with the above formula. Or reduce it further for an hour, adding more water, sugar, and cinnamon at the 30 minute mark. Does that make sense? The point here is to concentrate the apple flavor into the water and sugar reduction without evaporating the water completely. If you let the original ratios go for an hour with steady medium heat your water will be gone and your apples will burn to the bottom of your pot (i.e. not good eats). It might make more sense as you follow along though do comment if you have questions.

Ok, first, combine 3 cups of water with 1 cup brown sugar over medium heat and stir.

In the meantime peel the apples you plan to use elsewhere (here are some ideas).

When the sugar is fully dissolved into the water, immerse your apple peels and bring to a boil. Feel free to use peels, cores, stumps, seeds, everything. They will be strained out later so every part is good to use!

After 30 minutes passes (or hour, or whatever formula you used from above), and your mixture has a syrupy consistency, remove from the heat. Set up a mason jar, funnel, and strainer as illustrated below. Carefully pour your mixture into the strainer set up. Discard all of your apple bits when your mixture is fully in the jar.

Let the mixture cool to room temperature in the jar. When it’s cooled you can screw on the lid and keep this in the fridge indefinitely.

You can use your apple infused simply syrup in a million different ways. Some of my suggestions are in any cocktail that requires simple syrup, add to smoothies, use to hydrate oatmeal in place of water, baste a bundt or pound cake with for better moisture (like they do with rum cake), make a glaze for cookies/muffins/coffee cake. The list goes on and on.

My favorite use so far? A few tablespoons in a big mug of hot chamomile tea. Smells like apples and tastes like Fall. Perfect!