I am a little embarrassed...
I am embarrassed because this recipe has a mere four ingredients yet it is absolutely among my top ten favorite recipes this year. Sometimes simplicity is enchanting.
To help you envision the magic, if 7/11 and a quaint, family-owned orchard fell in love this would be the product of their forbidden romance.
We visited one of my favorite places on this planet over the weekend. It is a lovely, vineyard-fenced orchard that sits high upon a Virginia mountaintop. It has been an annual affair for many years and the several-hour pilgrimage is always made worthwhile.
Two years ago, my visit was exceptionally special, as I left with a diamond on my finger and a fiancé on my arm.
The beloved orchard boasts all the fineries pickers have come to expect. Thousands of enticing apples hang from the trees, the scent of warm, cider doughnuts hangs upon the air, and then there are the cider slushies.
To put their wonder in perspective for you, I will choose the slushies over the doughnuts if forced to pick. They are just that good.
This year I just could not wait for our visit to the mountain to have my cider slushie cravings satisfied so desperate measures had to be taken.
Considering how incredibly simple these at-home versions are to make, this newfound power could be dangerous.
I decided to make my slushies extra fancy by adding a spicy, sugar rim.
Just looking at these gives me a brain freeze but it is so worth it.
Plain, old cider seems so boring now.
Sincerely,
Pedantic Foodie
APPLE CIDER SLUSHIES WITH SPICED SUGAR
serves 4
- 5 cups apple cider, divided
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- lemon wedges
Cook's Note: Seeing as this recipe is so simple, the quality of the ingredients will really shine through, so try to get your hands on the very best cider you can find. The slushie will only be as good as the cider you use.
Pour roughly 4 cups of apple cider (the exact amount of cider may vary depending on your trays) into two ice cube trays and freeze overnight; until solid.
Use a fork to combine sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a shallow bowl.
Transfer the frozen cider cubes to your blender and add 1/2 cup of the remaining cider. Pulse, adding extra cider as needed, until the mixture is smooth.
Run a lemon wedge around the edges of four 8-ounce glasses and dip each rim into the spiced sugar mixture. Fill with the prepared slushie and serve immediately. Enjoy!
I will willingly pass up digging my way through thorny blackberry bushes, perspiring as I squat-crawl through the strawberry patches, and forsake the wasp-ridden rows of peach trees, but nothing - nothing can coerce me out of apple-picking.