I was intrigued by this recipe for Buttered Apple Cider Sauce I found in The Joy of Cooking.
This sauce is divine. The preface in TJOC says something about it being strange. Nothing strange here. It’s so good. It’s so good that you don’t even need to put it on anything other than a spoon.
We’ve eaten it on everything from ham to buttermilk waffles (also a recipe from TJOC–I can’t believe I haven’t posted it yet. See below.)
Buttermilk Waffles with Buttered Apple Cider Sauce
Slightly adapted from The Joy of Cooking
Ingredients:
For buttered apple cider sauce:
1 Granny Smith apple, unpeeled and uncored, chopped into 1/4″ pieces
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
1 1/2 to 2 cups of unfiltered apple juice or fresh apple cider
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
a little freshly ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. (or more) apple brandy or other liqueur (optional–I’ve done it with and without–with is so much better!)
For buttermilk waffles:
2 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
2 cups low-fat buttermilk
3 large eggs
1-2 sticks unsalted butter, melted (use more or less depending on how crispy you want your waffles, 2 sticks will give you super light and crispy waffles.)
Instructions:
For buttered apple cider sauce:
Saute the chopped apple in one Tbsp. butter. When it’s soft, add the sugar, honey, and apple juice. Cook until the apple are translucent. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Push through to get all the apple pulp out–leaving skin and seeds behind.
Reduce the liquid to 1 cup thin sauce. Remove from heat and add remaining 3 Tbsp. butter, nutmeg, salt, and liqueur.
To reheat leftover sauce, place in a small saucepan and heat gently over low heat until sauce melts. You can also add a little extra cider to thin it out if it got too thick.
For buttermilk waffles
Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside. Whisk the eggs and buttermilk together–making sure they are totally combined and there are no streaks of unbeaten egg.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the eggs and buttermilk into the well and gently stir with a large silicone spatula, careful not to over mix, streaks of flour are okay.
Drizzle the melted butter over the top of the batter. Gently fold the butter into the batter.
Ladle the batter into the hot, prepared waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer directions.
For a small Belgian waffle iron, like mine, use about 1/2-2/3 cup of batter.
Note: I like to make double batches to freeze. Lay leftover waffles over a cooling rack and cool completely. Place in a large, gallon-sized freezer bag or layer with wax paper and completely cover with aluminum foil. To reheat, pull waffles apart and place in a warm oven for about 5 minutes–no too long of the waffles will be dry.
1 Comment
I am so trying this tomorrow morning. Unless I decide to roast pumpkins for pie.
What if you added some sauce to whipping cream for the whipping? I THINK I MIGHT DIE RIGHT NOW.