Apple Hooch

Several years ago while spending Christmas in Phoenix, we'd tried a homemade alcoholic apple beverage that we all decided to call "hooch" for lack of knowing what it was or how it was made - it was just gifted to someone.  Everyone at the house loved it and we went home, determined to figure out something comparable!

So we came up with this recipe... and it's awesome!  I'm not really an alcohol drinker myself, but I can get behind this hooch!  Last year, we made a big batch and gifted them out.  This year, we've made a big batch already... and gone through 3 bottles ourselves, heheh.  I think we're going to have to do another batch up if we want to give any away.  Why we didn't get a recipe posted last year, I have no idea.

This would be a great treat to take to any houses you visit for the holidays!  Or to have for your company if you're hosting holidays.  Justin's family is expecting to visit us for Christmas this year and I have a feeling they will now be expecting apple hooch!  We better save a few bottles!

I just said to Justin, "What tunes do you want to use?"  He said the Buzzcocks, and then when I began looking something up, he goes, "Wait!  Have we used Tiger Army's "In The Orchard" yet?"  Haa!  Apropos.  -jen

APPLE HOOCH 

Cinnamon, allspice, cloves, star anise

Prep Time: 20 minutes plus cool down time 
Curing Time:  3 weeks 
Makes:  5.5- 750ml bottles (about a gallon and a quart)

• 2 large whole cinnamon sticks
• 1 star anise pod
• 8-10 allspice berries
• 5-7 whole cloves
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 gallon of fresh pressed apple cider
• 1 large bottle (750ml) Everclear, 151 proof 

Place whole spices in a large stock pot and warm over low heat until they perfume, 3-4 minutes.  Add apple cider and sugars; stir until dissolved.  Turn heat to high and bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool to room temp (a few hours).  When cool, add the Everclear and stir to combine.  Strain out the spices and pour into glass storage containers with tight-fitting lids.  Store in a cool, dry place for 3 weeks or longer.  (It gets smoother the longer you let it sit.)

Local Cider

Serve cold over ice (we keep the bottle in the fridge once we open one), or warm up and add a little Tuaca to it (vanilla brandy).  You could totally make it mulled (we find pre-made mulling spice in our co-op's bulk spice aisle).  Justin even speculated that it would be tasty in a sangria!  If you warm it up, don't "cook" it too long or you'll cook out the alcohol!

Note:  We did the conversion of alcohol content once the cider was added, and it comes to about 12%, which is comparable to most wines.  If you wanted less alcohol, you could substitute 80 proof vodka for the Everclear and you'd get a hooch that's about 6% alcohol, which is more like an ale.

 

 

Spiced Cranberry Sauce

(Not my pic.)

We both grew up with cranberry sauce out of a can... and when we discovered how easy it is to make your own and customize it,  I don't think we could ever go back to the canned version.  Earlier in the year I discovered Pomanders, which are oranges studded with whole cloves and used as a room freshener.  We hung several of them up in our house, in closets, in the hallway, and they really made our house smell amazing... we both fell in love with the smell of oranges and cloves combined. So when I decided to make a cranberry sauce today, I decided to go heavy on the orange and also use cloves.  Sweet, tart, slightly spicy... it pretty much smells like the holidays.

Fresh rinsed ranberries

(Here's a how-to for making your own pomander.)

I've really been trying to cut back the sugar in recipes and I did so in this one as well.  Most cranberry sauce recipes you find will use up to a cup of sugar or honey.  With this one, I figured I've got the orange juice, the cranberry juice, the apple, the Triple Sec... plenty of sweet but a lot of tart.  If you're not big into tart, you might want to use 1 cup of sugar in the recipe.

And in the holiday spirit, I chose Jim Carroll singing "People Who Died".  (I apologize for the video showing Leo and Marky Mark.)  -jen

SPICED CRANBERRY SAUCE 
Difficulty:  Easy
Time:  20 minutes
Makes: 2 and 1/4 cups

Orange & Lemon Zest

• juice and zest of one orange (about 1/3 cup juice)
• juice and zest of one lemon (about 3 tablespoons juice)
• 1/2 cup cranberry juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 12 oz bag of fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 cup Triple Sec liqueur 
• 1 apple (your choice), diced
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

In a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat, bring orange juice, lemon juice, cranberry juice and sugar to a boil.  Add rinsed cranberries and bring back to a boil (about 5 minutes).  Lower heat to a simmer and add citrus zests, Triple Sec, diced apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes (but not more than 15 minutes or it won't set).  Remove from heat and let set.  Serve at room temp or chilled - it's up to you.