Spicebush Apples
Sweet buttery brown sugar and fragrant spicebush berries simmered together with slices of apple make for a delicious autumnal dessert (or snack!).
(Don’t know what spicebush is? Check out this video at 5:18!)
A quick note
The spicebush flavor in this recipe is very subtle- it’s more there to add just a hint of depth to the recipe rather than being the most prominent part of it all. You can easily make it stronger by simply adding more berries to the recipe until you find the level you like. The cinnamon can also be decreased, increased, or omitted altogether, depending on personal taste.
This recipe is for a single serving, but can be scaled up as needed.
You will need
- 1 Apple (peeled or unpeeled, depending on personal preference)
- 2 tbsp Salted Butter
- 2¾ tbsp Brown Sugar
- 1/16 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 2 Fresh Spicebush Berries
How to make
Decide whether or not you want to peel your apple(s). Apples with the peel left on take a while longer to cook through.
Chop your peeled or unpeeled apple into slices. Put them in a small pot, then add the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Chop the spicebush berries in half, and add them to the pot.
Place the pot on a burner set on low to medium-low. Stir occasionally as butter melts, then cover and leave to simmer until apples are preferred level of softness. Stir every so often as you wait. A sweet sauce will naturally be made as the apples release juice and the other ingredients melt and combine together. The time it will take depends on such things like how big your apple was, the size of your slices, if you left the peel on or cut it off, and so on, so there’s no real hard number for how long to cook them. Test the apples every so often by stabbing them with a fork.
When they’re done, remove from heat, spoon apples into a bowl and pour some of the sauce left in the pot over them. Or just eat them directly out the pot, because why bother getting another dish dirty and all that.
Enjoy them while they’re fresh and hot!
