apple cider pancake doughnuts with homemade apple cinnamon rosemary and spiced rum jam

It was delightfully autumningly raining yesterday afternoon, and I was delightfully exploring many a blog in my (yes I will admit it) fluffy leopard print dressing gown when I came across this recipe for... wait for it...apple cider doughnut pancakes! Oh my lord!

It was enough to get me out of my dressing gown, into my car for the first time in a few weeks, and down to the shops to grab some supplies. That was it! I had Sunday morning all planned. Before I could think about the pancakes it struck me that this would be the ideal time to try an apple jam I've been thinking of creating for a while...yes i'm a little jam obsessed at the moment! I thought (and rightly so) that this would be the perfect accompaniment for these incredible sounding treats! This was all my favourite things, fruit, spices, booze, baking, woody herbs, rum, sugary goodness. So I got straight into creating this jam, ready for breakfast in the morning. The result...Yum!

So first the Jam! I've been thinking of trying an apple jam for quite a while now. With my jams I'm constantly looking for a sweet/savoury or sweet/tart balance. I thought mixing two classic accompaniments of apples one from the traditionally sweet world, cinnamon and the other from the traditionally savoury rosemary would give a fantastic flavour. And the rum, well who doesn't like a good dash of spiced rum!? It really lifts the flavour of this jam. 

Apple, Cinnamon, Rosemary and Spiced Rum Jam   

500 gms of cored apples (mix of granny smiths and jonathans – about 6 medium apples)

375 gms sugar
i cup water

zest of 1 lemon

a good squeeze of the juice

3 sprigs rosemary

1 cinnamon quill

6-7 cardamom pods

a decent splash of sailor jerry’s spiced rum

Peel, core and roughly chop the apples. Cover with the cup of water in a heavy bottom pan, Add lemon, cinnamon, cardamom, rosemary and simmer until the apples are looking tenderish. While this is simmering (will take about 10 mins) chuck the sugar in an oven dish and put in a slow oven (120 degrees ish) to warm it through. Should only take about 10 mins as well, stir with a clean dry spoon half way through. Add sugar to the apples and stir until combined. Bring to the boil and add a good splash of rum. Reduce the heat and simmer for another 25 – 30 mins until you get to the right consistency. This one doesn’t take long at all! I finished with a fresh handful of chopped rosemary. Fill up your jars while it’s piping hot, seal and allow to cool.

hot jamn tips:

*my research tells me warming the sugar makes it dissolve faster and gives you a clearer jam. If you don’t care, don’t worry about it – works perfectly fine without warming! I won’t tell the CWA ladies if you don’t!

*you want to weigh the apples after coring and peeling them so you have 500gms of fruit, otherwise you’ll have less once you take the cores out.

*the secret to this jam I have found it to not let it become an apple ‘sauce’. You want it to be very much a jam consistency. Next time I will try it with just grannies as they held their shape while the jonathans mushed up in the liquid quite a bit. I will also try cutting the apple a lot smaller so I don’t need to break up the big pieces. Can’t wait to try it again!!

Apple. Cider. Cinnamon. Doughnuts.

Need I say much more? The recipe that inspired me was designed for a gluten free diet, (http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/11/gluten-free-tuesday-apple-cider-doughnut-pancakes-recipe.html#.T1PiS1LAsyo.pinterest) this not being an issue for me I just created a pancake mix based on this idea using regular flour.

The idea is create a normal, thick pancake batter with self raising flour, eggs, a little sugar a grating of nutmeg and then use the cider instead of milk. Simple, genius! I used the Rekorderlig Winter Cider that has spices already to boost the flavour. Once cooked sprinkle  (cough *coat) your pancakes in cinnamon sugar thus turning them into hot doughnuts! Utter gloriousness! 

These pancakes with the jam really were a foodie dream come true! It was pure apple indulgence! The pancakes were gloriously fluffy, had that hint of apple and spice, boosted by the apple jam, with the little hints of rosemary cutting through the sweetness. I finish with a promise to my Dad who is recovering from surgery in hospital, who was allowed a glass of apple juice today after nil by mouth for the past 2 days, that when I visit I will make this apple treat for you! I'm sure after 2 days of nothing his apple juice tasted amazing but I think I can top it with these bad boys!


.....and thankfully I only needed to use half the bottle of cider so I have some to drink with my other indulgent treat this afternoon, a bacon sarnie with fresh sourdough and home made pesto dropped round by a friend this morning (traded for some fig jam)! Oh yeah! Bring on lunch!