The Pioneer Woman's Secret Ingredient For The Perfect Fall Apple Cider

When apples are in season and it's time to start prepping the fall recipes, Ree Drummond is the person to go to. From apple pie to homemade applesauce, the Pioneer Woman has all the tips and tricks to make your apple-flavored recipes perfect. In fact, Drummond has a mulled apple cider recipe that includes a sweet ingredient you probably haven't thought to add to your cider — maple syrup. It adds just the right amount of sweetness to the cider with a subtle note of caramel. This is the ingredient you won't want to make your apple cider without from now on. 

A common sweetener in baking, maple syrup offers a warm, distinctive taste similar to vanilla. Apples and maple syrup are no new flavor combination, and maple syrup specifically works well to enhance the flavor of the apples. Maple syrup (particularly the pure kind) is also great if you're looking for a sweetener with no refined sugar. Drummond's mulled cider is a combination of flavors like cinnamon, orange, lemon, and allspice berries that will give you a warm and cozy fall beverage for the season.  

Apple cider is simply juiced apples without the filtration and pasteurization process that regular apple juice goes through. Making Ree Drummond's mulled cider is simple, but one thing she recommends is juicing the apples yourself. While you can buy store-bought cider, making your own will give your cider the perfect amount of pulp. She uses ½ cup of maple syrup for 6 cups of apple cider in her recipe, but you can adjust this to suit how sweet you like your cider. To heat, add all your ingredients along with your cider and maple syrup to a saucepan and bring to a near boil. And if you want to turn this into an adult cocktail, add spiced rum to your cider. You could even use the mulled cider to make Drummond's apple cider margarita. 

The mulled apple cider is the perfect drink to have at a party or alongside Thanksgiving dinner. Apple cider works well with more than just maple syrup; peanut butter whiskey and coffee liqueur are another unexpected flavor pairing to add to your cider. If you have any leftovers, strain out the fruit and store the liquid in the fridge for up to three days. Once you try it, you might just find yourself making this mulled cider all season long.