It’s Cider Days time again! I wrote about this fantastic festival in Western Massachusetts last year on my Yankee Blog and I’m thrilled to be going back this weekend. This two-day celebration of apples and hard cider is growing in popularity every year and if you haven’t been, I can’t recommend it enough.

There are cider-making classes, apple tastings, pancake breakfasts, dinners, cider samplers, cooking lessons, and family activities at locations all over Franklin County (I’ll be signing books at the Shelburne-Buckland Community Center on Saturday at 2pm, and on Sunday, I’ll do a demo of my overnight apple butter at Clarkdale Orchards on Sunday at 11am). Many of the ticketed events are already sold out, but there’s still plenty to do.

I’m so happy that hard cider has a dedicated festival in New England. There was a time when it was the most popular beverage in America. People pressed their apples, and absent pasteurization or refrigeration, the juice would naturally ferment into cider. In many places, cider was cleaner and safer than water, and everyone drank it, even children. John Adams began every day with a glass.

Cider fell out of favor in the later half of the 19th century, but it is experiencing a renaissance all over the country. This week, in an article titled “You’d Be Hard-Pressed to Find a Hotter Alcoholic Beverage Than Hard Cider,” Time magazine noted that in 2011, sales of American hard cider increased by 31%. In many ways, we have the craft beer movement to thank. As consumers got used to the idea of trying small-batch products from local breweries, they were more willing to try cider, too.

New England leaders like West County Cider, Flag Hill,  and Farnum Hill have been around for years and have earned well-deserved followings. But the past five years have seen so many new cideries coming to market that I can hardly keep track. And what a lucky thing for us! Cider is delicious, inexpensive, and local. I’ve been tasting as many new ciders and apple wines as I can, and here are some of my favorites. It’s just a small sampling of what’s out there, but it will get you started.

Bantam Cider, Cambridge, MA – Talk about new: Bantam has been around for less then a year. Cidermakers Dana Masterpolo and Michelle da Silva have just one cider so far, made with a mix of Cortland, McIntosh, Empire, and green apples. It’s bright and crisp, with vivid fruit that makes it accessible to first-time cider drinkers, but nothing like the super-sweet 6-pack ciders made from concentrate. bantamcider.com

Carr’s Ciderhouse, North Hadley, MA – Jonathan Carr’s cidery has been eight years in the making, but it is also new to market. He produces three ciders: a dry sparkler with wonderful acidity and vivid fruit, an sweet apple pommeau made with a blend of cider and brandy, and a fruit-infused sparkling cider that blends local fruit in season with dry cider. carrsciderhouse.com

Eden Ice Cider, West Charleston, VT – Albert and Eleanor Leger started their cidery in the winter of 2007, and they now produce several gorgeous ice wines and an aperitif called Orleans.  They use about 8 pounds of apples to make every 375ml bottle, including wonderful heirlooms like Calville Blanc, Esopus Spitzenberg, and Ashmead’s Kernel. edenicecider.com

Pup’s Cider Company, Greenfield, NH – Rich Stadnik produces two ciders using apples from southern New Hampshire. I’m a big fan of the Monadnock Harvest blend, which is wonderfully dry, with vibrant acidity and a pleasant effervescence. pupscider.com

Still River Winery, Harvard, MA – On a 2007 trip to Quebec, Wade and Margot Holtzman had their first taste of traditional apple ice wine, made with fresh cider concentrated by repeated freezing and thawing cycles. Inspired, they decided to try their hand at making wine in the same style, and soon began winning awards for their richly flavored, nectar-like product. Their sparkling ice wine is also wonderful. stillriverwinery.com

So what did I miss? Do you have any favorites? Let me know in the comments…

I asked Tim Bassett at Gould Hill Farm and he said yes, they are bigger, and it’s because of the frosts we had back in April, which hit just when the apple blossoms had popped.

A normal-size Roxbury Russet surrounded by giant, menacing specimens of (l-r) Stayman Winesap, Suncrisp, and Jonagold.

Some of the trees were wiped out by the frosts, Tim said, but others lost just a portion of their blossoms. For those trees, the blossoms that remained grew into fruits, and those fruits were getting a greater-than-normal share of the tree’s nutrients. So they just kept growing.

Overall, it has been a pretty heartbreaking year for northern apple growers. Some local farmers I’ve spoken with reported losses of 60 to 80% of their crop. Others, with land in less vulnerable microclimates, were unscathed. As a result of all those losses, we’ll be paying more for apples and apple cider this year. But the apples we’ll be buying are remarkable.

I made another batch of the quick bread-and-butter apple pickle, but added some thinly sliced jalapeno for a little heat. Loved it!

Jonagolds are great in pie, and from the look of this one, you’d only need to peel 4 or 5 of them to fill your crust.

*…assuming that you don’t have a root cellar. If you do, that’s a great place to keep apples, also in paper bags.

Recipe for Apple Brownies

Apple Notes: I’m not kidding when I say that this recipe is easy. It’s also extremely adaptable. Any firm-sweet apple variety (see page 30) will work beautifully.

Equipment: 11-by 7-inch baking dish

Makes: 12 bars

Active time: 15 minutes • Total time: 1 hour, 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup (145 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon table salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
8 tablespoons (1 stick; 113 g) salted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for greasing pan
1 cup (210 g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
½ cup (60 g) chopped walnuts
2 large firm-sweet apples (about 1 pound total; see Apple Notes), peeled, cored, and cut into ½-inch cubes

Method
1• Preheat the oven to 350°F and set a rack to the middle position. Generously grease the
baking dish with butter and set aside.
2• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer at high speed or using a hand-held mixer, beat
together the butter, sugar, and egg until pale, about 2 minutes. Add the walnuts and apples and
stir by hand until evenly combined. Add the flour mixture and stir until combined, another 30
seconds.
3• Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake until golden brown and lightly firm to
the touch, 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 30 minutes, then cut into 12 bars and
transfer to a serving platter.

The book is beautiful, telling the story of an apple’s life cycle using just pictures and minimal words.

Reading it to my own four-year-old son, I loved how the book’s simplicity forced both of us to pause over each page and talk, rather than doing our (my) usual plowing through.

It’s a beautiful book for a beautiful fruit!

Spiced Apple Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting, photo by Squire Fox

It took me several attempts to figure these cupcakes out—to come up with a recipe that was full of apple flavor without being mistaken for a breakfast muffin. Among the experiments: a liquid apple butter center, a scattering of finely diced apples. Finally, I considered adding boiled cider, which is just very concentrated apple juice. It did the trick, adding rich flavor to the batter while also producing a very tender, identifiably cakelike product. Spiced cream cheese frosting was the perfect finish. Honestly, I can’t think of any cake that wouldn’t be improved by cream cheese frosting. And it’s so much easier to make than buttercream.

Recipe for Spiced Apple Cupcakes

Note: This recipe has a large yield, 24 cakes. I think this is a sensible amount for most birthday parties—plenty of people will eat two cakes each. However, you can cut the recipe in half fairly easily—most everything divides into two, except for the eggs and the boiled cider. In that case, use 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk and 3½ tablespoons boiled cider. (You can order boiled cider from the King Arthur Flour catalog or from Wood’s Cider Mill at woodscidermill.com.). The frosting divides neatly in half.

Make-ahead tip: You can bake the cupcakes up to a week in advance. When cool, arrange them on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer. When frozen, transfer them to zip-top bags. You can make the frosting up to four days in advance. Bring everything to room temperature before frosting.

Equipment: 2 standard (2½-inch) muffin pans; paper liners

Makes: 2 dozen cupcakes

Active time: 1 hour • Total time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Ingredients for Spiced Apple Cupcakes

• For the cupcakes:
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks; 227 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups (420 g) granulated sugar
• 3 1/2 cups (510 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup (80 ml) boiled cider (see Note)
• 1 cup (240 ml) whole or 2% milk, at room temperature

• For the frosting
• 2 (8 ounce) packages (455 g total) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick; 113 g) salted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups (240 g) confectioners’ sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method for Spiced Apple Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 325ºF and set a rack to the middle position.

Using a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or a hand-held mixer, combine the butter and sugar at medium-high speed until pale, very fluffy, and mousselike, 7 to 10 minutes (I usually average about 8 minutes). Stop every few minutes to scrape down the sides of your bowl with a spatula—you want everything evenly mixed, with no clumps of butter.

While you’re waiting for the butter and sugar to whip, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a medium bowl. Whisk together and set aside.

When the butter-sugar mixture is fully whipped, add 1 egg and continue mixing at medium-high speed until fully combined. Repeat with the remaining 4 eggs. Add the vanilla.

In a small bowl, stir the boiled cider into the milk. It may look a bit curdled—that’s fine. Add about a third of the flour mixture to the butter-egg-sugar mixture and mix on low speed just until combined. Do not overmix. Add about a half of the milk mixture and mix just until combined. Repeat with the flour, then the milk, then the flour.

Using a ⅓ cup measuring cup or large spoon, fill each muffin cup two-thirds of the way. Bake until the tops of the cakes are firm but still pale and a cake tester comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting: Using your standing mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment or a hand-held mixer, combine the cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat well, scraping down the sides once or twice, until evenly combined. Set aside.

When the cakes are done, remove from the oven and let cool in the pan on a rack for

10 minutes before removing, then let cool for at least 30 minutes before frosting. Frost generously.

Also, I’m in the process of updating my events page for the fall. Stay tuned…

Yesterday I was at the Kendall Square market in Cambridge. I demonstrated how to make one of my two favorite summer apple recipes: Quick Bread-and-Butter Apple Pickles (the other favorite is a simple tart made with Gravenstein apples and raspberries).

This apple pickle relish is a bit different from the bread-and-butter pickles you may know from childhood. It’s also much simpler. It does have a similar flavor profile, though: sweet and bright, with warm spices.

It’s a quick pickle in every sense — just a thirty-minute bath in the vinegar before it’s ready to serve, and I simply keep it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, rather than canning it. It never lasts long enough to put up, anyway. Serve as a side salad, or on sandwiches and burgers, or chop up and mix into potato salad.

Apple Notes: Red-skinned apples look prettiest here, but any apple will work beautifully.

Note: To make this pickle truly pretty, the mandoline and biscuit cutter are essential. The mandoline because you want paper-thin slices, and the biscuit cutter so you can create apple slices that are the same size as the cukes. You don’t need anything fancy, though.

Equipment: Mandoline; 1½-inch biscuit cutter (see Note)

Makes: About 4 cups – Active time: 25 minutes – Total time: 60 minutes

Ingredients for Quick Bread-and-Butter Apple Pickles

1 large seedless (English) cucumber (about 14 ounces or 400 g), unpeeled
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 large firm-sweet apples (about 1 pound total), unpeeled and halved lengthwise
2 medium shallots
1 cup rice vinegar
½ cup water
½ cup honey
1 tablespoon granulated sugar 1 cinnamon stick
1 sprig fresh tarragon, cut into 4 pieces

Directions for Quick Bread-and-Butter Apple Pickles

1. First, prep your cucumbers: Cut off the ends and discard, then slice on a mandoline. Put in a colander and toss with the salt. Let sit for at least 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, prep the apples: Trim the seeds and core from each apple half, then set, cut-side down, on a cutting board. Use a biscuit cutter to push down into the flesh, extracting two little cylinders from each apple half. Because the apples are round, the cylinders won’t be perfectly level. That’s fine. Thinly slice each cylinder on the mandoline (again, don’t worry if some slices are not perfect circles). Slice the shallots on the mandoline as well, then put in a medium bowl with the apples.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, water, honey, and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Add the cinnamon stick and tarragon, and pour the mixture over the apples and shallots.

4. Rinse the cucumbers well and lightly blot dry (still in the colander) with paper towels. Add the cucumber slices to the bowl with the apples and stir well. Let sit for at least 30 minutes before serving. Refrigerate for up to two weeks.

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People seem to really love these pickles and it was fun to talk to them about their favorite apples. I also got to visit with a new friend friend, Sarah Davenport, from Apex Orchards in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.  Apex grows amazing apples, but they also have gorgeous stone fruits like peaches, plums, and apricots right now.

Farmers market people are generally so friendly and generous, trading tastes of whatever they’re selling, sharing advice, supporting each others’ businesses. Today I enjoyed an amazing cornmeal cookie from Area IV restaurant in Cambridge and discovered the gluten-free wonders of Violette bakery. Violette’s cupcakes were so tender and delicate, I never would’ve guessed they were made with anything but regular cake flour.

I’d love to hear about your favorite farmers markets and vendors. There are so many great ones to choose from. Lucky us!