Baked Apple and Cinnamon Spoon Jam
Dried apples cooked down with sugar, cinnamon, and lemon until they hold a spoon. Dessert, or a topping for whatever else you made.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 3 oz
- cal / oz
- 110
- protein
- 1 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- 300 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Snack
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried apple slices | 2 cups, packed | unsweetened, tart varieties if you can find them |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 1/2 cup | white or brown, brown goes darker |
| Ground cinnamon | 1 tsp | |
| Citric acid or powdered lemon | 1/2 tsp | stands in for the juice of half a lemon |
| Dried lemon peel | 1 tsp | optional, for the oils |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Break the apple slices into smaller pieces with your hands. Big pieces stay leathery in the middle.
- Put the apples and 300 ml of water in the pot. Bring to a boil, then drop to the lowest flame you can hold.
- Simmer about 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the apples are soft and the water has mostly gone into them.
- Add the sugar, cinnamon, lemon powder, peel, and salt. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Cook another 5 to 7 minutes, stirring more often as it thickens. It is done when a spoon dragged across the bottom leaves a track for a second.
- Take it off the heat and let it sit ten minutes. It sets up as it cools.
The original is made with fresh apples baked whole, which is a two-hour oven job and a cooler full of fruit. Dried apples get to the same place faster because they are already concentrated. You are just putting back a controlled amount of water instead of driving off an uncontrolled amount.
The acid matters more than it looks. Sugar and long heat alone give you brown syrup; the lemon keeps the apple flavor sharp and helps the whole thing gel. Citric acid powder does the job of a lemon at a fraction of the weight, and it does not leak in your pack. Keep the flame low once the sugar goes in, since sugar scorches on a thin pot bottom before you smell it.
Packing
Sugar, cinnamon, lemon powder, and salt premixed in one small bag. Apples in another. Two bags, no measuring at camp.
Variations
- Stir it into morning oatmeal instead of eating it as dessert.
- A splash of whiskey off the heat at the end.
- Cut the sugar to 1/4 cup and it becomes a thick apple sauce rather than a jam.
https://savoriurbane.com/dulceata-de-mere-coapte-cu-scortisoara-si-lamaie