Wassail
Updated November 24, 2024
Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.
- Total Time
- 2 hours 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
5 to 6 small to medium honey crisp (or Fuji or McIntosh) apples, cored
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
2 cups Madeira
2 bottles (22 4/10 ounces) London Pride Ale
4 bottles (48 ounces) Strongbow English Cider
1 cup apple cider
12 whole cloves
12 whole allspice berries
2 cinnamon sticks, 2 inches long
2 strips orange peel, 2 inches long
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)
44 grams carbs; 205 calories; 3 grams fiber; 14 milligrams sodium; 1 gram protein; 35 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place apples in a 9-by-9-inch glass baking dish. Spoon light and dark brown sugar into center of each apple, dividing sugar evenly among them. Pour 1 cup water into bottom of dish and bake until tender, about 1 hour.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, pour Madeira, ale and English and apple ciders into a large slow cooker or heavy pot. Place cloves, allspice, cinnamon and orange peel into cheesecloth, tie shut with kitchen twine and add to slow cooker or pot along with ginger and nutmeg. Set slow cooker to medium, or place pot over low heat. Gently simmer for about 1 hour, while apples bake, or longer if desired.
- Step 3
Add liquid from the baking dish and stir to combine. Using tongs, transfer apples into slow cooker or pot to garnish. Reduce heat. Ladle hot wassail into heatproof cups to serve.
Private Notes
Comments
This is an amazing holiday recipe. However, it is quite boozy. I usually increase the amount of apple cider as well as the spices a bit. Play with the amounts until you get it how you like it.
Wassail? Wassat? It's delicious! After reading a comment about it being too sweet, I didn't use any sugar when baking the apples, but it turned out needing some added sweetener. I had a ton of orange simple syrup left over from making candied orange peels so we each added that to taste. Next year I'll try using half the brown sugar when I bake the apples...because I WILL be making this next year. P.S. Fuji apples held their shape beautifully.
A great alternative garnish solution--if you find baking whole apples a bit fussy or a bit wasteful--is to simmer the mix with dried apple rings. When ready to serve, top with the prettiest of the dried apples or with the beautiful dried citrus slices that can be bought for cocktail and cake garnishes these days.
We made this for a Twelfth Night party we had. The finished product was very good--not overly boozy, but with a nice kick. If I make it again, I will toss the apples right before serving. I used honeycrisp which exploded in the baking and looked a bit like a Dr. Frankenstein laboratory experiment floating in the finished product. Otherwise it was easy and elegant.
This was delicious and a big hit at Thanksgiving. My only notes are the apples broke down quite a bit and didn't look great, so I skipped the garnish with no big loss. Also, the apples produced a lot of liquid. Adding only half of it made this sweet enough for my crowd.
Is there a non-alcoholic version of this?