Homemade cinnamon apple peel pancake syrup

It's Apple season! Homemade cinnamon apple peel pancake syrup costs pennies to make and adds so much flavor to our recipes.

If you're making all of the apple sauce, apple crisp, apple pie, apple recipes, and have found you're accumulating endless apple scraps, be sure to save them! This is a wonderful, practical, and delicious way to reduce food waste and save some money. It's also a wonderful substitute for maple syrup in other recipes, like in granola or cookies. And of course, it's a must over your apple cider pancakes!

rustic image with a brown wooden table with a basket full of apples, and a white dish with bear shaped pancaked and a jar filled with apple peel pancake syrup with a spoon in it

Isn't this such a magical time of year? Somehow I feel our house is well stocked and abundant as long as we have a big bucket of apples to enjoy and create recipes with. Apples are so versatile and can turn into a delicious treat or a healthy snack. You can use every last bit of your apples and easily create zero waste recipes, just like this apple pancake syrup! We have been making homemade apple fruit roll ups, cinnamon apple peel pancake syrup and homemade naturally sweetened apple cider nearly every weekend. Is there anything better than Autumn recipes?

overhead shot of bear shaped pancakes with peeled apples and a pouring jar filled with apple peel syrup
served over bear shaped pancakes is not necessary, but highly recommended 🙂
little girls hand pouring apple peel pancake syrup over a stack of pancakes
If you can believe it, my little ones actually prefer this to maple syrup

As a diplomat overseas, we can't always find real maple syrup that we love, so this alternative is very useful for our Sunday pancake tradition. Even if you do have easy access to maple syrup, you don't want to miss out on giving this syrup a try.

Make use of those apple scraps

Our family has been using these for some time since I make apple sauce weekly. We always compost our scraps, but occasionally I can make a DIY out of them!

Apples and cinnamon are such a wonderful, cozy flavor and now that we've made this recipe with such great success we can't wait to try to make other variations!

I came across this recipe and this is my adaptation of it. I slightly change the ratio of sugar to get a thicker syrup and do not can our syrup. We store it in an airtight mason jar. Because we use our syrup quickly and store it in our refrigerator, it was just an unnecessary step for us.

How to make homemade cinnamon apple peel pancake syrup:

  • Reserve your apple peels and scraps and place in a stockpot.
  • Cover your apple scraps with water, leaving one inch of water above the apples.
  • Add four cinnamon sticks or a tablespoon of ground cinnamon.
  • Bring the pot to boil, and then reduce temperature to low to allow the liquid to simmer and let the liquid reduce for one hour.
  • Once the liquid has been simmering for an hour, remove it from heat and when cooled - strain the liquid from the apple scrap.
  • Measure your liquid and return to your stockpot.
  • Here you want to add ½ the amount of liquid in sugar + half a cup.

Note: you can reserve the strained apple scraps to make apple sauce.

For example

  • If you have two cups of liquid, add 1.5 cups of sugar
  • If you have three cups of liquid, add 2 cups of sugar
  • If you have four cups of liquid, add 2.5 cups of sugar
  • If you have five cups of liquid, add 3 cups of sugar
  • Turn temperature to med-high until liquid starts to bubble. Watch closely to ensure water doesn't boil over, but you want to keep the temperature high as possible without your water boiling over.
  • Stir and watch closely for ten minutes.
  • From here, pour the syrup into a mason jar. It may still be a bit runny. Once cooled, it should thicken up.
Overhead shot of apple peel pancake syrup in a jar, next to peeled apples and a vegetable peeler
Who knew scraps could be so useful?!

How to store homemade apple peel pancake syrup:

Store in an airtight container and in the fridge.

Use within one month.

photo of a jar of apple peel syrup on a brown rustic background with a bear shaped pancake in the corner

Homemade cinnamon apple peel pancake syrup

5 from 10 votes
It's Apple season! Homemade cinnamon apple peel pancake syrup costs pennies to make and adds so much flavor to our recipes.
Print Recipe
Prep Time:10 minutes
Cook Time:1 hour
Total Time:1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • apple peels and scraps
  • sugar
  • cinnamon sticks or ground cinnamon

Instructions

  • Reserve your apple peels and scraps and place in a stockpot. 

    Cover your apple scraps with water, leaving one inch of water above the apples.

    Add four cinnamon sticks or a tablespoon of ground cinnamon.

    Bring the pot to boil, and then reduce temperature to low to allow the liquid to simmer and let the liquid reduce for one hour.

    Once the liquid has been simmering for an hour, remove it from heat and when cooled - strain the liquid from the apple scrap. Use apple scraps to blend up some apple syrup.

    Measure your liquid and return to your stockpot.

    Here you want to add ½ the amount of liquid in sugar + half a cup.

    For example)

    If you have two cups of liquid, add 1.5 cups of sugar
    If you have three cups of liquid, add 2 cups of sugar
    If you have four cups of liquid, add 2.5 cups of sugar
    If you have five cups of liquid, add 3 cups of sugar
    Turn temperature to med-high until liquid starts to bubble. Watch closely to ensure water doesn't boil over, but you want to keep the temperature high as possible without your water boiling over.

    Stir and watch closely for ten minutes.

    From here, pour the syrup into a mason jar. It may still be a bit runny. Once cooled, it should thicken up.

    Store in an airtight container and in the fridge.

    Use within one month. 

Notes

Use within one month. 
Freezes well.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 85kcal
Course: Autumn
Cuisine: American
Keyword: homemade apple peel pancake syrup, how to use apple scraps
Calories: 85kcal
Author: sarah
homemade apple peel syrup 3

I hope this recipe works beautifully for you and is enjoyed for many years to come. Thank you so much for reading. Your visit to my site helped support a small mama run business today. If you enjoyed it, I would be so honored if you would share with your loved ones.

Sending love, fresh baked cookies, and a bouquet of your favorite flowers.

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8 Comments

  1. I dont think I understand the part in your directions where it says, "Use apple scraps to blend up some apple syrup." Does that mean we blend up the scraps and add back in? Or does that mean you can blend it for another use? Blend so it releases more juice for the syrup? Would you clarify?

    1. Thank you for that helpful question. It should say: You can reserve the strained apple scraps to blend up some apple sauce.