Preheat oven to 400ºF. Spray a 13-by-9- inch baking dish with baking spray.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a large bowl. Create a well in center and pour in buttermilk and vanilla. Whisk until combined, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Fold in apples. Spread evenly in prepared baking dish. Make the Caramel:

Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add sugar, boiling water, boiled cider, and salt. Cook over medium, stirring, until sugar is dissolved.

Immediately pour caramel mixture over apple mixture. Bake until golden brown and edges are slightly crisp, 45 to 50 minutes, covering with aluminum foil after 30 minutes to prevent overbrowning. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions If you’re making your own boiled cider, you can prepare it up to 1 month ahead. Cool completely and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Pudding can be made up to 3 days ahead; store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and gently reheat portions before serving with ice cream. Recipe excerpted from My Harvest Kitchen: 100+ Recipes to Savor the Seasons. Copyright © 2025 by Gesine Bullock-Prado. Photographs copyright © Raymond Prado. Used with permission of the publisher, The Countryman Press, a division of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.