I really love seasonal smells…things like candles and wall flowers…specifically from Bath and Body Works. If I’m being totally honest with you here, a strangely large portion of my paychecks throughout fall and Christmas go toward candles ???. Proooobably too much.

And you want to know something even more extreme? I buy enough “Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin” body lotion and body spray during fall to last me all year long. Like…right now…I am wearing Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin body lotion that is still from my 2015 stash. DON’T JUDGE ME.

So, because of my clearly strange obsession with fall scents, this “recipe” I’m posting today overwhelms me with pure happiness! It is extremely easy to prepare and just fills your house with the most wholesome, comforting smell. So much love.

So here’s the question: why would you go through the trouble of making this instead of just buying a candle or wall flower? I shall tell you, dear friends, I shall tell you.

It’s fun to make. It feels like you are celebrating fall as you are doing the five minute prep that this “recipe” requires, and it feels like a celebration of fall even more so as the mixture simmers away on your stove.
It fills your house with a deeper, more complex scent than a candle would because it’s actual real ingredients that you are smelling…not perfumed wax. You are smelling apples, cloves, orange peel, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla bubbling away in your kitchen. And that’s just straight up hard to beat!
It makes fall-y things feel more fall-y. Bear with me while I explain. Let’s say you aaarreee….carving pumpkins! Making caramel apples! Decorating your house for fall! Now imagine doing those things while this autumn simmer pot is doin’ its thang on your stove top. It adds another fall element to your fall activities, which is so much fun! It can become an annual tradition with you and your family, and let’s be honest, traditions make holidays and seasons so much more special.

There is definitely a time and place for candles and a time and place for this simmer pot. Pretty much any time I am even remotely busy or lazy, but also want my house to smell like fall happiness? Candles. But on a beautiful Saturday with my windows open so the fall breeze can flow through my house, and I’m just relaxing/cleaning/hanging out with my family? This autumn simmer pot, simmering away on my stove, filling my house with the most heavenly and comforting smell.

By making this simmer pot, I checked another item off my Fall Bucket List! Which makes me very happy. There are still a BUNCH of things I haven’t been able to complete on the list yet, but I am trying to make my way through them. The only ones I have actually completed from the list are…

Drink Pumpkin Spice Lattes (um…I may or may not have completed this one every other day since the start of fall…I’M JUST BEING DILIGENT)
Open all the windows on a crisp day
Cook a new pumpkin recipe
Use my Crock Pot like crazy
Wear long flannel shirts and boots
Make an autumn simmer pot

So I’ve completed several…but I still have a lot to go! And some of the most fun ones haven’t been ticked off yet…BUT I still have until Thanksgiving to finish everything. And then I can make a Christmas Bucket List ?.

Autumn Simmer Pot

Author: Annie Chesson
Prep Time: 5 mins
Total Time: 5 mins

Ingredients

Scale

2 oranges (you’ll just need the peel)
2 apples, quartered (no need to remove the core)
1–2 tablespoons whole cloves
4 cinnamon sticks
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Add your orange peels, apples, clove, cinnamon, and vanilla to a pot. Add enough water to cover the ingredients, and bring to a simmer
Let the pot simmer for as long as you want, just keep adding more water as it cooks down. It will cook down less quickly if you keep it at a simmer instead of a boil.
*Note – it is normal for the mixture to turn black after a while – it is not because it’s burning, it is coloration coming from the cloves. The smell will still be delicious!*