Spicy, Cozy, Apple Butter
A bit less sweet than what you get at the store, with plenty of warming spices. Perfect for cool weather breakfast, picnics, or on a cheese plate at any time of the year.
Equipment
- Very large pot
- Colander/strainer/food mill
- 8-12 eight ounce mason jars
- Funnel
Ingredients
- 8 pounds tasty apples I prefer Honeycrisp
- 474 ml (or 2 cups) apple cider
- 474 ml (or 2 cups) vinegar I greatly prefer apple cider vinegar
- 533 grams (or 2.5 cups) dark brown sugar
- 323 grams (or 1.5 cups) white granulated sugar
- 24 grams (3 tablespoons) cinnamon
- 6 grams (1 tablespoon) cloves
- 15 ml (1 tablespoon) pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Wash those apples with soap and warm water, then core them and cut them into quarters. You can skip coring them if you have a fine strainer. Don't peel them, you want that pectin.
- Put those apples into your big pot with the cider and vinegar and cook on your stovetop (or crock pot if it's large enough) on medium-high heat until the apples have broken down. Keep the pot uncovered. Stir occasionally, they are done when they can be crushed easily with your spoon and are mostly liquified. On my stove this takes a couple of hours.
- Pass this mixture through your strainer, colander, or food mill. This gets out the peels, seeds, and cores (if you didn't core them). I wait until my mixture has cooled enough to touch and press it through my colander with my bare hand, it's way easier and faster than trying to get it through with a spatula or any other tool I've tried.
- Clean out that big pot, getting out any residual peels/etc, and put your apple mixture back in it. Add the sugars and spices and cook this mixture of everything nice down, way down, for about 3 hours, on low heat. Stir every 15-30 minutes, keep the heat low. Not stirring frequently enough may cause it to burn, though with the high sugar content a bit of burn can actually taste pretty good.You'll know it's done when you plop a tiny bit on a plate and liquid doesn't pool around the mound of apple butter. It might separate out a tiny bit, like 1-2 millimeters, and that's fine, but not more than that.
- Cut the heat and stir in your vanilla extract. We don't add this earlier, because vanilla is a delicate little thing and we don't want to burn it.You can then put this yummy spread in a blender/use and immersion blender in your pot and puree it to make it extra silky smooth, or leave it as is for more texture. I've had it both ways, both are delicious.
- Put that tasty mixture into your mason jars, you're done. Please follow proper canning procedures! This is for your own safety. Check here for a great guide if you need it: https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/usda/GUIDE01_HomeCan_rev0715.pdfAnd enjoy!
Notes
Feel free to add up to 3/4 cup more white granulated sugar if you like it sweeter, and taste this stuff when it's starting to reduce to see if you want to. I think it's plenty sweet as-is, but don't let me get in the way of your best life.
This is amazing on challah, pork, or a cheese plate.