Apple butter is sweet, spicy and has a very soft consistency. It’s made from apple sauce and cooked for many hours. The long cooking process caramelizes the apples and brakes them down further, creating a very smooth, thick delicious blend. Additional spices, sugar and apple cider vinegar are added as well to provide more flavor.
We like to cook this in the slow cooker, because it’s so easy. Simply mix the ingredients together, set the slow cooker on low heat (8-10 hours), stir it occasionally but otherwise leave it be. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you could cook it on the stove, but make sure to put it on your lowest temperature and use a heavy bottom pot. You really want to cook this for a long time on low heat to fully caramelize the apples, so don’t rush the process.
We start this recipe with apple sauce and depending on how sweet the apple sauce is, you might want to adjust the sugar content.
Apple butter is wonderful on toast, muffins, in cakes and cookies or why not as an accompaniment to pancakes and waffles.
Ingredients
- 5 cups apple sauce
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Method: Mix all the ingredients together either in a heavy bottom pan or in a slow cooker. Cook on low heat for 4-8 hours. Storing:
If you want to store jars of apple butter for a longer period of time, then sterilize mason jars, fill them with apple butter, add the lid and seal the jar by cooking them in boiling water for a few minutes.
Another alternative is to freeze the apple butter and it will stay nice for a couple of months. Or, simply store the apple butter in the fridge if you plan to eat your it within two weeks.
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