Follow these three easy steps to make a delicious fall treat – apple butter!
Checkout this video:
Introduction
Apple butter is a type of fruit butter made from apples. It is thick and dark brown or reddish in color, and has a strong, sweet-tart flavor.
Apple butter is traditionally made by slowly cooking apples with sugar and spices until they turn into a thick, dark-colored paste. It can be spread on bread or used as a filling for pies and other desserts.
Making apple butter at home is easy, and only requires a few ingredients and some time. The most time-consuming part is cooking the apples down into a thick paste, but this can be done overnight in a slow cooker.
Here’s a simple recipe for making apple butter at home:
Ingredients:
-2 pounds of apples, peeled and cubed
-1 cup of sugar
-1 teaspoon of cinnamon
-1/4 teaspoon of cloves
-1/2 cup of water
What You Need
Apple butter is a delicious, smooth spread made from cooked apples. It’s perfect for spreading on toast, pancakes, or waffles, or for using as a filling in pies or pastries. Making apple butter is easy and only requires a few simple ingredients:
-Apples: You’ll need about 2 pounds of apples for this recipe. For the best flavor, use a mix of sweet and tart apples.
-Sugar: Apple butter is naturally sweetened with sugar. You can use white sugar, brown sugar, or a combination of the two.
-Cinnamon: A touch of cinnamon gives apple butter its classic flavor. You can also add other spices like ground cloves, nutmeg, or allspice.
-Lemon juice: A bit of acidity helps to balance out the sweetness of the apple butter.
Step One
First, you need to gather your ingredients. You will need apples, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. You can use any type of apple you like, but I prefer to use a mix of apples for a more complex flavor. I like to use honeycrisp apples because they are nice and sweet, but feel free to use whatever type of apple you like best.
Next, cut up your apples into small pieces. You don’t need to peel them if you don’t want to, but I prefer to peel mine because I don’t like the texture of the skin in my apple butter. Once your apples are cut up, add them to a large pot with the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
Now it’s time to cook the apple butter down.Place the pot over medium heat and stir everything together until the sugar has dissolved. Then turn the heat up to high and bring the mixture to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat back down to low and let it simmer for about 3 hours, stirring every now and then.
Step Two
After the apples have been simmered in the spices and sugar, it’s time to puree them into a smooth butter. You can do this in a few different ways: with an immersion blender, in a regular blender, or by pressing them through a strainer. If you’re using a regular blender, be careful not to overfill it and hot liquids can expand, so leave some headroom. If you’re going the strainer route, an old-fashioned potato masher works well for this.
Once your apples are smooth, return them to the pot and turn the heat down to low. Let the apple butter cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until it is thick and dark brown in color. This can take several hours, so be patient. The finished product should be thick enough to spoon and hold its shape on the spoon. Once it reaches this point, remove it from the heat and let it cool slightly before spooning into jars or containers for storage.
Step Three
Now that the apples are cooked down and starting to turn brown, it’s time to add the sugar. You can add as much or as little as you like, but find that 1/2 cup of sugar per cup of applesauce is just right. If you like your apple butter on the tart side, you can reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup per cup of applesauce.
Conclusion
So there you have it, a delicious and easy way make apple butter in just three steps. Be sure to experiment different types of apples to find your perfect combination, and enjoy this tasty fall treat!
