Apple Butter
★★★★★
PREP TIME
20 minutes
COOK TIME
2 hours
MAKES
about 3 cups
Ingredients
3 pounds
sweet apples (such as Honeycrisp, Fuji, or Gala)
1 pound
tart apples (Granny Smith or Pink Lady)
1 cup
apple cider
1 teaspoon
ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon
ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon
ground cloves
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F.
- Peel, quarter, and core the apples. (If you happen to have an apple corer handy, it would make quick work of this.) You can then cut the quarters into smaller 1-inch chunks if you want, though I don’t feel this is necessary.
- Put the apple chunks and apple cider into a heavy-bottom, oven-safe pot with a lid. Simmer, covered, over medium heat for 30 minutes. Stir about halfway through to make sure there is enough liquid to prevent scorching, and that all the apples are steaming.
- Take off the heat, stir, and let stand for about 10 minutes to let the apples soften and let the mixture cool down a touch before blending.
- Using an immersion blender, puree the apples to a very smooth consistency.
- Bake uncovered in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, stir the apple butter with a flexible spatula, making sure to scrape and incorporate the darker edges into the apple puree. Continue baking for another 1 hour. (If you want your apple butter a little thicker, you can leave it for an additional 30 minutes—just keep in mind that it will firm up a bit once it cools.)
