Small Batch Apple Butter
Smooth, spicy and oh so appley; Apple Butter might be the most perfect fruit preserve.
Apple Butter is a very old and traditional way to preserve seasonal apples. It’s basically a more condensed version of applesauce that has wonderful warming spices such as cinnamon and ginger. A perfect preserve to pair with most hot cereals and the odd potato pancake. Not to mention, it’s simply delightful spread on a piping hot English Muffin. No matter which way you spread it you can’t go wrong!
Small Batch Apple Butter
6 McIntosh apples, peeled, cored and chopped
¾ cup light brown sugar
¼ tsp kosher salt
¼ cup water
Cinnamon stick
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground ginger
In a medium to small pot, add apples, brown sugar, salt, water and a cinnamon stick. Mix until the apples are coated completely with the sugar. Set the pot to medium heat on the stove and cover the pot with a lid.
Cook the apples until they become soft and start to fall apart. Once the apples are soft, remove the lid and turn down the heat to low. At this point you will have applesauce but you want to cook the apples even further in order to get rid of a lot of the water. We want to create a very thick and spreadable mixture.
Continue to cook the apples until you have little to no water left at the bottom of the pot and the mixture becomes very thick almost like a paste.
Once your apples have thickened, remove the cinnamon stick and mix in the ground cinnamon and ground ginger.
With an immersion blender, blend your mixture until it’s completely smooth. Store your finished apple butter in a glass half pint jar and place in the fridge.
The apple butter will stay for 3-5 months, longer if you seal the jar.