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Baked Apple Butter is the perfect hybrid between a jam and a chutney. The apples are stewed in cider, brandy, honey and spices then smoothed and baked slowly in a low oven for the most intensely thick and rich apple sauce that is the ultimate Autumn preserve.
Baked Apple Butter is the perfect choice for a glut of apples. It is best working with a large amount of the fruit as thanks to the slow baking the sauce is reduced quite a bit so you want to make sure all your efforts yield a good amount.
Table of contents
Baked Apple Butter is not a very ubiquitous preserve in the UK but it is an ideal preserve if you are not sure whether to get a jam or a chutney as it does a little of both jobs and can be eaten with both sweet and savoury.
Ingredients needed
- Apples. Any apples will do but wild apples with a mix of sour and sweet are wonderful.
- Apple cider. A clean rustic apple cider will work really well.
- Sugar. Dark brown sugar is excellent here for lots of flavour.
- Honey. The more flavourful your honey the most tasty your apple butter.
- Brandy. It doesn't have to be the best brandy, but it adds a lovely richness of flavour.
- Spice. Cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and cloves are our chosen spices here.
- Seasoning. Black pepper and salt to oomph up our flavours.
How to make it
- Peel and core the apples then place in a saucepan with the rest of the ingredients and bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the apples have softened.
- Blend.
- Roast the apple puree in a low oven for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes.
- Blend and decant into sterilised jars.
Pro tip: If you have a food mill then you don't need to peel or core the apples before you soften them as you can pass them through the food mill and remove all the rubbish. A real time saver. You do this before adding to the other ingredients.
How to store
The Apple Butter will keep for up to 2 weeks in the fridge. However, if you process the sealed jars in a water bath they will keep for 2 months stored in a cool dark place.
READ MORE >>> Water Bath Processing
How to use Apple Butter
- On hot buttered crumpets
- As the filling in a Victoria Sandwich
- Swirled into yoghurt, porridge, rice pudding
- Served with roast pork and crackling
- Spread generously within a cheese toastie
- Eaten directly from the jar on your fingertip
- And gosh if you were to beat 250g unsalted butter with 250g icing sugar for 5 minutes then add 150g Baked Apple Butter then you have the world’s most divine buttercream for your vanilla cupcakes.
It’s definitely an ingredient worth experimenting with but if you really can’t be bothered then a fingertip and the jar is really all you need.
Recommended equipment
A food mill makes really light work of pureeing a lot of apples. This OXO Good Grips Food Mill is the one I use and I absolutely love it.
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Baked Apple Butter
Ingredients
- 2.5 kg apples
- 500 ml apple cider
- 175 g dark brown soft sugar
- 125 g honey
- 75 ml brandy
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- â…› teaspoon ground cloves
- â…› teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Peel, core and dice the apples* then place the diced apples in a saucepan with the rest of the ingredients and bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the apples have softened.
- Leave to cool slightly before you blend. At this point I usually leave it overnight before I blend.
- Place the blended apple puree into roasting dishes, so the puree is about 2 inches thick and bake in a 150°C oven for two hours until extremely thick. Stir every 30 minutes.
- Blend the thickened apple butter again to smooth out the final result then decant into sterilised jars.
- You can either keep the apple butter in the fridge for a couple of weeks or you might like to increase the life of the Baked Apple Butter by processing the jars in a water bath which means they can be kept for at least 6 months somewhere dark and cool.
Notes
- For more information on canning and water baths see here.
- *If you have a food mill then follow the following method in place of Step 1: Halve the apples, core and peel intact an place them in a saucepan with a splash of water and simmer until the apples have softened. Remove the apples and pass through a food mill. Place the apple puree back into the saucepan with the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat.
Karly says
Apple butter is such an underrated fall treat, and I love that you're a fellow fan! This looks so darn amazing... can't wait to spread this on a warm biscuit or pancake!
Georgina says
I know Karly, it's really signals the beginning of the run up to the holiday season for me and every year I'm so excited to make it.