This morning the HH and I were up early canning a second batch of this apple cider butter recipe. The recipe was new to me this year and the first batched turned out so good, I knew I wanted to make a second batch so we could give it away for our “neighbor gift” this winter.
Not only is apple butter awesome on toast, but it’s even better slathered on roast turkey or pork chops. A perfect condiment for fall if you ask me. This recipe for apple cider butter is a keeper! MAKE IT!!! 😉
Ingredients
6 pounds apples {I used Ginger Gold}
2 cups apple cider
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Directions
Fill a boiling-water canner about 2/3 rds full with water and bring it to a boil.
Wash and quarter apples {you can also core and peel them if you’d like, but I simply quarter mine and then when I use the food mill it does a fantastic job of separating the core, seeds and peels}. Combine apples and apple cider in a large pot and and simmer until soft. Puree using a food mill. Discard pulp {apple peels, cores and seeds}.
Combine apple mixture, sugar and spices and simmer until the sugar dissolves and the butter has thickened enough to round up on a spoon. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.
Ladle hot butter mixture into 1/2 pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust 2 piece caps, and process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes making sure water covers the tops of the jars by at least 2 inches. One recipe makes {8} 8 ounce jars or {4} pints
Remove jars and place on a towel to cool. After 24 hours check the seals. If the lid springs back, jam is not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.
Looking for a few more canning recipes? Search my Full List of Canning Recipes
Looking for a good canning book? Here’s a list of my favorites:
- Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
- The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook
- Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It
- Food in Jars
- The Amish Canning Cookbook
- Not Your Mama’s Canning Book
Also, check out these tutorials if you’ve never used a canner before:
Tutorial: Hot Water Bath Canning
Tutorial: How to Use a Pressure Canner
Mama Cook says
Looks delicious! Can someone tell me the difference between apple butter and apple sauce? Is it the thickness?
Deborah says
Apple butter is more like a jelly or jam, but with the pulp in it. Apple sauce is just a sauce. LOL I thought I could explain, but guess I can’t. Help someone. Curious minds want to know.
Tammy says
Apple butter is a spread! For toast or however you would use jam! Deborah was right! 🙂 You cook out a lot of the liquid so it gets nice and thick.
Apple sauce is thinner and you eat it out of a bowl.
Mavis Butterfield says
Yes, it’s the thickness and usually butter has a little more spices to it. 🙂
Mama Cook says
Thanks!!!
Deborah says
I’m gonna have to buy some apples and make some of this. But, I’ll have to use a different sweetener. Hubby loves apple butter, but being a diabetic, he can’t have too much sugar.
Laura says
You might try just using cinnamon. That is how I make my applesauce. If you get good sweet apples, you don’t need any sugar!
Tracy says
Splenda works just fine. Measure exactly then same as you would regular sugar.
Tammy says
I was waiting for this recipe! Somehow I imagined that the butter was made entirely from cider, which would take forever to cook down, so I was wondering how that was going to work!
Last fall, I made my apple sauce with apple cider instead of using water as a cooking liquid. Also, I added some mulling spices. It was so good! I didn’t have to add any sweetener at all and it was very sweet!
Mel says
You actually can boil straight cider down. It does take forever, and it doesn’t yield a spread, but boiled cider makes a great addition to anything you’d like a shot of apple flavor in without adding liquid (pie, pork or chicken glazes, etc.). You can also use it as cider concentrate and rehydrate it as needed.
E in Upstate NY says
Mavis, don’t discard the skins, seeds etc just yet. Dump them into a post with a lot of water and simmer. A crock pot without lids works. Season how every you like. As the water steams off, your house will smell wonderful. Occasionally taste. When you have a liquid you like, strain. Now toss the pulp. You will have a wonderful hot drink. Or depending upon the apples and the skins, should be ready to make apple jelly, without pectin. The skins provide the pectin. Or refrigerate the liquid and you have a lovely cold drink. Lots of options here.
Brenda L. says
I strain the juice add more water to the skins and cores ,stain again..then make jelly. After tI toss it to chickens. Seeds removed of course!
Helen in Meridian says
Apple Butter is great warmed in the microwave and then serve gouda cheese to dunk. It screams FALL.
Stacy says
Great idea! Always looking for new ideas, and love anything where the Crock-Pot does most of the work
Shirley says
I save all of my apple scraps in the freezer until I have a pile about the size of a rugby ball (or football, but we’re a rugby family). I then place them in a large jar or vase and cover with water. I secure a dish towel with a rubber band over the top, and in a few weeks I have homemade apple cider vinegar.
Linda says
I used to love the taste of apple seeds as a kid, and then was told that they are a source of cyanide, a poison which is found in many things, including cigarette smoke, smoke inhalation from fires, the seeds of other fruits, spinach, lima beans, etc. . I looked it up – a lethal dose of apple seeds would be approximately 200 seeds. You probably won’t get 200 seeds via apple seed ingestion, but that figure doesn’t count the cyanide you may be getting from other sources. My question is why would you use the seeds if you don’t have to?
melissa says
I make this every year and it is wonderful! Recipie can also be found in the Ball Canning book.
Lo says
I was kind of wondering the same thing. Quartering an apple usually implies that one cuts it in quarters and then removes the core portion of each section. Is there a reason why you would leave all that in and COOK it down? You don’t do that when making applesauce. Is there some reason it needs to be done that way for apple butter? It seems like it would add the cyanide, etc to your recipe. Just curious to know. Other than that, I can’t wait to try this recipe! We have a bumper crop of apples this year here in northern Illinois. We don’t use any sprays on our trees either. The apples usually don’t look as perfect and shapely, but the insides are great.
I love your blog & I’m glad your other corn turned out well! Fresh picked corn is the BEST! But if you can’t eat it right away, the next best thing is to keep all the husk on the ears (closed tightly), refrigerate it, and use within a day.
Mavis Butterfield says
You can quarter, core and peel your apples if you want to. Since the peels, core and seeds will collect at the bottom of the food mill anyway, I’ve just always quartered mine as a time saver I guess.
Lo says
Oh, I understand now. I forgot you were using the food mill. We just put them right in the pot, but I’ll have to try the food mill. It does sound like a great time saver! THX.
Mel says
I’m so excited for this! I was hoping to can more this summer, but I’ve ended up freezing more than canning as we don’t have a pantry, and apple butter freezes beautifully if anyone wants to skip canning.
jennifer says
I agree with Mavis, that if you’re going to put the apples through a food mill anyway, it’s great to just leave the seeds and skins on. Also, if the apples have red skins, then can turn the applesauce kinda pinkish.