Homemade Apple Butter is a simple way to add apple pie flavours to almost anything and a fantastic way to use up apples before they spoil. Add it to oats, as a topping for pancakes or scones or as a filling for pastries. You can also use it as an ingredient for apple muffins, or simply as a topping for almost any dessert.
For those who don’t know much about Apple Butter, it’s not actually made with butter. It is essentially a concentrated spreadable version of apple sauce.
The main differences are that apple butter includes brown sugar and spices, while apple butter does not, and it’s cooked a little longer than apple sauce which creates a thick, intense apple flavour.
Feel free to use any variety of apples you prefer or have at hand. I prefer using Granny Smith Apples for everything as they are less sweet, but this is a personal preference.
As mentioned above, this Homemade Apple Butter is super versatile and great as a topping or filling for almost anything. Why not give it a try on my Apple Pie Pancakes or Apple Pie Ice Cream. It’s also great as a filling for my Apple & Cinnamon Bread and Butter Pudding or my Apple Pie Sandwich Cookies.
Homemade Apple Butter
Ingredients
- 4 – 5 Medium Apples Peeled, cored and chopped
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- ¼ Cup Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Ground Allspice Optional
- ¼ Cup Apple Juice or water
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract Optional
Instructions
- Peel, core and chop the apples to dice size. Place in a medium saucepan and toss with the lemon juice
- Add the sugar and spices, then the apple juice/water and vanilla and bring to medium heat
- Bring to a steady simmer then reduce the temperature slightly and cook gently over until apples are very soft, around 15 – 20 minutes
- Use a hand/stick blender to blend the apples until smooth
- If the mixture is still very runny, place back on the heat and cook gently for another 5 – 10 minutes until a little thicker (The texture should be just a little thicker and more spreadable than apple sauce. It will thicken further while chilling in the fridge).
- Pour into a clean glass storage jar or plastic container. Cool to room temperature, the add an airtight lid and chill in the fridge until ready to use
Leave a Reply