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My grandmother made apple butter every fall without measuring a thing. She'd taste, adjust, and stir for hours until the spoon stood up on its own. I tried to follow her lead last September, and while mine isn't quite hers, it's close enough to make the whole family happy.
A Fall Tradition Worth Keeping
| Apple butter isn't really butter at all — it's apples cooked down until they're thick, dark, and spreadable. We use a mix of sweet and tart varieties from the orchard down the road. The tart ones give it depth; the sweet ones keep it from turning sour.
The peeling takes the longest. We sit around the kitchen table with paring knives and a big pot between us, talking while the pile of skins grows. It's messy work, but that's half the fun.
What You'll Need
- About 10 pounds of apples, peeled and cored
- 2 cups apple cider (not juice)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- Pinch of salt
How We Cook It Down
| Start by cooking the apples with the cider in a heavy pot until they're soft enough to mash — usually 45 minutes on a low simmer. Then run them through a food mill or blend them smooth, return to the pot, and add the sugar and spices. Keep the heat low and stir often. Apple butter loves to stick and scorch if you walk away too long. Ours took about three hours total from start to finish, but every batch is a little different depending on how juicy the apples are.
We ladle the finished butter into hot jars, wipe the rims, and seal them up. A batch this size gave us eight half-pint jars — enough for toast all winter and a few to give as gifts.
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