Classic Apple Butter

5 from 12 votes

A rich, smooth apple butter slow-cooked with sweet cider until the apple flavor concentrates into a spiced, spreadable preserve. Adapted from Ball's Sweet Cider Apple Butter, with a flexible 1/2 to 3 cups of sugar so you can make it as low-sugar or as classic as you like. Includes full water bath canning instructions.

Prep Time20

Cook Time6

Canning Time10

Total Time6 30

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings (about 1 Tbsp each, makes 8 half-pints or 4 pints)

Author: Ashley Adamant

Equipment

Large Heavy-Bottomed Pot or Slow Cooker
Food Mill or Immersion Blender
Water Bath Canner
Half-Pint or Pint Mason Jars (straight-sided)

Ingredients

6 lbs apples about 18 to 24 medium
2 cups sweet apple cider not hard cider; water or apple juice in a pinch
1/2 to 3 cups granulated or brown sugar see notes; works wonderfully as a low-sugar recipe
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Instructions

Rinse the apples under cool running water. Peel and core them, saving the peels and cores for apple scrap vinegar if you like. Cut into quarters or smaller.
Place the apples in a large pot with sweet apple cider. Bring to a soft boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring often, until the apples are soft and mushy, about 25 to 40 minutes (or about 3 hours in a slow cooker on high).
Run the soft apple mixture through a food mill, food processor, or immersion blender until smooth.
Place the puree into a large pot and stir in the sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. Warm over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves.
Bring to a slow boil, then reduce and cook at a gentle boil, stirring often to prevent scorching, until the butter mounds on a spoon. This takes about 30 to 45 minutes on the stovetop, or another 2 to 4 hours in a slow cooker on high or 6 to 8 hours on low, with the lid propped open a crack.
Ladle the hot butter into clean, hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Run a bubble tool around the inside to release trapped air, adjust headspace, wipe the rims, and cap with two-part lids to fingertip tight.
Process half-pint and pint jars in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes (adjust for altitude, see notes). These tested times are for half-pints and pints, so use those jar sizes rather than quarts.
Turn off the heat and let the jars rest in the water 5 minutes before removing them. Cool on a towel, check the seals after 24 hours, and refrigerate any jars that did not seal. To skip canning, store in the refrigerator up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 6 months.

Notes

Sugar ~ The full Ball recipe uses 3 cups of sugar, but this works wonderfully as a low-sugar recipe with as little as 1/2 cup, since the apple sweetness naturally concentrates as it cooks down. A low-sugar batch simply takes a bit longer to thicken. Use part or all brown sugar for a deeper caramel flavor, a little like Ball's salted caramel pear butter, or swap the 3 cups of sugar for 1 cup of honey for a less-sweet butter.

Everything but the apples is adjustable ~ Sugar and spices are not required for safe canning, since apples are acidic enough on their own. Adjust them to taste or leave them out. If you don't have sweet cider, use water or apple juice.

Altitude Adjustment ~ Following the National Center for Home Food Preservation's tested times for reduced-sugar apple butter (validated for half-pint and pint jars): process for 15 minutes at 0 to 1,000 ft, 20 minutes at 1,001 to 6,000 ft, and 25 minutes above 6,000 ft. Use half-pints or pints rather than quarts.

Yield ~ About 6 pounds of apples with 3 cups sugar makes roughly 8 half-pint jars or 4 pints. With less sugar, the yield will be lower, and low sugar recipes yield 5 to 6 half pints (2-3 pints).

A note on lemon juice ~ Ball adds bottled lemon juice to their recent apple canning recipes, but the National Center for Home Food Preservation's tested apple butter does not, and these processing times follow NCHFP. Apples are high-acid on their own, so no added acid is needed here.

Recipe flavor base adapted from Ball's Sweet Cider Apple Butter (Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving); processing times from the National Center for Home Food Preservation's reduced-sugar apple butter.

Nutrition