Oven Apple Butter
Homemade spiced apple butter is simmered stovetop and then slow baked in the oven until it’s dark, rich, thick and perfect for spreading on toast or muffins!
Yield: 32 servings
Ingredients
- 8-10 medium apples, cored and chopped (see notes below about peeling)
- 1 cup apple juice
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
Instructions
- Place the diced apples and apple juice in a large Dutch oven pot on the stove over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, or until apples are very tender.
- Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
- If you peeled your apples, just stir the mixture well until the apples are mostly mashed up and broken down. If you did not peel your apples, use an immersion blender to blend the mixture and break it down, leaving some chunks and texture to your desired degree.
- Add the brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, cloves and allspice to the apple mixture. Stir very well to incorporate.
- Transfer the mixture to a lightly greased 9x13 (or OK to use an 11x7) baking dish. Bake at 275 for 4 ½ hours, stirring every hour, until it has thickened and reaches desired spreading consistency.
- Cool completely then refrigerate or freeze. See notes below for storage details.
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Notes
Apples: Use any combination of sweet or cooking apples you have on hand. (I usually have a mix of whatever we picked at the orchard.) Gala and Red Delicious, Golden Delicious or Opal, Braeburn, Jonagolds, Melrose, Rome and even Honey Crisp are all good options.
Peeling: You do not have to peel the apples. It just requires an extra step of blending them after the initial stovetop cook, to help break down the peels so they aren’t floating in your apple butter.
Yield: This recipe will yield about 4 cups, but it can vary depending on the size of your apples and how much the apple butter actually cooked down. A serving size is listed as 2 tablespoons for the nutrition information.
Storage: Apple butter can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1-2 months. It can also be frozen for up to 6-8 months. I like to use small glass jars, but any freezer-safe container will work. Be sure to label and date your container. You could can the extra as well; just follow the instructions with your canning equipment.
Nutrition
Serving: 2tablespoons | Calories: 53kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 0.1g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.02g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.03g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.004g | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 62mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 25IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 0.1mg
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