Spirited Apple Butter

As promised in the previous post, here is the recipe Chrissy’s grandmother used to make her apple butter. It is one of the best tasting apple butters that I have ever tried, she found this recipe on the Betty Crocker website. Since her first batch she has played around with it a bit and tried some different spirits such as peach wine which was absolutely delicious. I really hope that you will all give this a try, you will not be disappointed. This would be perfect for gift giving this holiday season.


Spirited Apple Butter
Brown sugar, spices and sweet red wine give this apple spread lots of spirit.

Prep Time: 20 min
Total Time: 3 hours 20 min
Makes: 5 cups butter

1 can (12 ounces) frozen (thawed) apple juice concentrate
1/2 cup sweet red wine or apple cider
4 pounds cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into fourths
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup apple brandy or apple cider
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1. Heat juice concentrate, wine and apples to boiling in 4-quart Dutch oven; reduce heat to low. Simmer uncovered about 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until apples are very soft. Mash with potato masher if necessary, to remove all lumps.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. Simmer uncovered about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until no liquid separates from pulp.
3. Immediately pour into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe rims of jars; seal. Cool on wire rack 1 hour. Store in refrigerator up to 2 months.


Hailebet/flickr

Out Of My Gourd

We have two enormous pumpkins sitting out on our deck that we have left as is without carving. We have no intention of letting any of that pumpkin flesh go to waste nor the seeds for that matter. I am sure we will roast some and make a few pies but there will still be a tremendous amount of flesh left, so instead of the standard apple butter let’s make it with pumpkin.

Pumpkin Butter

4 cups cooked pumpkin, mashed
1 (2 oz.) pkg. powdered pectin
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. unsalted butter

Place pumpkin in Dutch oven or heavy kettle. Stir in pectin. Place over high heat and bring to boil, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar, spice and butter. Continue stirring and bring to full rolling boil. Boil hard exactly four minutes. Remove from heat. Stir five minutes. Ladle into half-pint, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Adjust caps to manufacturer's directions. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath after cooking and check seals.