Our apple butter is a byproduct of pectin production – it’s never a preserve that we deliberately set out to make. For that reason, I’ve been reluctant to post our recipe in the past, because it’s such a loose construction – the few ingredients will vary depending on the type of apples we’re using and our mood on the day.
But…given the numerous kind requests I’ve had since posting our muesli cookie recipe, here is a rough guide on how we make it. Please understand that it’s not a fixed formula – if you use sweet apples, you might need less sugar, and the spice mix can be adjusted to suit your personal preferences.
We start with the pulp leftover from boiling apples to make pectin. If you’re not making pectin, you could peel, core and chop up the apples, then cook them in a little water until they go soft and mushy. We try to use either green or Pink Lady apples – as I said, you might want to reduce the sugar if you’re using sweeter fruit.
In a large mixing bowl, combine together:
- 4 cups of apple pulp
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1½ cups brown sugar
- juice of 2 large lemons (about 150ml)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
Stir well, then pour the flavoured pulp into a large roasting pan – I use an Emile Henry clay one. Spread the mixture out evenly with a spatula, then bake in a preheated 150C with fan oven for 2 – 3 hours.
Make sure you stir the mixture frequently (every 15 minutes or so), scraping into the corners of the pan to ensure it doesn’t catch. Over the cooking time, the apple butter will darken and thicken – pull it out of the oven when it’s a little bit looser than you’d like, as it will thicken up in the jar.
Spoon the hot apple butter into clean jars, seal them tightly, and then process them in a hot water bath. From our experience, jars of apple butter processed in this way keep well for at least a year.
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Hi Celia, I had never heard of apple butter until I saw it in your muesli cookie recipe. Live and learn.
Glenda, we don’t use it very much, but we can’t bear to throw away all the apple pulp! I’m sure you understand that.. :)
Thanks for posting this!!! It sounds like such a fun experiment; plus, apple butter is delicious. I can’t wait to try it out.
Thanks Gir! We found it much easier to make this way – we used to boil it over a stove, but the volcanic eruptions of hot apple butter were frightening! :)
Is homemade apple butter normally so darkly coloured Celia?
Hi Merryl, I actually have no idea as I’ve never seen bought stuff before. If you didn’t want it as dark though, you could probably just use white sugar…
Thanks Celia for sharing this interesting recipe! Would love to taste apple butter!
Lizzy, it’s sweet and spicy. I wish we could find more things to do with it other than cookies, although I have made a few nice cakes with it!
I think these are the best sort of recipes, ones that are fluid and take advantage of scraps. Great color.
Greg, thank you! Is it widely used in your part of the States? I know it originated in America…
Yum Celia! Apple butter is great in so many recipes. Will keep my eye out for a good deal on apples.
Claire, we like tart apples best. And you could always make this in the slow cooker, lots of folks do!
Fabulous! Very true about how much apples can vary in sweetness!
Glad you like it, thanks Sandy! :)
I’ve been wanting this recipe! I was so curious as to exactly what apple butter would be. I love a recipe where you can play around with the quantities and flavours without fear! xx
Charlie, there are no rules, play with abandon! I’ve used this method to make quince paste as well, it works well!
I had never heard of apple butter that I recollect before you muesli cookie post but it looks delicious, and now I see it there are so many ways you could use apple butter. I think I will be referring to your blog for years to come.
ED, you’re always so nice! :) There is a trend to use apple butter to lower the fat in cake and cookie recipes, and I think it’s used a bit in vegan cooking as well. Will have to hunt down more recipes, because there’s always jars of it floating around here!
I make my apple butter in a crock pot- the recipe is about the same- but the crock pot is easier for me to stir and it doesn’t catch on the bottom as easily.
I have a great recipe for meatloaf that uses grated apples, apple sauce and apple butter. It is one of my favorite recipes.
Heidi, lots of folks make their apple butter in a slow cooker, and I’m sure it’s brilliant for that. I now wish I hadn’t given mine away! Would love to know your meatloaf recipe!
Aren’t you wonderful! One of the local orchards are selling pink lady apples for $2.00 for 2.5kg………..needless to say I bought some with this and chausson aux pommes in mind.
Elaine, how fabulous to live near orchards where you can buy fresh apples! Pink ladies are our favourites. Hope you have fun with this recipe!
I used to make apple butter from dried apples and then layer it between thin layers of cake – wait a day and it was to die for. I think I might try your method and see how i go. :)
Maureen, that’s VERY interesting, I didn’t know you could make it from dried apples! I think the flavour improves with resting the cookies and cakes a day as well.. x
This would go so well with the bread of yours that I’m nibbling on right now!! :D
Hehe…there’s quite a bit there for you to nibble on! Hope you’re having it with some of that gorgeous cheese!
I make apple sauce every Fall and it looks like apple butter is but one step away. I just might give this a go next Fall. Thanks, Celia!
John, I think that’s right – when I was researching apple butter years ago, a lot of the recipes started with apple sauce!
When I make apple jelly I usually have the skin still on the apples, and sometimes the seeds in too. Does your pulp not have any of that in it? No, just checked the pectin recipe, you peel and core first. Hmmm… I always want to do something with the pulp but usually leave the skin on to give extra pectin to the jelly. What to do what to do what to do…?
Kavey love, hi! When we make pectin, we cut the apples up and keep skin and seeds and core in, and boil the whole lot up, then strain it. Then we take the leftover pulp, skin, seeds etc and either pass it through a food mill or a coarse sieve and then use the “clean” pulp for apple butter. Does that make sense? I’ll go check the recipe and make sure again, thanks.. xx
Completely makes sense. Thanks my dear. This year we had nearly 60 kilos of apples from our two allotment trees, so if it’s good this year, I’ll be making jelly again and will try the apple butter. Have pinterested an apple butter in crockpot recipe too, so may see if I can adapt. x
Kavey! 60kg!! That’s fantastic! :)
I hadn’t heard of apple butter let alone made it. I love that you’ve made something delicious out of something that would get thrown away.
Jo, that’s why we make it – although then we have to figure out what to do with all the apple butter! :)
This reminds me I have apple butter that needs using :)
Tandy, I’m sure you’ll do something so clever with it. Your bread loaves and SD cakes have had me in rapture…
So there’s no butter in apple butter? Who knew? Sounds delish! Maz
Maz, I didn’t! It’s very nice though – lots of vegetarian options to make with it, I’m sure!
Interesting! I’ve never tried apple butter before, I’d love to slather some one toast one day. I have a huge bag of apples still from my Bilpin apple picking adventure. I’m going to give this a go!
Lisa, we haven’t been apple picking in years – how fabulous to have a huge bag of them!
Hi Celia! I have a random question about pectin- I’ve noticed that my favorite store bought yogurt has pectin in it. Do you ever use pectin in your homemade yogurt, or is dry milk powder sufficient for thickening? I want to start making my own :) Thanks! xx
Em, sorry it’s taken me a while to get to this question – we’ve only ever used milk powder for thickening (full cream powder, not skim) and it works perfectly. I’m not sure how our liquid pectin would thicken up yoghurt anyway – it might have to be the powdered version? Homemade yoghurt is really easy! :)
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2010/07/10/homemade-greek-yoghurt/
Thank you for sharing your method. It looks to be one step further from the applesauce I made last year. That is yummy just heated with cream for dessert. I did make strawberry butter last year in the crockpot but was not convinced it was good enough for all the effort that went into it. Apple butter seems to have more applications though so I might give it a go this year.
Tania, our apple butter is quite spicy – if you made it with fewer spices, it might be more versatile? I always think this, and then forget when I go to make it! :)
Great idea for a by product. You could use it for all sorts of things. My sister make apple butter.
Sally, I’m still looking for recipes! We’ve made cake and pie with it, and cookies, but it’s a bit too spicy to serve with roast pork unfortunately!
Miss! Miss!! Please!! I was looking for a muesli bar type recipe and thanks to you I now have several :) But here’s the thing I keep hearing about apple butter, and being a bit slow on the uptake wonder what is different to it from ordinary apple sauce? I can see you add lemon etc and presumably it stores well, so I was wondering how you use it. I know I’m sitting at the back of the class here :)
And hope you are having a bright and breezy week Celia, we certainly have the breezy bit!
Claire, I think apple butter is a lot thicker and sweeter than regular apple sauce! It’s a bit like a jam rather than the baby food consistency which we use on roast pork, if that makes sense?