Apple butter
Makes about 4 x 250g jars
More effort
Prep:
Cook:
Turn a glut of apples into homemade apple butter. This spiced fruit spread is perfect for topping toast or pancakes, swirling into porridge or using in bakes
Skip to ingredients
Units:
- 2kg appleschopped into small pieces (no need to peel or core)
- 250ml cideror use the same amount of water or apple juice
- 2 lemonsjuiced
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 1 star anise
- thumb-sized piece of gingerroughly chopped
- few whole cloves
- 250g granulated sugar
- 250g light brown soft sugar
Nutrition: per tbsp
- kcal35
- fat0.1g
- saturates0g
- carbs8g
- sugars8g
- fibre0.2g
- protein0.1g
- salt0.03glow
Method
step 1
Put the apples, cider, lemon juice, cinnamon sticks, star anise, ginger and cloves in a pan, and pour over 750ml water. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat and cook for about 30 mins, or until the apples have softened and the liquid has reduced by about half.
step 2
Carefully remove the cinnamon sticks, star anise, ginger and cloves from the pan, then strain the apples through a sieve set over the pan or a heatproof bowl, reserving the liquid. Press the apple flesh through the sieve until just have the skins and cores remain. Discard these, and pour the liquid and pulp back into the pan if you're using a bowl. Stir in the sugars and ½ tsp salt (if you’ve used apple juice, you may need to use less sugar so it’s not too sweet).
step 3
Cook the mixture over a low heat for about 2 hrs 30 mins, stirring frequently until it has darkened in colour and is jam-like in texture. Be careful, as it can spit and will be hot. Decant into sterilised jars and seal. Will keep chilled for up to two weeks, unopened.
