Homemade Cinnamon Apple Butter

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup sugar
• 5 pounds apples (soft, like gala or golden delicious)
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon Kosher salt

Steps

1. 1

   Prep the apples. Peel and cut apples into 1-inch chunks. These do not need to be perfectly sized pieces, they will break down during the cooking process.

2. 2

   Preheat and combine everything. Preheat a large pot over medium-low heat. Traditionally, this is cooked over wood fire in a copper pot. I did these on my stovetop, so go with what works for you. Add the apples, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, then stir with a large wooden spoon or paddle to ensure the apples are all coated.

3. 3

   Cook the apples. Allow the apples to slowly break down over the heat, stirring and scraping the bottom of  the pot often to prevent burning. This cooking process will take a couple hours for the apple mixture to slowly cook through, turn to a dark caramelized brown, and reach a thick consistency. But trust me, it’s worth the wait.

4. 4

   Process the apple butter. The regular stirring and low cooking temperature should break the apples down into a smooth paste. If you are using a slow cooker, your apples will not be as broken down as the stove or fire method. In this case, you may need to use an immersion blender or blend your apple butter in small batches to reach the right spreadable consistency. If your apple butter is too thin after processing, return to the pan and continue cooking until it thickens.

5. 5

   Cool, and use or store. Cool your apple butter to room temperature before transferring to air tight jars and refrigerate. The apple butter will last for 2-3 weeks, if refrigerated.