Homemade Spiced Apple Butter (rich apple jam)

This homemade spiced apple butter is so rich and creamy and full of flavour. A great addition to your preserving repertoire. The taste of autumn/fall in a jar!

Fruit butters

This is not butter in the dairy sense of the word. Instead, it’s a super-concentrated fruit spread which is more like a very rich fruit puree.

You could say this apple butter is the richest and fruitiest apple jam you can get.

Ingredients

What type of apples?

I have used both bitter cooking apples and the sweeter eating apples (use your favourites) for my apple butter recipe. Using these vastly different types of apples adds depth to the apple butter.

Other ingredients are dry cider, so you are really packing in a whole lot of appleiness (new word). The addition of cinnamon and mixed spice gives it a nice kick to this rich apple jam.

The complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making this recipe can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

How to make apple butter

This is almost like making fruit jelly as you are going to cook down the apples first. Then whizz in a food processor and then press through a sieve to get a really smooth puree.

The similarity to jelly making is that you are going to weigh this puree as you would the juice dripped through a jelly bag.

How much sugar to add

Add 275g (10 oz) sugar for every 600ml (1 pint) of puree.

Then add your spices and reheat and boil for about 20 minutes stirring all the time.

You want apple butter to be a thick mixture that will hold it’s shape when you spoon it on to a cold plate.

Spoon into sterilised jars and pop on the lids. Leave it for a week to let the flavours really develop before using.

How much will this make?

This recipe will make about 8 small jars of apple butter.

How long does it keep?

This will keep for 6 months, store in the fridge once opened and use within a month.

Please Note – We do not usually do water bath or other canning methods here in the UK. Our preserves keep perfectly well without this.

Serving ideas

This spiced apple butter is wonderful on scones, pancakes and toast.

Spread this delicious apple butter on sponge cakes as part of a filling combo for a Victoria Sponge. This would be perfect as a filling for my Buerre Noisette/Brown Butter Apple Cake.

You can also serve it with a cheese board to add a bit of sweetness and spice.

Serve alongside roast pork too instead of standard apple sauce.

Recipe taken from my book Simply Scottish Cakes & Bakes.

Looking for more fun and tasty fall recipes? Then check these out before you go;

Buerre Noisette/Brown Butter Apple Cake

Toffee Apple Jam

Spiced crab apple jelly with Scotch whisky

Plum fruit cheese with lime

Blackcurrant and rosemary fruit cheese

Pepper pear and lemon fruit spread

Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.