After my apple picking trip and tasting the freshly baked biscuits with apple butter at the onsite BBQ food truck, I was inspired to make my own apple butter.
Earlier this year I decided to jump on the Instant Pot bandwagon and now I’m trying to find uses for it. Apple butter was a perfect reason to pull it out. I washed and cored almost 5 pounds of apples in a combination of Sun Crisps, Fuji and other apples. I was very happy that I did not have to peel them, since skins can stay on for apple butter. Note to self – time to buy an apple peeler/corer that attaches to the counter top or to my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I then added the apples, sugars, cinnamon, and freshly grated nutmeg to the pot along with 1/4 cup of water and a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice. 15 minutes on high pressure then 15 minutes letting it sit and release the pressure (natural release).
The apples were fully cooked when I opened the pot so the next step was to puree and for this I used my immersion blender. Using an immersion blender for food that’s in a pot is so much easier than transferring the food to a regular blender to puree especially when the food is still hot. The mixture was a bit too watery for me so I set the Instant Pot to sauté for 30 mins and then it was perfect.
Now my dilemma is – what am I going to do with 3 jars of apple butter!
Apple Butter
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Immersion or standard Blender
- Apple corer or Apple slicer/corer
- Knife
Ingredients
- 5 lbs Apples Washed and cored
- 1/2 cup Brown sugar
- 1/2 cup Granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Wash, core and cut apples5 lbs Apples
- Add all ingredients to the pot in the order above then close and lock the lid5 lbs Apples, 1/2 cup Brown sugar, 1/2 cup Granulated sugar, 1 tbsp Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 cup Water, 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Set the instant pot to high pressure for 15 mins then let it natural release for 15 minutes
- Use an immersion blender to puree the ingredients to the desired consistency. If you are using a stand along blender, wait for the apple to cool before adding to the blender jar.
- If the apple butter is too watery, use the instant pot on saute mode for another 30 minutes with the cover off.
- Spoon into jars and refrigerate. Apple butter can be refrigerated for 7 days or frozen for a year.
Notes
- Using an apple slicer to create wedges makes the process easier
- You can add more sugar if the apple butter is not sweet enough
