Last week was my birthday and I spent the day apple picking at Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stowe, MA with my Mom, 2 sisters, and 2 nieces. Although reservations were required due to COVID, there were lots of people there enjoying an unseasonable warm day for the end of September.
We obviously took an obligatory mask picture to look back on one day when thinking about what a crazy year 2020 was.
Honey Pot Hill Orchards is HUGE with so many different apple and pear varieties. We walked around for hours and didn’t even cover all the grounds. I loved seeing the deep green from the trees with the pops of red from the apples growing from the branches. For being later in the apple picking season I was delightfully surprised to find the trees not picked over and we had no problem filling up our bag quickly.
The girls had so much fun picking and eating the apples and playing together in the grass. Could they be any cuter??
And no apple orchard visit is complete without warm apple cider donuts! These might be the best I have had from any orchard I have been to.
Once I got home the question was “what to do withe all of those apples?”
While I love a good apple pie or crisp but I have done that before and wanted to try something different. After doing some recipe searching on Pinterest I decided this years apples were going to turn into apple butter. There are multiple different methods for making apple butter including on the stove or in a pressure or slow cooker. I chose the stove top method.
We picked a variety of apples and I didn’t use one specific kind for this recipe. So feel free to mix and match varieties or use your absolute favorite depending on how sweet or tart you like your apples.
Apple Butter
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Serves: 16
Ingredients
- Approx. 2 lbs of apples (5 medium apples), peeled and cored
- 1/2 cup apple cider
- 6 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
- Place the apples, apple cider, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large pot. Cook over medium-low heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the apples have become very soft (approx. 1 hour).
- Blend using either a hand or immersion blender in the pot or transfer into a traditional blender.
- Place the puree back into the pot if transferred out to blend and continue to cook on low uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thick, and deep brown in color (approx. 1 hour).
- Let cool and store in an air tight jar in the fridge.
I have been enjoying my apple butter with steel cut oats, a little almond milk and chopped toasted pecans. Share in the comments your favorite way to serve and eat your apple butter!
This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if you want to make a large batch and gift out to friends and family. It is the perfect idea for party favors or gifts. It can also easily be canned with the ability to store once sealed at room temperature for months. If not canning make sure to store in the fridge.
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Emily J. Goodman 