This easy Bourbon Apple Butter has a delicious kick of flavor! You’re going to want to spoon this over everything!
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we went a little overboard this Fall when our family went apple picking at a local orchard and farm. We came home with a half-bushel bag of a mixed variety of apples – that’s about twenty pounds of apples for just three of us to eat!
We’ve been happily crunching our way through some of the ‘eating apples,’ as well as baking our way through the other apples that are well-suited for baked desserts. But now that we’re down to the bottom of the bag – we made this incredible Bourbon Apple Butter. There are lots of apple butter recipes around – but this Bourbon Apple Butter is truly something special.
How do you make Bourbon Apple Butter?
You can make this recipe with just about any variety of sweet apple, or a mix of several varieties – and it doesn’t matter if it is an ‘eating’ apple or ‘baking’ apple.
Peeled and diced apples simmer together in a saucepan with freshly-squeezed lemon juice, Kentucky Bourbon, water, brown sugar, apple liquor (or apple juice), molasses, and a collection of spices including cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. You can leave the bourbon and apple liquor out if you prefer, but both really do add a wonderful complexity and a deep rich flavor to this apple butter recipe. (And the alcohol cooks off as it cooks, if that concerns you.)
Once the apples are soft and tender and the cooking liquids have reduced, you’ll blend the mixture (an immersion blender like this works great) until smooth and creamy.
Cool your Bourbon Apple Butter – and spread it over your morning toast, over ice cream, as a condiment with pork tenderloin, on a burger – or just eat it with a spoon!
This Bourbon Apple Butter recipe uses about five pounds of apples, and it yields about four cups of apple butter. It also cans wonderfully – so keep some to eat, then can the rest to enjoy for months to come or to give as gifts.
You may like these other gift ideas:
- Slow Cooker Applesauce with Cranberries
- Christmas Jam {plus FREE Printable}
- Chocolate Almond Biscotti
- Coffee Nut Brittle
- Small Batch Fig Jam
Bourbon Apple Butter
This easy Bourbon Apple Butter has a delicious kick of flavor! You’re going to want to spoon this over everything!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4 cups 1x
- Category: condiment
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
5 pounds any sweet apple, peeled, cored and diced small (1/4-inch dice)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 cup good quality Kentucky Bourbon (we used Jim Beam)
1/4 cup water
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup apple liquor (this is our favorite brand) or apple juice
2 tablespoons molasses
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Coat apples with lemon juice as you cut and place in a medium to large nonstick pot.
- Add bourbon and water and bring to a boil, cover and cook on a low boil for 10 minutes.
- Add brown sugar, apple liquor, molasses, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves and salt.
- Cover, bring to a boil, lower to a simmer with cover off side letting a little steam escape.
- Cook for 30 minutes, stirring often towards the last five to ten minutes as the liquid evaporates.
- Puree in a blender or with an immersion blender until creamy.
- Can using the water bath method.
Could you substitute pears for the apples?
Hi Ellen – Yes – you might want to adjust the sugar depending on the variety of pear but in general, yes, pears should work.