Bourbon Apple Butter
Sweaters, pumpkin spice e’rythang, leaves falling, footie footie football, human quilt blanket burritos and Ah-ha-allll the new shows premiering on TV! You can’t not love fall. Oh, and did I mention Pumpkin Spice lattes? Just covering my bases here. Twice.
There’s one other sure sign of fall – things with bourbon in them. Like apple butter, yo.
Between NCIS, Vamp Diaries (yes, I am ashamed to be admitting that right now.), HIMYM, New Girl, Big Bang Theory (naturally) and mine and Ben’s newest fave show Hell on Wheels – my weeknight sit-on-my-can time if filling up quite nicely!
I can not comprehend fall being anything other than tippy top of my year.
I mean I have been celebrating the start of fall since September first – with that first beloved pumpkin spice latte that I conned out of the dear blessed over-caffeinated and under-rested barista that had been at work since 3 that morning. And that obsession hasn’t stopped since. Well there was that one moment when I bought a small bottle of Peppermint Mocha coffee creamer and had a serious lapse in judgement and a moment of seasonal-identity-crisis – but I’m over it and back on track. Whew!
And will continue to load up on all things fall until Christmas is officially upon us. And no, it’s not Christmas season yet – stores putting out Christmas wear in stores does not give us license to celebrate THAT holiday just yet. Fall we can celebrate ahead of time, but I put my foot down on celebrating Christmas until December 1st. That’s an order.
The line for celebrating all the fall things is always arbitrary. Hooray for arbitrary lines and women’s prerogative to celebrate whatever the heck she wants, when she wants – as long as it has bourbon on the side. Apple butter. It’s a fall staple. And it’s even better with bourbon. I swears it.
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Bourbon Apple Butter
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 3 pint jars 1x
- Category: Condiment
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Description
This warm fall staple is made even warmer with a hefty dose of bourbon.
Ingredients
- 4 lbs of Apples
- 2 cups Water
- 1 cup Bourbon
- 1 cup Sugar
- Salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
Apple Butter:
- Core all apples. Do not peel. Dice apples into small pieces, place into large pot with steaming water.
- Soften apples for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Put softened apples into food processor and puree until smooth.
- Place sugar, salt, cinnamon, gloves, all spice, lemon zest, lemon juice and bourbon all into a heavy bottom saucepan. Stir to combine.
- Over medium heat, stir the mixture to prevent burning. Reduce the mixture by about half – or until the mixture is thick and no longer runny. Make sure to stir constantly to ensure as much moisture is evaporating as possible. The thickening time will take anywhere from 1 to 2 hours depending on the liquid content of the apples.
If canning follow the following procedures:
- Pour finished hot apple butter into three hot, sterilized canning jars, wipe the rims of the jars before placing lids on top of the jars and sealing.
- Place the sealed jars into a boiling water bath and cover with 1 inch of water – boiling jars for 10 minutes to ensure a good seal.
- Remove from water with canning tongs and allow to cool. Popping on the jar lids will signal the jars have sealed properly.
- To learn more about canning and safe canning procedures visit Freshpreserving.com where you can find everything you need from Ball canning.
Notes
Adapted from Simply Recipes Apple Butter
Keywords: canning apple butter, homemade apple butter, apple butter recipe
An excellent way to celebrate fall, particularly love that kick of bourbon 😉
Thanks Kathryn! We all know bourbon makes everything better! I just love the fall feeling it leaves behind when cooked.
Apple butter? yum. Bourbon? sold. This is on the list of fall items I MUST make!
Bourbon rocks in warm fall dishes – and esp in apple butter. 🙂 Hope you like it!
BOURBON?? I love you. I’m coming over.
Come on over Claire – theres plenty more bourbon apple butter where this came from!
Yay! Boozy fall treats! I’m planning on making apple butter in my crockpot very soon! Can’t wait to splash in some bourbon 🙂
Yay for apple butter!! It’s totally a fall rite of passage 🙂
This is my “son of a biscuit!” moment of the week. I just made molasses apple butter 2 days before seeing your bourbon version. TWO DAYS! Your bourbon trick would have kicked mine up a notch. Oh, well…great excuse to make Batch #2. Oh, and I tried something new with mine – I roasted the apples in the oven until they were smushy & caramelized. Yum! And now you have something for Batch #2. You’re welcome. 🙂
Not gonna lie seeing “son of a biscuit” just makes me smile every time I read it. One of the many reason I heart you, Jeanne.
Bourbon is so much fun – it makes everything tastes amazing, lol. I love how you incorporate apple butter with bourbon, I think this really makes the recipe awesome!
Thanks Linda! I hope that the bourbon is a hit in your butter 🙂 It totally screams fall to me 🙂
This screams fall. Especially the bourbon!
I know right? I’m so glad fall is finally here. It’s the best season in my book.
This looks amazing! Must. Make.
Totally make it. This drop kicks you right into the fall season!
I love your enthusiasm for fall! While Starbucks seems to be a little preemptive with pumpkin spice lattes (they started serving them while it was still triple-digit weather where I live), they certainly have a way of kicking off the warm, spicy, cinnamony season! Your bourbon apple butter looks wonderful and I love the idea of adding booze to a fruit butter. We pick pounds and pounds of apples every year and make applesauce but this year we’re going to have to change it up with some of your bourbon apple butter!
I hope you make this – especially because apple butter is just even further reduced apple sauce! It’s a win win!
Oh woman…you are after my own heart! Exactly what I planned to do this weekend and now; no way I can’t! Looks divine.
YAY Barbara, I hope you make this and love the heck out of it. 🙂
WOW! I’ll drink to this bourbon apple butter! I have never tasted this before – will definitely be trying the recipe! Amazing!
Hi Carol, I so very much hope you make this apple butter. It’s the perfect way to start your fall season 🙂
Bourbon is such a decadent touch!
Thanks Jen! The bourbon totally adds a nice extra warm spicy feeling to the whole thing. It’s fall and I’m THRILLED!
Wow, wow, wow, I’ll take 46 pints of this gorgeous stuff! There is nothing more Fall-ish than this. I think you’ve got Starbucks beat.
Oh Cathy, you make me smile. I’d love to make an extra batch just for ya. And if you think I beat Starbucks that makes me smile EXTRA big 🙂
Um I definitely think I need some of this in my life right now!!!! It looks just amazing 🙂
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