Spiced Oven Apple Butter

All the sisters must do a "yea for you" because I am finally posting something I made! I was supposed to have had jury duty this week but ended up just having to call each night and never had to actually report! So, I had some time to finally try a recipe that I think I found last Christmas...Spiced Oven Apple Butter.
My biggest challenge with this recipe is that it takes about 5 hours from start to finish and a lot of days I am not home for a 5 hour chunk of time! It is helpful to have lots of laundry to do in between stirring the apple butter. Oh, and you definitely need a kitchen timer to keep track of the hours as they pass!

Spiced Oven Apple Butter

8 Granny Smith apples-peeled and diced
1 cup apple juice or cider
1-1&1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice

Cook the diced apples and the juice over medium heat for 20-30 minutes or until apples are tender. Stir until apples are mashed. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish. Bake at 275* for 4&1/2 hours, stirring every hour or until spreading consistency. Let cool, cover and chill. Store in refrigerator. Makes 3 cups.

After the first hour of baking the "applesauce" was already getting thicker and darker and my house was smelling mighty fine! Whew, only 3&1/2 more hours to go!




I have purchased a lot of apple butter at craft shows and farm stores and this recipe is pretty good, it is on the spicy side and maybe not as sweet as some we've had. We like it on toast or English muffins. My son was a bit disappointed to learn that this didn't contain any actual butter! I think he sometimes sneaks butter straight from his finger to his mouth...boys!

And with a little paper label it is ready for our morning toast...yummy!

The only thing with this recipe is unless you want to seal your jars in a water bath, you have to keep this in the refrigerator, but it would probably be good for quite a few weeks. I might try putting some in the freezer to bring to my sister at Thanksgiving.


Lulu's smile for the week: She is student of the month for French class!! Yea Lulu!!
Lulu"s frown for the week: Static-y hair and dry hands, the heat is on. Humidifier time.
Nel's smile for the week: A nice man is going to come and rake my yard and take away all of my leaves...for a price of course...but it's soooo worth it! (See previous post from Jenn but keep in mind that fall is NOT my favorite time to be outside!! Aggggg!)
Nel's frown for the week: I must get this Halloween candy out of my house!!