Apple Bourbon Butter

Earlier in October, Stephen and I were able to go to the Apple Festival in a small town nearby. I absolutely love anything with apples, so of course we had to buy a 15 pound bag from a local farmer.

Fifteen pounds of apples can go a long way for various baked goods. Apple pie or apple tart, baked apples, hot apple cider, and of course apple butter.

---

Bourbon apple butter is a really simple recipe, because all you have to do is put all the ingredients into the crockpot. You can get the crockpot going on a Saturday morning before heading off to run errands or the apples can simmer while you do things around the house. One of the best parts about this recipe is filling your home with the wonderful aroma of the fall season.

Scroll below to see the recipe card and instructions. Recipe card can be saved and uploaded to Pinterest.

Gather and prepare all ingredients. You will need fall spices; ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and nutmeg. Bag of apples. I used 12 medium Honeycrisp Apples, but you can use any variety of apple that is your favorite. Depending on the size of your apples you may need more or less. Kosher salt, lemon juice, and bourbon. I decided to buy an inexpensive bottle of bourbon because I knew it would be used for baking, but you can use whatever brand you'd like.

The cooking tools that were used in this recipe include: measuring cup and measuring spoons, Crockpot, Food Processor, sharp knife, vegetable peeler, and mason jars. An immersion blender could be used instead of a food processor to make things easier, and for faster clean up.

Wash, peel and dice all the apples and add into the crockpot. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon to keep apples from browning while continuing to chop. Add brown sugar, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, nutmeg, kosher salt, and bourbon into the crockpot and stir well.

Once thoroughly combined, set crockpot to 6 hours on the HIGH setting and close lid. Allow apples to continue to cook and stir occasionally throughout the cook time.

After the apples have cooked 6 hours on high, turn the setting to LOW and set for 2 hours. Apples should be soft to the touch. To allow the apple mixture to thicken the lid can be taken off the crockpot for the remaining 30 minutes of the cook time. Taste apple mixture. If you would like to add any additional seasoning, now would be the time.

Depending on how you like the consistency of your apple butter; transfer three-fourths of the apple mixture into a Food Processor and blend until smooth. Transfer the remaining apple mixture into the Food Processor and pulse blend to allow a few apples chucks throughout.

Transfer apple butter from the Food Processor to a measuring cup so that you can easily pour into a mason jar. Allow bourbon apple butter to completely cool in jars on countertop before storing in the refrigerator. Bourbon Apple Butter should last 3-4 weeks in a refrigerator. You can extend the shelf-life of the apple butter if you follow the proper canning instructions.

I was able to fill four 10 oz. jars with apple butter, but this will be dependent on the size of apples you use. These would make the perfect gift for loved ones and friends, with holiday season right around the corner.

We enjoyed the Bourbon Apple Butter with some warm buttermilk biscuits on a chilly Saturday morning. It was the perfect quick breakfast before starting our busy weekend.

Happy cooking, and enjoy!