Homemade spiced apple butter with maple syrup is such a wonderful way to preserve apples! It’s so fresh and flavorful, and the individual jars make the perfect homemade holiday gift. It’s delicious on sourdough toast or to incorporate in your other favorite fall baked goods. This apple butter is an easy, super flavorful canning recipe to make in the fall when fresh apples are plentiful.
Spiced Apple Butter in Fall
We’ve got so many apples on our tree right now, it’s ridiculous!
While making Grandma’s apple cake and apple cider with our homemade press is rewarding (and in turn gives us yummy hard cider), I wanted to do something different this time around.
So, I started flipping through my Ball Canning Book, and came across apple butter. Of course!
My Mom used to make apple and pear butter when we were kids, and that stuff was like gold.
I made the basic recipe from the book, and it was good, but I thought it needed a little more oomph. So I made a second batch, this time with some added ginger, spices, and maple syrup instead of sugar.
It turned out perfect!
Here is my recipe for homemade spiced apple butter with maple syrup.
Related: 12 Ways to Preserve Apples: Canning, Freezing, Drying + more!
Spiced Apple Butter with Maple Syrup Recipe
Most varieties of apples will make a good butter, although I probably wouldn’t use all tart apples. A mix of apples is always a good choice.
I used Honeycrisp apples for this batch of apple butter and it turned out amazing!
Three pounds of apples will make about four half pint jars of apple butter.
Chop and Cook the Apples
I leave the skins on the apples when I make apple butter, because honestly I don’t usually feel like peeling them.
The apples get cooked way down, and once everything is blended you don’t even know that they are there. But, go ahead and peel them if you like.
Quarter the apples and put them in a pot with the ginger and apple cider.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and cook for about 30 minutes or until the apples are soft.
Blend and Cook Down the Apple Butter
Use an immersion blender, regular blender, or food processor to puree the apples until they are smooth. Do not liquefy.
An immersion blender makes this job very quick and easy. I highly recommend getting one! You may have to work in batches if you use a blender or food processor.
Return the apple puree to the saucepan if you used a regular blender or food processor, and stir in the maple syrup, spices, and salt.
Bring back to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Reduce heat to low, and cook until mixture thickens, about 30-60 more minutes.
Can the Apple Butter
Canning this spiced apple butter is easy!
Fill hot jars with hot apple butter, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.
Turn off the heat, remove the canner lid, and wait 5 minutes before removing the jars.
Please refer to the Ball Water Bath Canning page for more details on this, especially if you are new to canning.
I am so happy with how this spiced apple butter turned out!
To me, it’s the perfect fall treat with warm spices and maple syrup. I had to open a jar the very next morning and give it a taste.
It is so incredibly good! I love it on sourdough toast with lots of butter.
We still have quite a bit of apples on our tree, so I will definitely be making more of this. It will be the perfect holiday gift!
Trust me, you have to try this apple butter recipe, you won’t be disappointed. I promise!
More Preserving Fruit Recipes
Here are more delicious fruit preserving recipes for you to try!
- No Sugar Apple Jelly
- Freezing Apple Pie Filling
- Fig Honey Butter
- Strawberry Honey Butter
- No Sugar Peach Jam
- Strawberry Rhubarb Butter
- Chunky Applesauce with Spices
- Apple Pie Filling for Canning
Spiced Apple Butter with Maple Syrup
Ingredients
- 3 pounds apples cored and quartered (peeling is optional)
- 1 cups apple cider not hard cider
- 1/2 Tbsp fresh ginger peeled and minced
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup or brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/8 tsp ground allspice
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- pinch salt
Instructions
- In a stainless steel saucepan combine apples, apple cider, and fresh ginger. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until apples are soft, about 30 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender, regular blender, or food processor to puree until smooth. You may have to work in batches (not if you use an immersion blender). Do not liquefy.
- Return the apple puree to the saucepan if you used a regular blender or food processor, and stir in the maple syrup, spices, and salt.
- Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Reduce heat to low, and cook until mixture thickens, about 30-60 more minutes.
- To can the apple butter, fill hot jars with hot apple butter, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the canner lid, and wait 5 minutes before removing the jars.
Notes
- Adapted from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.Â
- Please refer to the Ball Water Bath Canning page for more details on canning, especially if you are a beginner.
- Most apple varieties can be used for this recipe.
- The skins can be left on the apples as they will cook down and get soft, but the apples can also be peeled if you prefer.
I’m in the process of making this recipe now and was wondering if the finished product will be shelf stable and how long might it last once canned? It’s smelling incredible by the way!
As long as it’s properly canned, it’ll last 18+ months before the flavor starts to degrade.
Made and canned this . It’s Awesome. Thank you for sharing. Will make great gifts
So glad you liked it, DeeAnn!
Hi! Do you have any recommendations for what to freeze this in? I don’t have a canning set up. I was also wondering if a small amount of cardamom would be a good addition?
Hi Nicole. You can freeze it in a Tupperware container, freezer bag, whatever you normally freeze food in. Cardamom sounds like a nice addition!
Can you freeze instead of canning this? I am new to preserving food and haven’t gotten to canning yet.
Absolutely!
I am excited to try this recipe. Our tree is bursting with apples this year and I gotta do something with them! I was wondering if I might be able to cook the apples/spices in an instant pot instead of on the stove. Do you known if this is possible? And what the steam time would be? I have already made a couple batches of applesauce in the instant pot and it was sooooo easy!
Hi Maria! I’m sure you could, but I don’t own an Instant Pot so it’s hard for me to say how long it would take to cook.
This is utterly delicious. Never had apple butter before. Have had a big apple harvest this year so am loving making this. Thank you!
I’m so glad you liked this recipe, Edwina.
Is one cup of cider correct? I’m making this right now and my apple mixture is too thick to boil down in the next step.
Hi Genny. 1 cup of apple cider is correct. Your finished apple butter should have very little liquid, if any, and be thick, like tomato paste.
Thanks for this recipe. The apple butter is delicious and I am going to give a jar to my friend for Thanksgiving. Instead of using an immersion blender, I just mashed the apples after cooking. It didn’t take much mashing either. One less thing to wash.
So glad to hear you liked this recipe, Trish!
Any thoughts on using honey instead of maple syrup as your sweetener and canning it? A co-worker has bees and lots of honey and not able to find some since dark maple syrup this time of year.
That should be fine.
This seems very fine and delicious to me, I have to try it.
I have preserved apples for years and have never used apple cider, always water. I am 77 and have been canning since I was seven years old. You may get an added flavor from the cider. I cut up my apples and put them in an electric roaster until cooked down. I put a small amount of water in bottom of pan so apples do not burn. We do not like the peals in our butter/sauce, so I run them through a ricer/ colander. I then reheat the sauce, add my spices and cook until bubbling. I continue to cook for 10 minutes. I then put into clean hot jars, wipe rim clean, put covers on and I waterbath for 20 minutes. Get yourself a ball canning book. Good info in there. Leave jars in waterbath uncovered for 5 more minutes, then remove to counter. I use a very large wooden cutting board as it absorbs the heat from the jars. If you put jars on a cool surface they could crack. Good luck.
I love canning! The blue Ball canning guide is practically my bible for preserving food. But I’m like you, I prefer a lot of the jams, jellies and preserves with less sugar than the book calls for. Your recipe is great, just the right amount of sweetness! Seems I have a new favorite.
BTW this recipe worked out deliciously for a batch of pear butter as well!! I am definitely stocked now for the winter. Thank you~
I don’t have any cider, only water :( can I use water in place of the cider?
I wouldn’t for two reasons – first, you need the cider to keep the acidity up for water bath canning, and second, it would water down the end product and wouldn’t be as tasty.
Thanks for all the great apple ideas in the 12 Ways to Preserve Apple Post! I’m loving your recipes, and I’ll definitely be making this in the next few days, as I am overflowing with apples! :-)
I love apple butter Im going to have to try this!