- 3 pounds apples, cut into chunks (any delicious varieties from the market)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 cardamom pods
- 1 star anise pod
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 cups water, plus more
- Fresh black pepper, to taste
Spiced Apple Butter
Makes 4 cups
Truth be told, we think apples taste better when they’re grown in colder climates. We’ve missed the crisp, tart specimens of our former cities (Chicago and New York) since moving west. But when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade — or, in this case, apple butter.
To call this apple sauce would be an assault to its sophistication. A spin in a food mill followed by a ride in a powerful blender gives it a lusciously silky texture. Lots of warming spices (star anise, cardamom, cinnamon), plus a hefty turn of the pepper mill after all’s said and done, take it to next-level territory. Stir it through yogurt, spread it on tahini-slathered toast, spill it into a bowl and eat it naked (the butter, you, or both).
Unlike your typical apple sauce/butter situations, this one requires no peeling or coring. (Did you hear us?! No peeling or coring!) We’d never trash those treasures; the skin and seeds are some of an apple’s most pectin-rich parts (which helps with that silkiness). Also awesome: The long simmer process will make your house smell like the holidays.
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Instructions
Add all of the ingredients — except the black pepper — to your largest heavy-bottomed pot, stir well, and set the heat to medium. Allow the apples to simmer away, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon to avoid uneven cooking and sticking. Anytime the mixture looks like it’s drying out, add ½ cup of water and give it a good stir (we use about 4 cups total per 3 pounds of apples). Continue simmering until the apples are broken down and fall apart easily when poked with a spoon.
Let the mixture cool a bit, and then run it through a food mill to extract the seeds and peel. Pour the sauce into a powerful blender, add a few solid cracks of black pepper, and blend on high until silky smooth.