Pear Apple Butter Recipes

APPLE-PEAR BUTTER

Steps:

• In an 8- to 10-qt. heavy pot or Dutch oven combine apples, pears, and cider. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Press apple mixture through a food mill or sieve. (You should have 7 1/2 to 8 cups.) Return pulp to pot; discard skins.
• Stir in sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cook, uncovered, over very low heat 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours or until thick enough that mixture mounds on a spoon, stirring often.
• Place pot of apple butter in a sink filled with ice water; stir to cool. Ladle into clean wide-mouth half-pint freezer containers, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace. Seal and label. Store in refrigerator up to 2 weeks or freeze up to 6 months. Apple butter may darken slightly on freezing. Makes 5 to 6 half-pints.

CHEF

Steps:

• 1 Quarter the fruit (do not peel) and core. Dice into large chunks. Place the fruit and apple cider in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring frequently, for 30 to 40 minutes, or until fruit is very soft when pierced with a knife. 2 Remove the pan from heat; add brown sugar, spices and lemon juice and stir to blend. 3 Puree mixture until very smooth in food processor fitted with a steel blade. 4 Return the mixture to the saucepan; simmer over low heat, stirring frequently, for 15 to 30 minutes, or until thickened to desired consistency. 5 Cool. Pour into jars, cover tightly and refrigerate for up to 30 days.

SLOW-COOKER PEAR AND APPLE BUTTER

Steps:

• Peel, quarter, and core pears and apples. In a food processor, finely grate fruit (in batches, if necessary), then transfer to a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker. Stir in dark-brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon stick. Cover and cook on high, 4 hours.
• Remove cinnamon stick and reserve. Transfer mixture to processor (in batches, if necessary) and process until smooth. Return to slow cooker, along with cinnamon stick, and cook on high, uncovered, until mixture is thick and browned, 4 hours. Discard cinnamon stick and let mixture cool. Transfer to airtight containers and refrigerate, up to 3 weeks, or freeze, up to 3 months.

PEAR-APPLE BUTTER

Steps:

• Put pears and water in a heavy 3-quart saucepan. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat about 20 minutes until pears are tender, stirring occasionally. Drain.
• Process in 2 batches in food processor or blender until smooth. You will have about 4 cups puree.
• Pour back into same saucepan. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat to low. Cover pot, leaving lid slightly ajar, and simmer about 1 hour until mixture is shiny and very thick, stirring often.
• Spoon into clean hot jars. Cover tightly, cool and refrigerate.

PEAR-APPLE BUTTER WITH CARDAMOM

Steps:

• In a large pot, combine pears, apples, 3 cups water and brandy. Bring to a boil and cook over high heat until fruit is very soft and falling apart, 30 to 45 minutes.
• Run mixture through the fine mesh of a food mill to remove seeds and skin. Return purée to pot and stir in sugar, lemon juice, cardamom and salt. Simmer over low heat, stirring often to prevent scorching at the bottom of the pot, until butter is thick, jammy, sticky to the touch and chestnut-colored, about 2 1/2 hours. Stir in vanilla.
• If you plan to can the butter, while it simmers prepare the jars according to the instructions here; after it has simmered, spoon into hot sterilized jars and process as directed. Otherwise, let butter cool, then store in the refrigerator or freezer.

SLOW COOKED SPICY APPLE-PEAR BUTTER

Steps:

• 1. Peel, core and slice apples and pears thin.
• 2. In a medium bowl, combine sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt; whisk to combine.
• 3. Place about 1/4 of the apples and pears in the crock pot, sprinkle 1/4 of the sugar mixture over the fruit in slow cooker; toss to combine. Begin layering the rest of the fruit and sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture until cooker is full. NOTE: Fill the crock pot up plus some extra. The fruit will cook down.
• 4. Cook on low setting for 10 hours; stirring occassionally. Mixture will thicken and become dark as it cooks.
• 5. After 10 hours; stir in the vanilla. Use and immersion blender to puree the fruit until smooth. Continue cooking on low another 2 hours uncovered.
• 6. Ladle hot apple-pear butter into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe rims of the jars clean with clean damp cloth, cover with hot sterilized lids, and screw bands on.
• 7. Allow jars to rest undisturbed on countertop for six hours or overnight.Check lids to ensure they sealed.
• 8. Apple butter will keep for up to one year in a cool, dark place.