Learn how to make honey-sweetened cinnamon apple butter. I’ve also added a touch of cardamom to it as well for an earthy sweet-spiced flavor. This recipe includes canning instructions. It is based on a recipe from a Ball preservation book. Preserve the best of fall flavors with this delicious apple butter recipe.

My favorite thing to make in the fall season is apple butter. While applesauce is great and all, I personally prefer the silky-smooth thicker texture of apple butter. 

I eat apple butter like I would eat applesauce, but it also has the benefit of being delicious on toast or used in various baked goods (I’ll include a list of my favorite recipes below). Some folks like to eat apple butter with meat like pork, too, but I’m one of those weirdos that don’t eat fruit on top of meat, so I haven’t personally tried this. 

Canning safety is super important to me, so I based my apple butter recipe on a safe canning recipe from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. There are safe adaptations you can make to canning recipes, including swapping different spices for each other, and I’ve carefully researched these safe swaps before putting my recipe here. 

My recipe uses honey as the sweetener because it makes me feel less guilty than using cups and cups of white processed sugar instead. I’m addicted to cardamom, so I love adding it to every possible recipe for that delicious earthy-sweet flavor, including this apple butter. If you like cardamom like me, check out my cardamom hot chocolate recipe, too.

I hope you enjoy this delicious honey-sweetened cinnamon apple butter! This makes a great gift for the holidays (if it lasts that long!).

Love fruit butters? Check out my Honey-Sweetened Cardamom Fig Butter recipe, too!

Honey-Sweetened Cinnamon Apple Butter Recipe

This recipe makes approx. 9 pint-sized jars of apple butter

Ingredients:

• 12 pounds apples, peeled, cored and quartered
• 4 cups apple cider
• 2 cups honey
• 6 tsp. cinnamon 
• 1 tsp. cardamom

Equipment:

• Water Bath Canner
• Canning Supplies
• Pint Size Mason Jars

Directions:

1. Prepare your apples (peel, core, quarter). Place the apples in a large pot with the apple cider. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and boil gently for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
2. After 30 minutes, if the apples are soft, use an immersion blender to make a uniformed-textured puree. Do not over liquefy. (If you don’t own an immersion blender, you can carefully place batches of the hot apples into a blender or food processor to blend and place the puree into a clean pot).
3. In the large pot, combine the apple puree with honey, cinnamon, and cardamom. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Then reduce the heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens and becomes smooth-textured. The time for this depends on your type of apples and their water content. It usually takes me about 2 hours to get my preferred apple butter texture, but it can take as little as 30 minutes. 
4. When you think the apple butter is done, test it by putting a dab of apple butter on a chilled plate or spoon. If it’s done, it should hold a buttery, spreadable shape.
5. When you think there might be approximately 30 minutes left for the apple butter to cook, prepare your area for water bath canning. I like to start getting the water in the canner pot boiling, and I put the pint jars in there right away to get hot and sterilized. 
6. When the apple butter is done, ladle the hot butter into your clean and hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove any air bubbles and adjust the headspace if necessary. Wipe the rim and place on a clean lid. Screw the canning band down in place (finger-tight).
7. Place the jars into the waterbath canner, and make sure they are completely covered by water. Bring to a boil and place on the lid and process for 10 minutes. Then remove the canner lid and continue to process for 5 more minutes. Remove the jars, cool, and store.

Notes:

• To prevent scorching, stir your apple butter frequently. This isn’t the type of recipe to make if you cannot give your proper attention to it.
• I say to use 6 tsp. of cinnamon because that seems tolerable to the average person…however, I really REALLY love my apple butter to taste ‘cinnamony’, so I start at 6 tsp. and taste and adjust as necessary until I’m happy. 
• If you don’t like cardamom, you can either add another teaspoon of cinnamon, or add something else, like ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, or some sort of combo of those spices.
• You can substitute 6 cups of white granulated sugar for the 2 cups of honey if you so desire.

My Favorite Ways to Use Apple Butter

Honestly, I prefer eating it in a bowl with a spoon. Preferably room temperature or slightly warm. BUT sometimes I like to switch things up and use it in my recipes.

Here’s a few of my favorite ways to use apple butter:

• Smeared on cinnamon raisin toast
• Apple Butter Cinnamon Swirl Bread from Baking A Moment 
• Cinnamon Sugar Swirled Apple Butter Bread from Half Baked Harvest
• Apple Cider Muffins from Together as Family (I swap apple butter for applesauce)
• Brown Butter Apple Blondies with Cinnamon Maple Glaze from Half Baked Harvest
• Apple Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies from Cambrea Bakes
• Apple Butter Oatmeal Bake from Shuangy’s Kitchen Sink

Honey-Sweetened Cinnamon Apple Butter Recipe

Yield: 9 pints

Learn how to make honey-sweetened cinnamon apple butter. I’ve also added a touch of cardamom to it as well for an earthy spiced flavor. This recipe includes canning instructions.

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Ingredients

• 12 pounds apples, peeled, cored and quartered
• 4 cups apple cider
• 2 cups honey
• 6 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. cardamom

Instructions

1. Prepare your apples (peel, core, quarter). Place the apples in a large pot with the apple cider. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and boil gently for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
2. After 30 minutes, if the apples are soft, use an immersion blender to make a uniformed-textured puree. Do not over liquefy. (If you don’t own an immersion blender, you can carefully place batches of the hot apples into a blender or food processor to blend and place the puree into a clean pot).
3. In the large pot, combine the apple puree with honey, cinnamon, and cardamom. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Then reduce the heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens and becomes smooth-textured. The time for this depends on your type of apples and their water content. It usually takes me about 2 hours to get my preferred apple butter texture, but it can take as little as 30 minutes. 
4. When you think the apple butter is done, test it by putting a dab of apple butter on a chilled plate or spoon. If it’s done, it should hold a buttery, spreadable shape.
5. When you think there might be approximately 30 minutes left for the apple butter to cook, prepare your area for water bath canning. I like to start getting the water in the canner pot boiling, and I put the pint jars in there right away to get hot and sterilized. 
6. When the apple butter is done, ladle the hot butter into your clean and hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove any air bubbles and adjust the headspace if necessary. Wipe the rim and place on a clean lid. Screw the canning band down in place (finger-tight).
7. Place the jars into the waterbath canner, and make sure they are completely covered by water. Bring to a boil and place on the lid and process for 10 minutes. Then remove the canner lid and continue to process for 5 more minutes. Remove the jars, cool, and store.

Notes

• To prevent scorching, stir your apple butter frequently. This isn’t the type of recipe to make if you cannot give your proper attention to it.

• I say to use 6 tsp. of cinnamon because that seems tolerable to the average person…however, I really REALLY love my apple butter to taste ‘cinnamony’, so I start at 6 tsp. and taste and adjust as necessary until I’m happy. 
• If you don’t like cardamom, you can either add another teaspoon of cinnamon, or add something else, like ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, or some sort of combo of those spices.
• You can substitute 6 cups of white granulated sugar for the 2 cups of honey if you so desire.

Final Thoughts 

I hope you enjoy this delicious honey-sweetened cinnamon apple butter recipe! Like I said earlier, it’s one of my favorite ways to celebrate the return of fall season every year. 

Love honey? Here’s a list of my other honey-sweetened recipes:

• Honey-Sweetened Cardamom Fig Butter Recipe
• How to Make Goldenrod Honey
• Crockpot Peach Butter with Honey
• Honey-Sweetened Strawberry Chia Seed Jam Recipe
• How to Make Elderberry Syrup
• Honey-Sweetened Lemon Balm Lemonade