What can I do with apple butter?

January 3, 2008 4:56 PM

I have apple butter. Now what? I was given two jars of apple butter over the holidays. Is there anything I can do with it besides spread it on toast or peanut butter sandwiches?
posted by Braeog to food & drink (33 comments total)

http://www.bigoven.com/19978_AppleButterSteak_recipe.html
posted by slow graffiti at 5:01 PM on January 3, 2008

Eat it the PA Dutch way--mixed with some cottage cheese. Yum.
posted by jrossi4r at 5:03 PM on January 3, 2008

Make a vinaigrette with apple butter, walnut oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Use to dress a salad of endive, radicchio or similar. Top with candied walnuts or pecans and small pieces of brie.
posted by dersins at 5:04 PM on January 3, 2008

We put it on cornbread too.
posted by selfmedicating at 5:08 PM on January 3, 2008

mix with white wine and dijon mustard for a delicious glaze for pork or chicken.
posted by thinkingwoman at 5:11 PM on January 3, 2008

I like it on scrambled eggs.
posted by Deathalicious at 5:28 PM on January 3, 2008

I think it's yummy on (good quality) vanilla ice cream.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 5:29 PM on January 3, 2008

This Chowhound thread had a number of good ideas (including one from me...).
posted by stefnet at 5:30 PM on January 3, 2008

I like apple butter with brie- on crackers, toasts, or maybe even just spread on baked brie fresh from the oven. I think its sweetness works really well with salty stuff. Maybe with bacon in a sandwich?
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:45 PM on January 3, 2008

I really like it swirled in some vanilla yogurt (this also works for pumpkin butter).
posted by ethel at 5:46 PM on January 3, 2008

Seconding the pork (apples of any kind are TASTY with pork).

If you're not superduper into apples, why not make a mixed-fruit cobbler? Cut up another fruit you do like a lot (pears, berries, etc), mix in some apple butter and put it in a pan. Now, throw a stick of butter into your processor with sugar until it's fine crumbs. Add in flour til the crumbs just sorta stick together as big, spaetzle-y crumbs. Sprinkle over the top of the fruit mixture and bake at 375 F until the top is all crispy and browning and the fruit is cooked. Tasty.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 5:49 PM on January 3, 2008

It's great as a filling for a jelly roll.
posted by jedicus at 5:49 PM on January 3, 2008

Roast turkey or chicken sandwich. Good white bread, mayo on one side, apple butter (or chutney) on the other. Lots of salt. Got to be up in my top ten favorite things to eat.
posted by ottereroticist at 6:08 PM on January 3, 2008

Spoon it over vanilla ice cream.
posted by dws at 6:11 PM on January 3, 2008

In addition to some of the things already mentioned, I've used it as a base layer in a fruit tart (spread on bottom of tart crust, cover with sliced fruit, etc.). It's also really good on biscuits. My mom gives me a jar most years, so I've been through a few options. Eating it with cottage cheese is still my fave.
posted by gingerbeer at 6:16 PM on January 3, 2008

pancakes!!!
posted by beckish at 6:34 PM on January 3, 2008

Gang, I don't know the answer but hope someone else will: could OP freeze one of the jars? How do fruit butters do if frozen and thawed?
posted by Sweetie Darling at 6:50 PM on January 3, 2008

I like apple butter as a dip for cinnamon graham crackers.
posted by slavlin at 6:55 PM on January 3, 2008

On latkes
posted by flummox at 7:05 PM on January 3, 2008

You shouldn't need to freeze them. If they're properly canned, they should keep until opened. Then refrigeration is all that is needed.

Freezing would be actively bad because expansion would break the bottles.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 7:13 PM on January 3, 2008

Is it real apple butter (i.e. mostly butter with some apple), or the stuff they now call apple butter but is more like spiced applesauce?
posted by HotPatatta at 7:20 PM on January 3, 2008

Because if it's the kind that is mostly butter, you can bake and cook with it. That's what I do when I want to infuse a little extra flavor into muffins, biscuits, etc.
posted by HotPatatta at 7:21 PM on January 3, 2008

I spread it in a little bowl over some goat cheese and dip pretzels into it.
posted by Melinika at 7:30 PM on January 3, 2008

HotPatatta, I'm pretty sure what everyone else knows as "real apple butter" is the spiced applesauce you refer too. I guess there's no other word for butter with apples in it, though, is there?
posted by joshers13 at 7:55 PM on January 3, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Fried biscuits with apple butter is a southern Indiana specialty. Don't be fool by the name fried biscuits - these aren't just ordinary buttermilk biscuits or the like thrown in a fryer. These are sweeter, really closer to beignets than to ordinary biscuits in both flavor and texture, although somewhat less sweet than beignets, I'd say. They reach their pinnacle at the Nashville House Restaurant in Nashville, IN.

And what joshers13 said about the "spiced applesauce" being the real apple butter. It's been called that for decades if not centuries.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:36 PM on January 3, 2008

However, you can just deep fry canned biscuits (NOT the layered kind, the tiny kind,) and eat them with the apple butter, which is what Hoosiers do when we're desperate.
posted by headspace at 9:11 PM on January 3, 2008

Nthing the pork condiment. I once put it on a ham sandwich and was very pleased.
posted by cowbellemoo at 9:13 PM on January 3, 2008

Pork chops, waffles, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese 'n' crackers, oh my goodness, lucky you!
posted by Lynsey at 10:29 PM on January 3, 2008

Add it to a grilled cheese sandwich. It's especially good with a sharp cheddar on rye bread. (Mind you, any combination of flavorful bread + good cheese + fruit spread makes a primo grilled cheese.)

Also: swirl some into your morning oatmeal or farina cereal. Delicious.
posted by Dreama at 5:41 AM on January 4, 2008

I roasted a bone-in ham on Boxing Day. I spread the entire thing with apple butter, poured a can of hard cider into the roasting pan, added some quartered onions, a few peppercorns and a bay leaf. Roast till done. Yum!
posted by LN at 8:31 AM on January 4, 2008

I add a nice scoop of apple butter and a good squirt of sriracha sauce (to taste) to a can of regular canned baked beans. The cinnamon sweetness of the apple butter and the complex heat of the hot sauce make an awesome side dish. Serve with garlic smashed potatoes, a plate of BBQ, cherry pie with ice cream and a nice big beer.

Transcendent.
posted by LakesideOrion at 9:06 AM on January 4, 2008

You could make an apple stack cake.
posted by mahamandarava at 1:49 PM on January 4, 2008

Seconding pancakes. Use it like you would jam. I put butter and then apple butter on my pancakes and they are DELICIOUS.
posted by meggan at 4:28 PM on January 4, 2008