Cranberry Apple Butter

This year instead of serving cranberry sauce, I wanted to make something different. The thing is that I didn’t want to completely eliminate cranberries, after all it is synonymous with the holidays. After some thought, I thought it might be nice to make a cranberry apple butter. The sweetness of the apple butter and the tartness of the cranberries seem to be a nice mixture. Also, this reduces the use of adding a whole lot of sugar which is how most traditional cranberry sauce is made. Let’s also be honest, I am also absolutely obsessed with apple butter and my pressure cooker lately. The end result is a smooth sweet and tart apple butter that hints all the flavors of the season. Enjoy!

Cranberry Apple Butter Recipe

Ingredients:

12oz bag of organic cranberries (approximately 2.5 cups)
6 medium size gala apples (washed, cored and cut)
4 (approximately 3 in.) whole cinnamon sticks
4 tablespoons of pure organic maple syrup

Direction:

Clean the cranberries and pick out any stems/debris from the cranberries.
Place the cranberries into the pressure cooker pot.
Clean your apples thoroughly and remove the stems.
Cut the apple away from the core, there is no need to peel the apple skin.
Discard or compost the apple cores and rough chop the apples.
Put all the cut apples, cinnamon sticks and maple syrup into the pressure cooker pot with the cranberries.
I like to give it a quick stir so that the maple syrup coats the ingredients.
Secure the lid on the pressure cooker according to the manufacturer’s instruction and set a manual cook for 15 min.
Once the cooking is done, let the cooker come to a natural release in pressure. Then gently lift the lid according to your manual’s direction and take a wooden spoon/spatula and give it a good stir. I like to break up the larger pieces as well. By the time you are done, it should be the consistency of apple sauce.
Place the lid back on and cook for another 20 min.
After it’s done cooking, let it cool with the lid open… yes, let it cool. Remember, NO piping hot fruit in a blender. Yikes!
When the apple mixture is cooled, remove the 4 cinnamon sticks. Then place the apple mixture in a blender and blend till it is smooth. *As you know from my cinnamon apple butter recipe, I like my apple butter to be very thick and caramelized.
To thicken the mixture, take the extra step and cook the apple butter one final time in a non-stick skillet or pan.
Pour your mixture into a wide non-stick skillet/pan and place it over medium heat.
You will have to baby this mixture for another 5 min. and make sure you keep moving the mixture and scrapping the sides of the pan to prevent burning or sticking. You should start noticing that the consistency is thicker and the color is darker.
Remove the skillet from the heat, then place your apple butter in a container. I keep mine in an air tight container in the back of the refrigerator and it will last for 3 weeks or you can freeze your apple butter.
Use this as jam, cranberry sauce or just eat it straight!