Recipes With Apple Butter

With the end of summer comes a bountiful harvest of apples and that means plenty of apples to make perfectly spiced, incredibly smooth Graves Mountain Apple Butter. There's nothing better than slathering a dollop of apple butter onto warm toast or biscuits or over waffles, but its sweet spiciness can be an integral ingredient in fall cooking and baking.  Here are some recipes using apple butter.

Apple Butter-Walnut Thumbprints   

Yield: Makes about 40 cookies
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup toasted walnuts
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Parchment paper
1/2 cups Apple Butter

Caramel topping

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Pulse first 5 ingredients in a food processor 10 times or until nuts are ground.

2. Beat powdered sugar and butter at high speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, and beat until combined. Add flour mixture, and beat at medium speed 30 seconds.

3. Drop batter by level tablespoonfuls 1 to 2 inches apart on 3 parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Dip finger in cold water, and press into each cookie, forming an indentation. Fill each indentation with 1/2 tsp. apple butter. Dip finger in cold water, and tap down peaks in apple butter.

4. Bake 2 baking sheets at 350° for 14 minutes, placing 1 baking sheet on middle oven rack and 1 sheet on lower oven rack. Rotate pans front to back, and top rack to bottom rack. Bake 4 more minutes or until edges begin to brown. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks, and cool completely (about 10 minutes). Repeat with remaining baking sheet. Drizzle caramel topping over cooled cookies.

Apple Butter Pie
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients
8 ounces gingersnaps
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup spiced apple butter
3 large egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Garnishes: whipped cream, crumbled gingersnaps

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Pulse gingersnaps in a food processor 20 times or until finely ground. With processor running, pour butter through food chute, processing until blended. Press mixture into a 9-inch pie plate.

2. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack 5 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, whisk together sweetened condensed milk and next 3 ingredients. Pour into prepared crust. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Chill 2 to 24 hours.

Apple Butter Sparklers

For a kid-friendly version, substitute sparkling apple juice for the Prosecco.

2 tablespoons Apple Butter
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup chilled Prosecco
Garnish: lemon peel

Whisk together Easy Apple Butter and lemon juice until smooth. Whisk in chilled Prosecco. Strain into a glass, and garnish, if desired. Serve immediately.

Creole Apple Butter Mustard
Ingredients

1 cup apple butter
1/4 cup Creole mustard

Serve with pan-fried pork chops on hot sweet potato biscuits for breakfast.

Peanut Butter-Apple Grahams

Yield: Makes 2 servings

Ingredients
2 whole graham cracker halves
2 tablespoons peanut butter
6 Granny Smith apple slices

Spread each graham cracker half with 1 tablespoon peanut butter, and microwave at HIGH for 10 seconds. Remove from microwave, and top each with 3 apple slices.

Apple Butter-and-Cheddar Puffs

To get ahead, make these appetizers through Step 2 and freeze up to 1 month. Go straight to the oven from freezer; simply add 5 to 10 minutes to the bake time.

Yield: Makes 1 1/2 dozen

Ingredients
1 (17.3-oz.) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 cup Apple Butter
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1 1/4 cups (5 oz.) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided

Parchment paper

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Unfold 1 pastry sheet, and roll to a 9- x 12-inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Cut pastry into 9 (4- x 3-inch) rectangles. Brush edges of rectangles with a small amount of egg whites. Stir together apple butter and thyme leaves. Spoon about 1 tsp. apple butter mixture into center of each rectangle. Sprinkle each with about 1 Tbsp. cheese. Fold 2 opposite corners together, and pinch to seal.

2. Gently transfer to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Brush pastries with egg whites, reserving remaining egg whites for second batch; sprinkle each pastry with about 1/2 Tbsp. cheese.

3. Bake at 400° for 20 to 25 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. While first batch bakes, repeat procedure with remaining pastry sheet, egg whites, apple butter mixture, and cheese. Serve immediately.