Apple Butter & Apple Butter Roll-Ups

As you know, products generally differ from one country to another. Based on tradition and culture, some foodstuffs and products are more or less easy to acquire from one place to another. For instance, I have never seen tinned pumpkin pie mixture in South Africa (assuming  that is what it is correctly called). We do get pureed apples, but apple butter is typically not found around there parts of the world.

To spark a bit of pity, we also don’t have Candy Corn, Jolly Ranchers, Hershey’s Kisses, Ho Ho’s, Pop-tarts; also no Reese’s, Peeps or Whoopie Pies. We are also a Coke nation, not a Pepsi one. Now, with that out of the way, it is worth mentioning that all things BBQ and ‘Southern’ has grown increasingly popular over recent years. As a result, some of the traditions and foodstuffs of America trickled down to the Southern hemisphere, and they now sit proudly with the myriad of international cuisines and traditions that locals love.

In the spirit of all things American, we’ve made apple butter… but then we weren’t quite sure what to do with it… So we made roll-ups. strips of puff pastry, apple butter, bake, done. And it was delicious. For extra apple-liciousness, we loaded blobs of apple butter a-top the roll-ups. (full disclosure: said roll-ups made a great midnight snack)

Ingredients

• 1 kg Apples – I used pink ladies
• juice of half a lemon
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground mixed spice
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup honey

Sliced apples with spices with lemon juice

Apple chunks

Freshly made apple sauce

Method

• Core the apples and cut into large chunks- don’t bother removing the skin, it adds a great dark colour, and you’ll blend away all the chunky bits
• In a medium sized pot, add all the ingredients, cover and cook over a medium-low heat for about 2-2h30, stirring occasionally.
• Once cooked, softened and reduced, remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool uncovered.
• Transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth and all the pieces are integrated. (You could also use an immersion blender.)
• For a thicker butter, return the smooth mixture to the pot, and cook on a low heat for an additional 30 minutes, or until the desired thickness or consistency is reached.
• Serve warm, or store refrigerated.

Apple Butter

Apple Butter roll-ups

Apple Butter Roll-ups

• Roll out and slice defrosted puff pastry into 1,5 cm thick strips on a lightly floured cutting board.
• Spread one side of the puff pastry with apple butter, and roll the pastry into pinwheels, with the apple butter side facing inward.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180° in a preheated oven (or according to the instructions on the packaging) until puffed and golden brown.
• Once baked, remove from oven, and serve with a sprinkling of icing sugar.

Puff pastry strips

Puff pastry with apple butter

Rolled puff pastry and apple butter

Home made apple butter & puff pastry roll-ups

Home made apple butter & puff pastry roll-ups

Enjoy!