I wanted to make these apple butter macarons. So first step was I needed apple butter. I had gone apple picking and had some apples to use up. ;o) So Whisk Kid's recipe over here, calls for whole spices like cinnamon sticks, allspice berries...I didn't even know allspice came in a berry... So I did some googling and found substitutes.
Homemade Apple Butter
adapted from Whisk Kid
3 cups diced apples (I think mine were red delicious and rome or courtland?)
2 cups water
½ cups sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp honey
¾ tsp ground nutmeg
¾ tsp ground cloves
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Peel and dice the apples.
Place the prepared apples and remaining ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil (uncovered) over high heat, then reduce the heat and let simmer (also uncovered) until very soft, about 1 ½-2 hours. Be sure to mix every once in awhile, increasing the frequency with which you do so the longer the apples cook. Once very soft and caramelized, remove from heat and allow to cool briefly. Pour into a blender or food processor to puree. Store in the fridge.
It's fabulous, and smells delicious while cooking! My only change after the fact reflected in the recipe above was to omit the black pepper from the allspice substitute. Here is what I found on it:
One teaspoon ground allspice is equivalent to approximate 5 whole berries.
If you need a substitute for allspice combine equal parts of ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and black pepper.
Right...skip the black pepper, you'll taste it in the applebutter and rather prominently.
And in case you're wondering here's how the macarons turned out!
My macarons have been hit or miss, it seems the baking temps are way to high on all the recipes I've considered and I've consulted quite a few of them... I thought the cinnamon on top would add some significant cinnamon-y flavor, but it did not...and I added 4 tsps of apple butter to the buttercream, but could you taste it in the the end? No. Plus I burned one tray...how does that happen?
Anyway, happy apple buttering!
