Gingerbread apple butter

While produce shopping to make my ginger pear butter, I also picked up a peck of Cortland apples to make apple butter. I had some fresh ginger left from the pear butter, but I didn't just want to make the same recipe with apples. So I thought, what else can I incorporate into the butter? Add molasses to ginger and you have classic gingerbread flavors! Gingerbread apple butter is the perfect fruit butter for the winter holidays.

 Gingerbread apple butter

4 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/2" thick pieces
2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses

Combine all ingredients in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Cook over medium heat until the pears begin to break down, helping them along with a potato masher if you wish. After about 30 minutes, reduce the heat to low and cook for about another hour. Puree in the pot with an immersion blender, or transfer in batches to a blender. Return to heat and continue to cook, if necessary, to desired consistency, which should be thick enough to mound on a spoon. Transfer to sterilized jars and process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes to make butter shelf stable, or allow butter to cool in jars and store in the refrigerator, treating as a perishable.

Makes 5-6 half pints.