Salted Caramel Apple Butter: Recipe + Pairings

It's officially fall, and that means we release our seasonal Salted Caramel Apple Butter. How do we make it? First, we prep apples that we get from our friends at Mead Farm in the Hudson Valley. We cook them in a touch of water until they're soft and buttery.

Next, we take dry organic, fair trade sugar and slowly melt it in a pan, adding the dry sugar slowly and stirring until it's a golden caramel. We deglaze with the softened apples and add the spices and sea salt. Then we cook it until the flavors blend and the texture is smooth and buttery perfection. Voila!

Then we eat it! I love to eat it on toast, but also with pork chops, or in a grilled cheese with either PRAIRIE BREEZE CHEDDAR  or my personal favorite, CABOT CREAMERY CABOT CLOTHBOUND CHEDDAR.

It's also great on a cheese plate. I recommend going to Murray's Cheese (they ship too, so never fear non-New Yorkers) and creating a master fall cheese plate with American-made cheeses: start with the creamy, oozy, floral 2014 American Cheese Society winner CELLARS AT JASPER HILL HARBISON, a gruyere from Wisconsin ROTH KASE GRAND CRU GRUYERE SURCHOIX, a rad cheddar such as 5 SPOKE CREAMERY TUMBLEWEED, a buttery classic American blue such as NORTH HENDREN CHEESE COOPERATIVE BLACK RIVER BLUE, and a wild, pungent, stinky tomme such as CATO CORNER FARM's HOOLIGAN. Dress the plate with some smoked almonds, dried cranberries, crusty bread bites and Castleton Crackers from Vermont (I recommend the Maple and the Rye), fill everyone's glasses with hard cider, and voila! A fall cheese plate that will knock your socks off.