Woke this morning to the ground covered in beautiful snow! I know it’s April and I know it won’t be sticking around so that is why I can say it is beautiful.

For the last 3 weeks I have been buying less groceries and using up what I have and I swear I have barely made a dent; at least in the freezers. I am even going as far as trying to find uses for those jars of “specialty” items that end up in the back of the fridge. If you are reading this I can bet you also have some of these same types of jars! I haven’t made it yet but there is a kimchi fried rice meal in my future.

This morning I focused on the largest of the fridge jars; apple butter while I have nothing against apple butter it just isn’t in my repertoire; yet.

Looking around the internet this morning I came across a sweet and spicy apple butter chipotle chicken thighs recipe that sounds promising; Well actually it sounds more than just promising, it has 10 cloves of garlic um yeah I am all over this and I will use up the chicken thighs from the freezer and I have a small jar of Chipotle peppers in adobo in the back of the fridge – perfect!

I did have to remind myself it was 7am and we would not be eating dinner this early. Then I found an apple butter bars recipe; now we are talking! It looked simple enough and I had almost everything except for the apple pie spice but I figured that was just a combination of other spices and I am sure I must have them or most of them in my cupboard.

The bars were delicious according to my husband and myself; kids weren’t home. I wanted to share them with you all just in case you have some apple butter taking up real estate in your fridge.

Apple Pie Spice which I doubt I will ever buy can easily be made with 4 spices you might already have sitting in your pantry. ½ teaspoon Cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon Ginger, ⅛ teaspoon All Spice and ⅛ teaspoon Nutmeg. You will only need a ½ teaspoon but it makes such a small amount I didn’t mind chucking the rest of it; remember I am cleaning out not creating more containers of stuff I use occasionally.

Apple Butter Bar

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup apple butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice
1 cup chopped apples peeled

Icing for drizzling over (optional)
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350’ F. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan. Cream butter and sugar then beat in egg and apple butter. Mix in half of the flour with the baking soda and apple pie spice. Beat in remaining flour, then stir in apples.  Spread into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or till toothpick in center comes out clean. Cool in pan and cut into bars.

To Make Icing: Mix 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla and 1 – 2 tablespoons milk. Mix to drizzling consistency and drizzle over cooled bars – I didn’t use all of this, it’s pretty sweet so use your discretion.

 
recipe adapted from sidehill farm