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🍑 Legendary Peach Butter with a Hint of Amaretto
Rich, silky peach butter with a little almond-inspired magic.
Homemade • Peach Season • Water-Bath Canning Guidance
When the Peach Truck drops off 25 pounds of peaches, you can bet I have plans for them! And right near the top of that list is my Legendary Peach Butter with a Hint of Amaretto.
Peach butter is one of those old-fashioned pantry treats that tastes like you captured the best part of summer in a jar. It isn't dairy butter at all. It's a smooth, concentrated fruit spread, delicious on toast, biscuits, pancakes, and so much more.
My favorite touch is the amaretto. That gentle almond flavor brings out something wonderful in ripe peaches without taking over. And it turns out this variation is also described by University of California Master Food Preservers!
What Makes This Peach Butter Legendary?
- Peach-forward flavor: Long, gentle cooking concentrates the natural flavor of fresh peaches.
- A little amaretto: Adds a subtle almond note that makes this recipe memorable.
- That perfect texture: Thick and spreadable, without added pectin.
- A wonderful pantry gift: The tested-source version can be water-bath processed as directed.
🍑 Legendary Peach Butter with Amaretto
A rich peach spread with a delicate almond finish
Yield: Original source estimates about eight 8-oz jars; the final yield of an amaretto batch may vary.
Important: The following lists Jenny's bottled-lemon-juice version. For shelf-stable canning, use the published UC Master Food Preservers ingredients (including zest and juice of 1 lemon) and procedure linked below rather than treating the substitution as independently validated.
🧺 Ingredients
- 4½ lb peaches, peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped (weight after preparation)
- ½ cup water
- 4 Tbsp bottled lemon juice (Jenny's version; published canning version specifies grated zest and juice of 1 lemon)
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup amaretto liqueur
🍑 Step-by-Step Directions
- Peel and prepare. Make a small X on the bottom of each fresh peach. Blanch in boiling water for 30–60 seconds and transfer to ice water. Slip off the skins, remove pits, chop and weigh out 4½ pounds of prepared fruit.
- Soften the peaches. In a large heavy-bottomed, nonreactive pot, combine peaches, water and lemon ingredient. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer gently about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft. For the published canning formulation, use the lemon zest and juice specified by the source.
- Purée. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth and uniform, but do not liquefy. The published recipe measures 8 cups of peach purée.
- Add the sugar. Transfer the measured purée to a clean, wide, heavy-bottomed pan and stir in 3 cups sugar until dissolved. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
- Reduce. Lower the heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the butter is noticeably thickening. As it thickens, stir more often to prevent scorching.
- Add the amaretto. When the butter begins to thicken but does not yet mound on a spoon, stir in 1 cup amaretto. Continue cooking and stirring until it reaches the proper consistency.
- Check for doneness. Spoon a little onto a chilled plate. If watery liquid separates in a ring, keep cooking. When the butter holds a soft mound and no liquid ring forms, it is ready.
- Finish and preserve appropriately. For this bottled-lemon-juice adaptation, refrigerate promptly or freeze for longer storage; it has not been independently validated for shelf-stable canning. If following the UC-published canning formulation exactly, ladle into hot jars leaving ¼-inch headspace, remove air bubbles, wipe rims, apply lids and process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner at 0–1,000 ft, adjusting for altitude. Follow the source for full canning and cooling instructions.
🫙 Important Canning & Storage Note
Published amaretto variation: UC Master Food Preservers provides the variation using 3 cups sugar and 1 cup of amaretto or another spirit, with the original recipe's lemon zest and juice. Follow that complete published formulation for water-bath canning.
Jenny's lemon-juice substitution: My version used 4 Tbsp bottled lemon juice instead of the published zest and juice of 1 lemon. I cannot claim that precise substitution was validated in this recipe. Refrigerate promptly or freeze it rather than treating it as an independently tested canning formulation.
Altitude matters: processing time is 10 minutes at 0–1,000 ft; increase to 15 minutes at 1,001–3,000 ft, 20 minutes at 3,001–6,000 ft, and 25 minutes at 6,001–8,000 ft. These are standard adjustments to the published 10-minute boiling-water process. Use proper jars, lids and cooling procedures.
🌻 Jenny's Peach Butter Tips
Weigh the peaches after peeling and pitting.
The recipe calls for 4½ pounds of prepared peaches, not whole peaches. Buy extra so you aren't short after removing the skins and pits.
Watch the pot as it reduces.
A wide, heavy-bottomed pan helps moisture evaporate, but thick fruit butter can scorch quickly. Frequent stirring is your friend.
Wait to add the amaretto.
The UC variation directs you to add it once the butter starts to thicken but before it mounds on a spoon. Continue cooking until properly thickened.
Use the cold-plate test.
A spoonful that holds its shape without a watery ring is a more useful indicator than an arbitrary number of minutes.
🥐 Ways to Enjoy Legendary Peach Butter
- Spread on warm toast, biscuits or English muffins
- Swirl into plain yogurt or oatmeal
- Spoon over pancakes or waffles
- Use as a filling for pastries or thumbprint cookies
- Add a little to a cheese board
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📚 Where the Recipe Comes From
This recipe is inspired by Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, one of my favorite canning references. The University of California Master Food Preservers also publishes the peach butter recipe and specifically describes the 3-cup-sugar, 1-cup-spirit variation (including amaretto). That's the variation I want readers to consult when canning.
Read the UC Master Food Preservers Peach Butter recipe and amaretto variation.
See the classic Bernardin Peach Butter recipe (without amaretto).
Review boiling-water canning altitude adjustments.